Homemade gnocchi

I’m so excited to share this recipe! I’ve come across lots of gnocchi recipes, but hadn’t ever made them before. Ever. Not sure why, because I’ve been eating gnocchi for years. Not only that, I’ve been missing experimenting with cooking lately. A switch to a new recipe, a successful recipe, always feels great.

When I came across this recipe by A Couple Cooks, I was determined to try it, or at least a variation of it. There are only five ingredients…

2 lbs potatoes
1 1/2 to 2 cups flour
1 egg
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt

While the original recipe uses sweet potatoes, I used yellow and the substitution worked just fine. The directions are quite straightforward…

Bake the potatoes
Poke the potatoes with a fork and bake at 450F for ~40 minutes, until cooked. Let them cool on a rack until they’re cool enough to touch. Scoop out the potato from the skins and put it in a bowl for mashing. Mash until it’s smooth.

Make the dough
Add the egg, parmesan, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of flour to the potato mash. I would recommend adding 1/2 cup of flour at a time and mixing in between additions. Add up to 1/2 cup of additional flour, enough to reduce the stickiness of the dough.

Make the gnocchi
On a lightly floured surface, roll out portions of the dough with your hands. Cut into 1/2 inch, or smaller, chunks. Roll the chunk of dough in your hands to get a round shape. To get the grooved-on-one-side/dimple-on-the-other-side effect, roll the dough down the prongs of a fork with your thumb, pushing lightly. As you reach the bottom the dough will roll over and make the indent.

The finished gnocchi can either be directly frozen or cooked. I stored mine in the fridge until I was ready to cook supper. To cook, add the gnocchi to boiling water and cook until the gnocchi floats to and stays on the surface. This only takes a few minutes. Drain and serve with your favourite sauce. I’m really very happy with how these turned out and it was quite fun to make, too. They tasted great and I have 3 portions in the freezer for later! This recipe has definitely made it into my regular menu.