Ingredients
Method
- Put the potatoes, skin on, into a large pot filled with water. Bring to the boil and cook until potatoes are very tender. Drain.
- When potatoes are just cool enough to handle, press them through a ricer, straight onto your kitchen bench. Spread out and allow to cool completely.
- Add the flour and mix gently to combine just until the dough comes together. Take a small chunk of dough and roll into a snake like log. Dust sparsely so the dough doesn’t stick, but be careful not to add too much flour as this is what makes the gnocchi heavy and chewy.
- Cut gnocchi at regular intervals into small pieces, and press onto a gnocchi board or the tines of a fork to make indentations. This helps the sauce cling to the gnocchi. Alternatively press a little dimple into each gnocchi with your thumb.
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add a generous pinch of salt and drop in the gnocchi. Stir gently and cook until gnocchi rise to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and serve with your favourite sauce.
Notes
The key to making light and fluffy gnocchi comes down to a couple of key factors – potato and flour.You need to use the right potatoes; you need to make sure they’re dry after cooking, use a ricer rather than mash them, and most importantly use as little flour as possible. I don’t like gnocchi that is so soft that it just tastes like mushy mashed potatoes, they need a little bite, but they should be tender and light.
You can make a big batch of these and freeze them on trays in a single layer, then once frozen bag them up ready to be dropped straight into boiling water at a moment’s notice.