Gnocchi

Potato dumplings with as little flour as will hold them together.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 1 kg floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper
• 200 g plain flour, and more if needed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 80 g butter and a few sage leaves, to dress

Method

1. BAKE THE POTATOES, do not boil them. An hour at 190C in their skins. Boiled potatoes take on water, and every millilitre of it has to be absorbed with more flour, which is what turns gnocchi into bullets.
2. Scoop them out hot and rice them onto a board. Spread them and let the steam go for 5 minutes.
3. Scatter the salt and about three quarters of the flour over, add the yolk, and bring it together with a scraper, cutting rather than kneading.
4. ADD FLOUR ONLY UNTIL IT STOPS STICKING TO THE BOARD and not one spoon more. The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky and look as though it cannot possibly work.
5. Roll into ropes 2 cm thick, cut into 2 cm pieces, and roll each down the back of a fork to ridge it.
6. Boil in batches in well-salted water. They are done 20 seconds after they float, and overcooking is what makes them dissolve.
7. Melt the butter until it foams and smells nutty, drop the sage in, and turn the drained gnocchi through it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes