Potato Gnocchi
Gnocchi turn rubbery for one reason — too much flour. And too much flour goes in because the potato is wet: boiled potato takes on water, baked potato does not. Hence the method: bake, rice them hot, add as little flour as possible and barely knead. The dough should stay soft and slightly tacky.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 h 30 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Medium
- Per serving
- 450 kcal
Ingredients
Gnocchi
Sauce
Makes: 4 portions
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Bake the potatoes
Bake them in their skins at 200 °C for 50–60 minutes until soft. Boiled potatoes take on water and need twice the flour — which is exactly what makes gnocchi rubbery.
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Step 2: Rice them hot
Split them and scoop the flesh out while hot, then pass it through a sieve or ricer. Hot potato releases steam; cooled potato goes gluey with starch.
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Step 3: Let it cool
Spread the purée out thinly for 10 minutes. Added to a hot mass, the egg would cook on contact.
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Step 4: Bring the dough together
Add the egg, salt, parmesan and two thirds of the flour and gather it by hand in 30 seconds. Add the rest only if the dough sticks badly.
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Step 5: Shape the gnocchi
Roll 2 cm ropes, cut 2 cm pieces and roll each down the tines of a fork. The ridges hold sauce; without them gnocchi are smooth and the sauce slides off.
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Step 6: Boil in salted water
Cook in batches in a big pot: they are done the moment they float, plus 30 seconds. Overcooked, they disintegrate.
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Step 7: Brown the butter with sage
Melt the butter and cook it to a nutty smell and golden colour, then add the sage for 30 seconds.
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Step 8: Bring it together
Lift the gnocchi straight into the butter with a slotted spoon, add a spoon of cooking water and warm for 30 seconds. Serve with parmesan and pepper.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Test the dough with a single gnoccho: boil it. Falls apart — one more spoon of flour. Dense and bouncy — less flour next time.
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Tip
The potatoes must be floury. Waxy or new potatoes never get dry enough, and the dough stays sticky whatever the technique.
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Variation
Pumpkin gnocchi: swap a third of the potato for roasted pumpkin, with 30 g more flour, since pumpkin is wetter.
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Storage
Freeze raw gnocchi on a board, then bag them: cook from frozen, a minute longer. In the fridge raw gnocchi darken within hours.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 450 kcal | 1,800 kcal |
| Protein | 12 g | 48 g |
| Fat | 14 g | 56 g |
| Carbohydrates | 68 g | 272 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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