Definitely one of the harder dishes that I have ever attempted; we got it right in the end but it sure took a while. There are a few different tips that can definitely make your life easier. Here are a few that we picked up on:
- Starchy potatoes (for example agria, rua and desiree) will hold the dough together better;
- Bake the potatoes on a bed of rock salt: this dries them out more efficiently;
- Use a ricer or a masher to crush the potatoes;
- Make dough while potatoes are still hot;
- Use as little flour as possible;
- Don’t overwork the dough;
- Cook the gnocchi in an abundant amount of barely simmering, salty water;
- Once it rises in the water, leave for a further 10 seconds;
- If they are too floury, leave them in for a bit longer (but if you leave them in for too long they will dissolve); and
- If you don’t cook them all you can freeze the uncooked gnocchi.
Collect
- 500 g agria potatotes
- rocksalt
- 350 g flour
- salt
- 7 eggs
Create
- 190°C bake.
- Wash the potatoes; prick them all over with a fork and cover the bottom of a tray with a layer of rock salt.
- Bake for about an hour (or until cooked). As soon as possible once they come out of the oven, peel off the skin.
- Mash potatoes into mixing bowl with a well in the centre.
- Add 250 g of the flour and salt. Mix minimally – add more flour until it forms a dough.
- Dust flour across your work bench, flatten the dough into squares that are about 1 cm thick.
- Divide into 1 cm wide segments with a knife then roll into long sausages.
- Lay the sausages side by side and cut into 1 cm wide segments and place into a floured tray.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and then simmer.
- Tip in half of the gnocchi and wait for them to rise. Leave for 10 seconds then remove with slitted spoon into bowl.
- Drizzle with olive oil to stop it from sticking.
- Serve the gnocchi with pesto (or alternatively sage leaves, tomato and cheese)