How to Make Gnocchi

Gnocchi is an easy pantry meal that is made with three main ingredients.

Hello, everyone.  We have another pantry meal for you today, and this one is a favorite.  I first had gnocchi when I was in college.  I had an Italian roommate my senior year, and her mother made gnocchi for us.  It was so good.  Ever since then I have eaten it every time it is on the menu when we eat out.  However, as much as I wanted to, I never learned to make it……until now that is.  Gnocchi is so very good and only takes three ingredients – mashed potatoes, flour, and egg.  That’s it.  Now, there is a little finesse required to get the shape just right, and you will see that I still need some practice there, but I mastered every other part of this easy recipe.  Today I am going to show you how to make gnocchi.

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup mashed potatoes (you can use leftovers or make them fresh.)  Add to that 2 cups of all purpose flour and combine well.  I used a pastry blender.

Then add one egg and mix.  Once they are mixed, knead a few times to get everything well combined.

Then put this dough on a floured surface and roll into a long log, kind of like you do with Play Dough.

Then cut into 1 inch pieces.  Dip a fork in flour and roll it around each piece to make indentations.  This helps the sauce adhere to the pasta when you are eating.

Drop each piece into salted boiling water, and boil until they rise to the top.  This takes about 3 minutes.

Remove from the water and drain.  Add your favorite topping.  You will find lots of recipes and suggestions for toppings at allrecipes.com, but I just added grated Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper since I made it for lunch one day.

I am so happy that I finally decided how to learn to make gnocchi.  It’s one of my favorite pastas, and I have avoided making it all of these years.  This recipe makes a lot, and so I froze some to use later.  Enjoy this recipe, everyone.

Take care.