How to prepare gnocchi 

Potato gnocchi are a typical specialty of Italian gastronomy, inevitable on our tables especially in autumn and winter. Although gnocchi are obtained from a simple dough based on potatoes, eggs and very little flour, depending on the area, they are prepared with small variations due mostly to the size and types of condiments to which they are combined. From the classic meat sauce, to cheese-based sauces, to pesto, with mushroom-based sauces, to the Sorrentina, with clams or prawns and zucchini. However they are disagreed, potato gnocchi remain one of the most popular first courses of Italian cuisine.

Choosing and cooking potatoes for dumplings

To make soft, light and non-chewy potato gnocchi, it is good to respect some small precautions, such as choosing the right variety of potato and cooking them. The potatoes must be dry, not too fresh, because they contain a higher percentage of water than a potato of a few weeks old, the dough would absorb more flour in processing and the consequent loss of softness.

Personally I avoid the classic cooking of potatoes in water, I cook them in the oven with all the peel. I punch the potatoes, wrap them in aluminum foil and bake them in the oven at 180 ° C until they are soft. In this way the potatoes maintain a fair amount of moisture inside them. In addition, dry cooked potatoes with peel are also excellent consumed so 😉 ! 

Let's see the recipe of potato gnocchi with ingredients and procedure...

Potato dumplings recipe

Ingredients for 6 people

1 kg of potatoes of the same size

gr 250 flour

1 whole egg

10 grams of salt

Procedure

Boil the potatoes for 35-45 minutes depending on the size, drain and let them cool. Alternatively – as mentioned above – wrap each potato in aluminum foil. Bake them in the oven at 180 ° C for, depending on the size, 30-40 minutes, until soft. Peel the potatoes and mash them with the potato masher on a wooden plank. If they are still too hot, wait a few minutes. Spread the mashed potatoes in a fountain. Pour the whole egg and sprinkle with flour. Knead everything quickly. Cut the dough into pieces of about 150 grams. It forms loaves as thick as a finger. Line up several loaves and cut them with a tarot obtaining small pieces of dough. Rub each piece of dough on the tines of a fork, swirling it with a slight pressure so as to give the marks grooved externally and a hollow inside. It is good to handle the dumplings as little as possible. Collect them with the tarot and spread them on a tray with a sprinkling of semolina. Cook the potato gnocchi at the moment in plenty of salted water until they come to the surface and season them with sauces to taste.