Learn More About The Exquisite Gnocchi

Gnocchi, that special type of Italian pasta, offers you a variety of options to prepare appetizing dishes for the most refined palates. As you know, gnocchi can be made with potato, banana, cassava, wheat semolina, flour (corn, chestnut, etc.) and ricotta cheese.

Its exquisite flavor is ideal to accompany a variety of main dishes. In this post we offer you interesting tips about how to cook this tasty food, as well as a very brief description of some irresistible recipes.

Helpful tips

When preparing gnocchi there are some particularities that you should consider:

• The type of potato: It must be used in any case floury potatoes, therefore, when buying them, be sure that they are not young potatoes, because they still contain too much moisture. The more water a potato contains, the more flour you will have to add later. This will compact your gnocchi dough and make it sticky and pappy. So, the older the potato, the fluffier the gnocchi.

• Cook the potatoes: Gnocchi dough turns out especially well if you put the potatoes with their skins in the oven at 200 °C for 1 hour. This way you will get an ideal floury-dry consistency, as they lose about 1/4 of their water. If you don’t have so much time or patience, you can also boil the potatoes in a large pot with plenty of salted water for about 20 minutes. Just keep in mind that your dough will be a bit wetter.

• Cook the potatoes with the skin to prevent them from soaking up too much water; you’ll get a nice, dry dough. Also, when you drain them, make sure that no water remains with the potatoes. Generally, the drier the better.

• Processing: Dust your hands with a little cornstarch, so the dough won’t stick as much. Place the finished shaped gnocchi on a floured surface so they don’t stick to your work surface afterwards.

• Knead: As little as possible – as much as necessary. Try to make an airy, homogeneous dough that just doesn’t crumble apart. Knead for a maximum of 5 minutes! When kneading and also when rolling, be careful not to apply too much pressure.

• Before working the gnocchi dough with your hands, first use a fork to stir the flour and egg into the potato dough.

• Timing: It is always best to work the finished dough directly. If it stands too long, it will quickly become mushy and difficult to shape. This also applies to the shaped gnocchi. Do not wait longer than 45 minutes before cooking, otherwise they will lose their consistency and shape.

• Cook gnocchi: as soon as they float on the surface, you should take them out of the pot.

Shape the gnocchi

The best shape of gnocchi is with grooves, since they become stickier to the sauce. This way, a tomato sauce or a pesto coats your gnocchi even better.

For doing that you have 2 options:

1) Groove with the help of a gnocchi board, so that you get well-shaped grooves in no time.
2) Groove with the help of a fork: First press the cams against the upper part of the forks.

Some recipes

In https://olivieri.ca/gnocchi-recipes/ you have detailed recipes for you to prepare and enjoy with family and friends. They are also perfect recipes for a romantic dinner with your loved one.

We invite you to check the site and try to prepare, for instance:

• Skillet Gnocchi Antipasto Bites prepared with marinated mushrooms, roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and other herbs of your preference.

• One Skillet Gnocchi & Sausage Supper made up of golden brown gnocchi with cauliflower, sausages and carrots, seasoned with sour cream of mustard, honey and hot sauce.

• Gnocchi Skillet Nachos made with cheddar-bacon gnocchi accompanied with tacos and beef, topped with beans, green onions and jalapeño.