Hand Made Gnocchi

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
The Pirate's MIL used to put grated Parm or Romano cheese in her gnocchi. Her daughter made them for me (or at least tried) and they fell apart when she put them in the water to cook. She was still a new bride and they were living with me. Her family came from Naples, Italy and her mother and father were both great cooks. But with five daughters, they never taught any of them how to cook. Poor Pirate, he had to suffer through a lot of meals. Today, learning from his MIL, he is the cook in his family. And a great cook. Italian or American. He makes great gnocchi. DIL still hasn't learned how to make them. :angel:
 
I've never made potato gnocchi. An old girlfriend showed me how to make cheese gnocchi with ricotta and flour. Those are pretty good. I guess I should try the potato...
 
I've never made potato gnocchi. An old girlfriend showed me how to make cheese gnocchi with ricotta and flour. Those are pretty good. I guess I should try the potato...

Ricotta cheese is definitely not on my best liked foods list. And I haven't the heart to tell my daughter. She is always sending me foods with ricotta in it. I give it to The Pirate to eat. The rest of the family is sworn to my secret. :angel:
 
All this talk about gnocchi had me making some this morning. I decided to have Spring Vegetable and chcken soup with potato gnocchi for lunch. Question: to freeze the rest, do I cook them first, or freeze them and cook them when I want to eat them?
 
Hello folks, my name is Emilio and I'm new to this community.
As my 1st thread I would love to share with you my gnocchi recipe, as my mother taught me many years ago....
All you need is:
800g/1 kg potatoes
1 egg
salt
About 350 gr flour
1 hour of time

The first thing to do is to prepare the potatoes: wash them and, without peeling them, put them in a pot with salted water and let them boil (for making potato gnocchi I recommend you use the floury potatoes red). When they became soft enough, still warm, peel them, mash them and put them on a well-floured worktop.
attachment.php


Add a pinch of salt, flour and knead until you obtain a firm but soft at the same time dough.
At this point add an egg and continue to knead until the dough is compact and without lumps.
Note that the amount of flour needed is very sensitive to the potatoes variety used, so if the mixture is still too sticky and wet add some other flour.
Now Divide the dough into balls the size of a fist, then start rolling them on the table to obtain the strands with a thickness of 2-3 centimetres.
Begin to cut your gnocchi and put them down on a surface or a floured tray.

attachment.php


To give gnocchi their typical shape, if you don't have a threaded board as the one shown in the picture, you can use a fork. Just press each gnocco on its back and let it rolling on it.

Let stand your gnocchi for 15 minutes, then cook them in a pot with enough salted boiling water and drain when they will rise to the surface.
Prepare the seasoning that you like and dress your gnocchi.

Enjoy your gnocchi!:chef::chef::chef::chef:
Thanks for that, Emilio. I've never quite plucked up the courage to make my own gnocchi. Perhaps I will now.

Welcome to DC.
 
Mash or rice the potato's?

Your description says to mash, yet the diagrams show a ricer being used.
I would think this would make a difference?
That a ricer is the best way to do it?
Potatoes put through a ricer are mashed but not all mashed potatoes have been put through a ricer. The ricer just makes it easier to get smoother mashed potatoes.

Use whatever method you like best
 
I prefer farmers cheese. Ricotta IMHO, is OK to use as a filling maybe, but not to cook with it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Discuss Cooking mobile app
 
The Pirate's MIL used to put grated Parm or Romano cheese in her gnocchi. Her daughter made them for me (or at least tried) and they fell apart when she put them in the water to cook. She was still a new bride and they were living with me. Her family came from Naples, Italy and her mother and father were both great cooks. But with five daughters, they never taught any of them how to cook. Poor Pirate, he had to suffer through a lot of meals. Today, learning from his MIL, he is the cook in his family. And a great cook. Italian or American. He makes great gnocchi. DIL still hasn't learned how to make them. :angel:

Smart girl she is! She doesn't need to learn, she has him to do it!
 
Ricotta cheese is definitely not on my best liked foods list. And I haven't the heart to tell my daughter. She is always sending me foods with ricotta in it. I give it to The Pirate to eat. The rest of the family is sworn to my secret. :angel:


I love ricotta. When I make lasagne I have to buy extra because I eat it right out of the carton. It has to be Lamagna Ricotta, though. That's a company that makes it in the Pittsburgh area. I don't know what they do different but it tastes like dessert! I have had some ricotta that was downright awful.
 
I love ricotta. When I make lasagne I have to buy extra because I eat it right out of the carton. It has to be Lamagna Ricotta, though. That's a company that makes it in the Pittsburgh area. I don't know what they do different but it tastes like dessert! I have had some ricotta that was downright awful.


I never made lasagna because I don't like ricotta until Luca Lazzari posted a recipe for lasagna ala Bolognese with NO RICOTTA! Yum. It's delicious.
 
Gnocchi - what to serve them with

Hello all - I've just re-joined the group after many years absence and it's great to be back.

I live in Italy and hope to share information (and recipes, obviously) with you.

Here, gnocchi ( for those who don't already know, pronounced 'nyokki)are what is known as what we call a primo piatto, which follows the antipasto, and is then followed by the secondo, or main course) and are served with sauces or ragù. They are very nice with pesto, but as an old timer I prefer them with a really good tomato sauce or a meat ragù, or with sage, butter, parmesan and black pepper. I've never come across them served with fish.

I have a really nice recipe for orecchiette with prawns and sweet basil. Anyone interested?

Ciao a tutti

Di
 
Hello all - I've just re-joined the group after many years absence and it's great to be back.....

I have a really nice recipe for orecchiette with prawns and sweet basil. Anyone interested?

Ciao a tutti

Di
Welcome back Di! Of course we're interested in your recipe!
 
Orecchiette (you can use linguine if you prefer that type of pasta)70g per person.
Giant prawns - 50g per person
Lemon zest grated, to taste
Garlic to taste but delicately used so as not to overpower the flavours
A handful of chopped parsley
A handful of chopped sweet basil
Juice of 2 lemons
Extra virgin olive oil (delicate flavour rather than strong)
Good quality light white wine, about 1 wineglassful

Chop the herbs and garlic fine, and add the lemon juice
Cut the prawns (gamberoni) into 1cm pieces
Lightly cook the prawn pieces with the chopped garlic in the olive oil. Add the herbs and lemon zest, then the lemon juice to taste, then the wine.
Cook the pasta according to the instructions then toss in the skillet along with the flavouring ingredients and prawns, season to taste with salt and black pepper. Garnish with one whole unshelled prawn and serve very hot.
A great favourite for everyone, including the chef!!

Ciao a tutti

Di
 
All this talk about gnocchi had me making some this morning. I decided to have Spring Vegetable and chcken soup with potato gnocchi for lunch. Question: to freeze the rest, do I cook them first, or freeze them and cook them when I want to eat them?

They are already cooked. You cook the potatoes and then mash or rice them. So into the freezer they go. If you purchase the store bought ones, they are frozen and then you cook them. :angel:
 
Some of the store-bought are not frozen. I have seen them in Aldi's in the noodle aisle. They had gnocchi and tortellini. I have had the tortellini but not the gnocchi. I don't know how they keep without being frozen. Probably lots and lots of preservatives! The tortellini were delicious.
 
Back
Top Bottom