Gnocchi are a very simple dish coming from Northern Italy. In the basic version you combined boiled potatoes, flour and eggs. As in every Italian (and French) recipes, the solid ingredients are given in weight units and not in capacity units. Also, I will be using the metrical system.
In the recipes I will post in this blog I will not make the conversion between grams and cups: it would be highly inaccurate and time-consuming. When I first arrived in Wisconsin from Italy I bought myself a cheap kitchen scale at Walmart. It is definitely a must-have in a well equipped kitchen.
Her majesty the potato
Now, the main ingredient: the potatoes. There are potatoes and potatoes... Although anyone can have his/her own preferences the different content in starch implies pretty different applications.
From the cooking point of view, potatoes can be usefully classified based on of their content in starch and moisture. There are starchy potatoes (like Russet and Idaho), rich in starch and low in moisture, waxy potatoes (like red potatoes) low in starch and rich in moisture, and intermediate, all purpose potatoes (like purple and Yukon gold) halfway between the former two types.
If you are planning to boil them, to prepare a salad or a casserole, then you will go with the waxy, that will keep their consistency and shape after cooking. If you are rather preparing mashed potatoes or gnocchi, you will pick the starchy ones.
In the preparation of gnocchi a wise choice of the potatoes will make the difference between a big success or a disaster, so ... pick the right one!
Potatoes storage
A lot of people keep the potatoes in the fridge. Besides being a waste of precious storage room, it is not just the right place! Fridge is a humid environment and potatoes should be rather kept in a dry, cool and dark place, like a cabinet in your garage or basement. The same works for onions and garlic. Darkness is particularly important to avoid accumulation of a toxic alkaloid, solanin, under the skin of the potatoes.
Potatoes belong to the Solanaceae family, like tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and some ornamental plants (petunia and datura). All this plant share the presence of very toxic alkaloids. In the potato plant, solanin is normally produced only in the aerial parts, with the purpose to protect the plant from pests.
The edible part of the potatoes, the tuber, is not a root, as one could assume, but rather a modification of the stem. As a stem, it retains the capability to produce sprouts (from the so-called eyes) and chlorophyll when exposed to the light. Chlorophyll production is the reason why potatoes stored in the light become greenish. Unfortunately, light also triggers the production of solanin. To some extent, you can relay on the green color to know if your potatoes has been exposed too much to light and you may want to peel away the surface of the tuber until you can see the normal color.
POTATOES GNOCCHI
Ingredients:
300 grams of all-purpose flour
1 Kg Idaho potatoes
1 egg
1/2 cup of grounded Parmesan
1 tbs of fresh grounded nutmeg
(The last two ingredients are optional, but they are there in my grandma original recipe)
Boiled the potatoes: wash them and, without peeling, put them in cold water. My grandma rule was to boil in cold water all the vegetables growing underground and to throw in boiling water everything that grows outside.
Reach the boiling and wait until potatoes are fully cooked (when tested with a fork, it should go all the way trough without finding resistance).
Peel and mash the potatoes. Mashing potatoes is way easier when they are worm, although the peeling can be ... burning! Before mixing them with flour you have to wait until they are cooled down, though. This is a critical step since, if warm, they will continue to incorporate flour forever.
Arrange the flour and the mashed potatoes on a wood surface forming a fontana (fountain), meaning to make a circle with a hole in the middle, like a small volcano. The space in the middle will host the egg. Add the Parmesan and the nutmeg and start working it with you hands like if you were making pasta. The final dough should be homogeneous, solid but elastic, only moderately sticky. Of course you can use a food processor but it will not be as much fun. Also, the food processor tend to warm up the mixture, making it too sticky.
If you find yourself with the hands trapped in a sticky mass you will have too add more flour. Be careful: too much flower and your gnocchi will be as tough as rocks. Better to prevent: the dough can be too sticky if you started from the wrong potatoes or if you mixed them with the flour when they were still warm.
Take a small amount of the dough and roll it in you hands to make a long cylinder, about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut it in 1/2 inch pieces. Roll the pieces on the points of a fork, using your thumb. You should be delicate but firm. The final gnocco (one gnocco, many gnocchi) will have a dimple on the back and parallel strips on the front.
Store them temporarily on a floured surface until you are ready for cooking.
Bring abundant salted water to boil. Be generous with the water. As when you cook pasta, you do need a lot of water and a big pot: for 4 servings use a 12 inches high 8 inches wide aluminum pot, filled with water for 3/4. The aluminum will slow down the boiling time
As soon as the gnocchi will appear at the surface floating, they will be ready. Serve them with your favorite sauce.
Sauces for gnocchi
Traditional gnocchi would be served with a basic tomatoes sauce. My grandpa, who was from Polesine, south to Venice, used to have them with sugar and cinnamon.
Although it is not a traditional pairing, gnocchi works really great with pesto sauce. Maybe next post?
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