One of our most popular cookery nights has been our gnocchi making workshop. We were also delighted to be invited to run this class as part of the EAT Wellington event in the Autumn. Here is the recipe that Stefano uses. It makes enough for 4-5 people. Gnocchi also freezes well.
Ingredients:
1kg waxy potatoes. Wilja are perfect
260 g plain white flour
50g durum wheat semolina flour
1 medium egg
2 pinches of salt
nutmeg (optional)
Method:
1. Boil potatoes, peel and squeeze them with the 'hi-tech tool'! (featured below, simply mashing is fine if you don't have one!)
2. Create a volcano shape and in the middle add the egg, salt and seasoning.
3. Cover with the plain flour, starting to pre-mix with a knife or spatula.
4. Once the mix is setting add the 50g of semolina flour and carry on mixing as if it was dough.
5. One after the other take a small amount of mixture and roll it gently creating a 'vermicello' (ver-me-cell-oh)
6. Slice in half inch pieces and place them all on plates ready to be boiled in hot salted water until they rise to the top.
Variations:
To give colour to the gnocchi spinach can be added (leaves need to be finely chopped and well dried in a frying pan) or triple tomato concentrate. Pumpkin can also be used instead of potato as in the dish below. You could also try adding wild garlic to the mix.
Gluten free flour can be used. In this case use a large egg or a little extra from a second medium egg.
Make a vegan version using baked rather than boiled potatoes or leftover mash.
We usually serve our gnocchi with a butter and sage sauce although it is more typically combined with a ragu. We recommend our Biffi soya ragu.