Making our Potato Gnocchi Part One.
One of the dishes that my clients really love, and are always asking for the recipe, is potato gnocchi.
In the restaurant we are currently serving them with brown butter , sage from the garden and radicchio, but there are so many differing ways to serve these beautifully delicate little pillows of potato. It is quite the vehicle for other foods and flavours.
Good potato gnocchi isn’t about a recipe its about a technique, so the below is more of a guide than a recipe. What follows are what I think are the rules of gnocchi, having said that every chef is different and has a different method. This is what works for myself. Check out the video below of Chef David making the gnocchi dough in the restaurant kitchen.
Use the right potatoes: medium sized floury ones are best. I used red skinned desire as they are light and fluffy when cooked. Avoid waxy potatoes.
Cook in the skins and then peel, this prevents excess moisture in the potato.
Work with the potato when hot, if it cools it will become gluey.
Add flour little by little and test by dropping in boiling water. This stops you add too much flour which makes the gnocchi hard.
Recipe Potato Gnocchi.
Method
Get a couple of medium sized pink skinned potatoes. Boil them skin on in salted water until they are tender. Drain and skin them (holding them in a dry tea towel)
Mash the potatoes on to a clean bench while they are hot, don’t let them cool. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on a couple of table spoons of grated parmesan cheese. Make a well in the centre and add one egg yolk and mix the lot together.
Now get some plain flour maybe around 50 to 100g for two large potatoes. Mix in the flour but don’t over work. The dough should be firm but not hard. If you want to test it drop a small piece in boiling water and taste it. If it falls a part add a little more flour. Roll into a long sausage and cut in to centre metre pieces. Dust lightly in flour and put aside. Best to use straight away but if you have to store, cover with a damp cloth, no plastic (makes them sweat)
Cook them in a large pot of boiling salted water, when they float (a minute or two) they are ready.