Potato Gnocchi
Instructions
Put the potatoes in a pot and cover with water about 2 inches above the top of the potatoes. Bring the potatoes to a gentle boil.
Boil the potatoes until they are knife tender about 30-40 minutes. Try to keep the skins from rupturing so the potatoes dont absorb any water and dont overcook them.
Let the potatoes cool a bit so that you can handle them. Peel them. If theyre too hot to handle use a kitchen towel to hold the hot potato when you peel them.
Put the potatoes through a ricer or food mill while the potatoes are still hot. Mashing the potatoes works in a pinch but the gnocchi wont be as light.
Spread the riced potatoes on a cookie sheet or a flat baking pan in a single layer to cool and allow some of the moisture to evaporate. The drier the riced potatoes the lighter the dough will be.
Bring a big pot of very well-salted water to a boil.
Put the riced potatoes in a mound on a flat work surface. Create a well in the middle.
Crack the egg onto the work surface in the well. Beat the egg well. (I dont salt fresh pasta doughs including gnocchi because I think salt toughens the dough. Id rather the gnocchi absorb salt in the boiling cooking water. But, if you want add about 3/4 teaspoon of salt to the egg before you beat it.)
Slowly start to incorporate the egg into the ring of riced potatoes.
When fully incorporated spread out the mixture and sprinkle some of the flour over the top.
Knead the flour into the potato mixture.
Repeat with another dusting of flour until the dough holds together and is smooth and soft. Try to use as little flour as possible for light gnocchi.
Sprinkle some flour on the work surface so the dough doesnt stick. Knead the dough to create a smooth dough ball.
Cut the dough ball into 6 pieces.
Flour the work surface again if necessary and roll each piece into a rope of 1/2 inch diameter.
Cut the rope into inch pieces. Make sure you have enough flour on your work surface so that the pieces dont stick together.
Using the back of a fork press the piece over the tines with your thumb and press downwards to push the gnocchi off the fork. Youll create indentations from the tines on the back of the gnocchi and a concave indentation on the other side from the pressure of your thumb. Great shape and texture to absorb the sauce.
Spread the gnocchi on a floured cookie sheet or flat baking pan as you make them.
Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water, gently stir to make sure they dont stick together and gently boil the gnocchi until they rise to the top of the water.
Remove the gnocchi with a spider or mesh ladle and place them in the saut pan with the sauce of your choice.
