Potato Gnocchi
WHAT YOU NEED:
GNOCCHI:
- 900g russett
or mashing potatoes
- 1 ½ cups plain
flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 large egg –
lightly beaten
PASTA SAUCE:
- 400g can
chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 small onion,
finely chopped
- 2 garlic
cloves, finely chopped
- 1 sprig thyme
- Pinch of
crushed chilli powder
TO SERVE:
-Mesclun lettuce
WHAT TO DO:
FOR THE PASTA
SAUCE:
Place all pasta
sauce ingredients in a pan, combine them together and then leave the sauce to
simmer, stirring occasionally, until
it begins to thicken up.
FOR THE
GNOCCHI:
1.First you need to cook the potatoes.Pierce the skin a few times with a fork, then
bake in the oven at 200g for about 45 minutes, or if you’re short on time you
can microwave them for five minutes.Don’t boil them, because you need the potato to be as dry as possible
for good gnocchi.
2.Once the potatoes are cooked, allow them to
cool completely.
3.Cut each potato in half, then scoop out all
the flesh from the skin with a spoon.Then you need to push all of the potato flesh through a sieve. This is a bit trickier than mashing the
potato, but it’s best to do it this way because it makes the potato nice and
airy which makes for perfect gnocchi.
4.Once all the potato flesh has been pushed
through the sieve, add the lightly beaten egg and the salt to the potato and
mix it all together.
5.Start adding the flour, just a little at a
time.Add small amounts of flour, mix it
in, and add a bit more – keep going until you get to the stage where the dough
won’t stick to your hands.You may not
need to use all of the flour.
6.Next, you need to knead out the dough.Bring the dough together with your finger
tips and knead it out over a very clean, floured bench for about 3 – 4 minutes.
7.Divide your dough into six pieces and roll
each piece out into a long snake shape about 1 ½ cm thick.Then chop your dough snakes into 2cm
pieces.You can cook your gnocchi just
like this, but gnocchi traditionally has little ridges on it which helps grab
onto your pasta sauce.You can achieve
this by rolling each piece of gnocchi along the back of a fork – the fork
prongs will create the ridges.
8.To cook the gnocchi, have your water at a
gentle simmer rather than a boil –
if there are too many bubbles in the water it might break your gnocchi
apart.Cook the gnocchi in batches.When the gnocchi rises to the top of the
water, leave them in there for an extra 30 seconds, then remove them from the
water with a slotted spoon and carefully place the next batch into the water,
until all of your gnocchi is cooked.Grab an oldie to help you out here.
Serve
your gnocchi on a bed of mesclun lettuce, topped with pasta sauce.