[Anneke]

We made gnocchi in class recently. Though I received top marks for it, I didn't feel they were quite right...

To all the chefs and Italians out there: what makes the the perfect gnocchi?

Describe please the texture and the shape.

Do you use cream in the dough?

Any tips or tricks?

Favourite flavouring?

Thanks!

[Kimmie]

Q.: What makes perfect gnocchi?

A.: You need dry potatoes, a potato ricer and to work fast.

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Gnocchi (makes about 20 dozen small gnocchi)

2 lbs russet potatoes
1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons kosher salt, or to taste.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake the potatoes (in their jackets), for 1 hour, or until they are completely cooked. Split the potatoes and scoop out the flesh, and press it through a potato ricer. Place the hot potatoes on a board or counter. Make a well in the center. Place a layer of about ½ cup flour in the well, add the egg yolks, then add about ½ cup more flour and the salt. Use a dough scraper to "chop" the potatoes into the flour and eggs. This process should be done quickly (15 - 30 seconds), as overworking the dough will make the gnocchi heavy and sticky. Add more flour as necessary. The resulting dough should be homogeneous and barely sticky on the outside. Shape the dough into a ball.

Roll the ball of dough lightly in flour. Pull off a section of the dough and roll it by hand on a lightly floured surface into a "snake" about ½ inch thick. Cut into ½ inch pieces and, using your hand, roll each piece into a ball. Then roll the balls on a gnocchi paddle or over the back of a fork to create an oval shape with indentations. Test one gnocchi by placing it in a large pot of rapidly boiling lightly salted water. It is cooked as soon as it floats to the surface. Taste for seasoning and texture and add salt to the dough if necessary, or add a bit more flour if the gnocchi seems mushy. Continue forming the remaining gnocchi, placing them on a lightly floured tray until ready to cook.

Place the gnocchi in the boiling water. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to remove them to a bowl of ice water as they rise to the surface. Once they have cooled, about 2 minutes, drain them briefly on paper towels or a kitchen towel. Lay them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Store in the pan in the refrigerator if they will be used shortly (up to a day), or place them in the freezer. Once they are frozen, they can be stored in well-sealed plastic bags and kept frozen for several weeks; cook them while they are still frozen.
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Shape = they almost look like little miniature footballs (if that makes sense to you) with indentations (the imprint of the fork or the gnocchi paddle. I use an antique butter paddle. It does the trick!

I can't describe the texture. But they are cooked as they float back to the surface. That's the most common mistake.

Trust me, this is The French Laundry's recipe. The best I've found so far!




[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

[Katherine]

What was it that you thought wasn't quite right about your gnocchi?

While we may think of the potato gnocchi sold in the store when the word "gnocchi" is used, in fact in Italy many different types of gnocchi are made: potato, ricotta, spinach, pumpkin, lots more. Gnocchi is just a generic term for that sort of dumpling.

I have made potato gnocchi from recipes in cookbooks (add flour/egg optional to riced potatoes, form, and boil), and they usually turn out pretty chewy, which is ok, I like that. But I recently found that nice fluffy potato gnocchi can be made by adding enough flour to leftover seasoned mashed potatoes to bind the mixture together when poached. The mixture should be fairly soft. Serve with a sauce or butter. If you serve with an olive oil based sauce, remember these are pretty spongy, go easy or they'll saturate.

However you like your gnocchi, go ahead and make them that way. There's room for your own creativity here.

[Katherine]

[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: Katherine ]

[Anneke]

I think what I didn't like about them was that they just felt and tasted like boiled flour. One trick that I learned that my teacher failed to show us was as Kimmie said, (BTW thanks for the recipe Kimmie) gently cutting the flour into the potato mixture so as to minimize the development of gluten in the product. Also the shaping was off, they looked like little boats... I think they probably should have been smaller. How do you make pumpkin/squash gnocchi? What is the ratio of squash to potato to flour? What about with spinach? do you have to add more flour to dry up the mixture? Also does anyone ever use cream? I heard it tenderises the product. Is that authentic?

One more thing: why is it important to work fast? Understandably, ricing potatoes when they are warm is easier but what about the mixture itself? can't I work with cool riced potatoes?

[ July 28, 2001: Message edited by: Anneke ]

[Kimmie]

I wish Chef Keller paid us a visit to answer your last question, Anneke.

[Anneke]

Me too Kimmie!!!!!!!

[thebighat]

Recently I made gnocchi from Biba Caggiano's book and they had no eggs. I always used to put eggs. These were a little on the mushy side. I bake russets, and then run them through a sieve, never having mastered a ricer, and work up a dough in a bowl. we like them around here.

[Katherine]

To make pumpkin or squash gnocchi, you can bake a pumpkin or squash, then purée and strain, or just use canned plain pumpkin. (I think the frozen is bland and watery, so I wouldn't use that.)

Pumpkin gnocchi shouldn't have potatoes in it, though. Add flour to strained pumpkin until you have a rather soft dough that you can form into balls. Drop a small ball (about 3/4 inch in size) into boiling water for a few minutes. If it falls apart, you need to add more flour. Keep testing until you get the consistency correct, and note how much flour you added for next time. If it doesn't disintegrate, check the seasoning. (If you add more flour at this point, it will get firmer and chewier, but I prefer them fluffy and tender.) Correct the seasoning, adding salt, pepper, nutmeg, or other spice, like cinnamon, and maybe a little sugar. To get gnocchi uniform in size, I use a small scoop, drop them into flour and gently form them into balls or ovals.

Spinach-ricotta gnocchi (a favorite of mine)
(Adapted from Consumer's Guide Italian Cooking Class Cookbook)

2 packages frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed quite dry in a strainer
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (use shredded, not canned dry cheese)
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, or a few gratings of fresh

Bring a pot of water to a boil.

Mix together all ingredients. Form one into a ball about 2 tablespoons in size. Drop into the water to test the mixture, and if it falls apart, add more flour and test again. Shape the mixture into ovals about 1/4 cup in size, roll in flour and poach until they float. Place cooked gnocchi in a buttered broiler-safe baking dish, brush or pour over melted butter, sprinkle with more grated cheese, and broil until golden brown.

This is a wonderful spinach filling you can use in lasagna, ravioli, spinach pie, etc.

I've seen this called "ravioli gnudo" (sp?), "naked ravioli" because the filling is cooked without the wrappers.

Ricotta cheese gnocchi

1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
white pepper, nutmeg
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Mix ingredients, make a test gnoccho, then form, poach, and serve with butter.

If you add cream to a gnocchi recipe, it will change the balance of ingredients and tend to require more flour, which may dilute the effect of your main ingredient. Maybe add a little butter, but wait until after you've tested a recipe before you start to make major changes in it.

[Katherine]

[ July 30, 2001: Message edited by: Katherine ]

[Mezzaluna]

I made gnocchi using Lidia Bastianich's recipe from Lidia's Italian Table. They came out very light and wonderful. I think the quality of the potato has a lot to do with it, and not over-cooking them. Also, don't overwork the dough. They were shaped by rolling ropes, cutting them into 1" lengths, and using a fork to flatten them slightly and give them ridges to hold sauce or butter. I froze some and they cooked up almost as good as fresh.

[ July 29, 2001: Message edited by: Mezzaluna ]

this is the perfect recipe for gnochi,

2 pounds russet potato
1 1/4 cup flour
2 egg yolks

I guarantee nobody has used this method before, it seems a bit anal but I'll tell you why.

First cook potatoes on a salt bed in a 350 degree of until cooked. Overcooking will make the gnochi gummy. While potatoes are in oven mix flour and egg yolks in bowl. Using a tammy or basket pass the mixture through. incorporate some of the passed flour back into the basket to help the eggs through. Hence you have just created an egg flour. The most frequent problem with gnochi is that it is overworked. Once the potatoes are cooked half them scrape out the center and pass through a ricer. weight out 2 pounds after riced. Place potatoes in bowl and dust over half the egg flour. Without keading gently run your fingers around the bowl until combined, then repeating with rest of egg flour. once the dough starts to come together then knead for 20 seconds, dont overwork. form into a ball, cut into 8 pieces. Roll each into logs and form into desired thickness.no flour is used. The gnochi will slip when rolling and you will incorporate more flour that is not needed. Cut into individual gnochi. Then roll each piece into a ball, avoiding any seams. then with a fork once over create marks. do not roll back and forth.notice there is no salt in this mixture. The salt while blanching will draw in moisture. The perfect gnochi is not overworked or gummy, taste like a potato, and is soft in your mouth. Cook in heavily salted water, this will season the gnochi more than you think. People tend to think gnochi is cooked when it floats try 20-30 seconds after. Thomas kellers recipe is great but that extra egg yolk make the gnochi more pasta like or tough, not soft.

I make these every day, and have refined them to perfection. This is the time and effort of two-mobile five star restaurants that I have worked.

[panini]

Hey guy's,
Just had to pop on to say that there is no perfect recipe for gnocchi. Comming from a very large Italian family with more first cousins that I can count, everybodies gnocchi was different and each was especially good in it's own way. Uncle Tubba's was done like jwmadchef's last recipe.He always baked his potatoes, most others par-boiled, blanched-baked. The trick is the compliment,sauce. Some of the drier go better with a loose marinara, the light fluffy one are great with a white cream sauce.
I believe I remember potato in the pumpkin gnocchi. I loved the sweet version early after church. Just like fajitas my grandma heated black skillets very hot. When the gnocchni was cooked she poured sugar in the skillet and dumped in the gnocchi as soon as the sugared caramelized and the pumpkin or sweet potato gnocchni was tossed she added some cream.
I'm just not comfortable with exact recipes or formulas for traditional peasant dished. gnocchi, minestrone,pasta fagoli, etc.
sorry, rambling, just my 2 cents
panini

[Kimmie]

Thank you for your input, jwmadchef. I will try that and compare with Thomas Keller's.

[Anneke]

Isn't this great! That something so simple and so traditional can have so many variations, so much history and incite so much passion from both the maker and the eater! This is why I got into cooking in the first place! This probably sounds really bizarre but when I read someone's recipe, for me it's almost like having a glimpse at someone's diary or family album... It's very personal, yet generous in it's nature and it's purpose. Thanks for your recipes folks, I'll be sure to try them all!