HOW TO MAKE POTATO & RICOTTA GNOCCHI
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- Potato Gnocchi Recipe
The secret is here, the right balance between consistency and delicacy. If you'll like to make authentic gnocchi that melt in your mouth this is the recipe to go for.
Although potato gnocchi alone are the most comon type of gnocchi made in Italy (and the most versatile), there are also other kinds of gnocchi worth making.
Potato gnocchi made with ricotta cheese too aren't complicated to make at home. But these are much more softer than the potato ones alone.
Several important steps are necessary for good gnocchi as I show you below:
- Boil the potatoes with their skin on.
- Peel the potato as soon as you can and put them through a ricer to eliminate all lumps.
- Roll the dough into a rope shape long about 10-inches. Cut all the ropes into ¾-inch pieces.
- Imprint each piece of dough with lines, so the sauce has an easier clung to gnocchi.
Ricotta & potato gnocchi sometimes are really too soft to imprint with ridges. If that is your case, simply roll the dough into ropes and then cut the ropes into ¾-inch (2 cm) pieces and boil.
Recipe:
How To Make Potato & Ricotta Cheese Gnocchi
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 2 mins
Ingredients: for 4
- about 14 oz (400g) of boiled potatoes
- about 7 oz (200g) of ricotta cheese
- about 3 oz (100g) of all-purpose flour
- 2 egg yolks
- a pinch of salt
Instructions:
- Put the potatoes in a medium pot covered with cold water. Bring the water to a boil adding a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Then drain them.
- When the potatoes become cool enough (but not to much), peel them. Using a potato ricer squeeze all the potatoes on a pastry board. It's important to do this while the potatoes are still warm but not hot.
- Take the ricotta cheese and pass it through a sieve over the potatoes. Mix all and make a mound.
- Form a well in the center of the potatoes and ricotta, then add the eggs, a pinch of salt and the flour. Mix until you have a soft ball but add more flour if the dough is to wet and sticky to knead.
- Roll out the gnocchi dough so that it forms a rope of ¾ inch of diameter, then cut the rope into pieces of ¾ inch. Take each piece and roll it over a fork or better a wooden grid shaped with corners called gnocchi paddle.
- Take a pot with water and bring to boil, then add the gnocchi. Be careful to avoid cooking gnocchi at a rolling boil. Don't lift them out until they float.
Note:
You can serve potato gnocchi with many of the same sauces you use to season pasta, as tomato sauce or pesto sauce.
Potato Gnocchi Step-by-step
The first thing to do is to boil the potatoes meanwhile you take care of the other ingredients so you'll be ready once the potatoes boil.
It could be that the potatoes haven't had enough time to cool down and are too hot. If so hold the potato with a fork and peel them with a knife to remove the skin then.
The final ball of dough must firmly hold together. When you push your thumb slightly on you have to see your finger imprinted in.
Cut off a portion of the gnocchi dough and roll into a rough rope. Glide your hands over the dough to thin the rope evenly until about ¾-inch (2 cm) thick and about 10-inches (25 cm) long.
The best tool if you want to make nice ridges is to use a gnocchi paddle like the one above. It's a cheap wooden gadget to make ridges on other fresh pasta as well.
One last note on how to cook potato and ricotta cheese gnocchi
Avoid cooking gnocchi at a rolling boil since makes it difficult to see if gnocchi are really floating or simply moving in the pot. Usually it takes about 2 minutes to see them float on the surface of a gentile boiling water. But don't lift them out until they float.
