Grandma's Homemade Gnocchi Recipe

 

4 simple ingredients to make your own gnocchi

I recently had the urge to make my grandmother's Gnocchi recipe.  She taught me how a long time ago and I have made them several times serving with a nice stew sauce. 

Gnocchi is like an easy to make dumpling that takes time to prepare.  Grandma's recipe is potato based, and she instilled in me the beauty of making Italian food comes from the heart.  It's not about the time it's all about the love. 

Putting everything together with 4 simple ingredients.

Ingredients & Getting Started

    • 6 Medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
    • 2 Cups flour – more if needed
    • One egg and a little salt

First boil the potatoes with salt until they are soft and drain the water when done. Place them in a mixing bowl with one egg and 2 cups of flour.  To mash these ingredients, I used my pastry cutter.


Making gnocchi and how to test the dough


Sticky dough will need more flour and when the consistency is right, place a small amount onto a floured cutting area.  With your hands, roll dough to a medium length and cut teaspoon size or smaller pieces.

Now we are going to test our dough before moving on. We do this by boiling a couple to see if the Gnocchi fall apart. 

This takes about 10 to 15 minutes, if they stay together then we can move on.  If they fall apart then your dough needs more flour.


Making Gnocchi from scratch and learning to fork roll


Fork Rolling Gnocchi

When the dough is the right consistency, roll and cut into small pieces in preparation for a quick fork roll.  This step takes practice so don't get frustrated; you can see that mine are not perfect. 

Flour your fork, poke the middle of one gnocchi and slide the fork towards you, the dough will roll making an indent and the fork with come right off. 

Repeat the process and add each gnocchi to a cookie sheet with parchment paper and freeze for 20 minutes or until firm.  If you are planning on cooking them immediately still do this step because you will have plenty and they can be stored in reusable freezer bags for later.  

Boiling is a quick 10 to 15 minutes and done when they float to the top.  

I love serving gnocchi with a wonderful chicken or beef stew sauce.  Pesto with parmesan is another option and they are great in homemade soup.  Gnocchi is the perfect winter food on those really cold days.  Enjoy!

Be the good,
Carole West


Note: I shared this recipe with my friend Patti if you would like to see how they turned out here.