Saltcraft / Recipes / Italian
No. 18Italian · Dinner

Homemade Potato Gnocchi

Homemade gnocchi sounds like a project until you realize it's mostly about keeping your hands light. Nobody needs perfectly identical little pillows. You want a tender dumpling that holds together in the water and crisps up in butter. Make a batch, freeze half, and future you has dinner sorted.

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Potato gnocchi seared golden in brown butter, on a white plate
Shot on my phone.No. 18
Serves
3–4
Total
1 hr 45 min
Hands-on
45 min
Season
Fall / Winter

Method

  1. Cook the potatoes dry. Bake them whole at 400°F (200°C) until completely tender, 50–70 minutes. Steaming works too. Boiling waterlogs them, and wet potatoes need more flour, which makes heavy gnocchi.
  2. Rice them warm. While they're still hot, peel them and push them through a ricer onto your counter. Spread them out for a minute to let the steam escape.
  3. Make the dough. Sprinkle over the salt and about ¾ cup (100 g) of flour, add the yolk, and fold it together gently. Add more flour only until it stops sticking. Do not knead it like bread.
  4. Shape. Roll the dough into ropes about ¾ inch (2 cm) thick and cut them into ¾-inch pieces. Roll them over a fork for ridges if you like.
  5. Boil in batches. Drop them into well-salted boiling water. Once they float, give them another 30–60 seconds, then lift them out with a slotted spoon.
  6. Crisp them. Fry the drained gnocchi in foaming butter until golden, add the sage for the last minute, then finish with Parmesan and a little lemon.
Riced potato on the counter beside bowls of flour, egg yolk and salt
1. Rice the potatoes while hot.No. 18
A soft potato dough cut in two with a bench scraper
2. Bring it together. Gently.No. 18
Rows of freshly cut gnocchi on parchment
3. Roll, cut, line them up.No. 18
Gnocchi browning in butter in a nonstick pan
4. Brown them hard in butter.No. 18

From my kitchen

  • Light hands. The more you work the dough, the tougher it gets. Stop as soon as it comes together.
  • Freeze them raw. Spread the cut gnocchi on a floured tray, freeze until solid, then bag them. Cook straight from frozen and give them a little extra time once they float.
  • Start with starchy potatoes. Russets are fluffy and dry, so the dough needs less flour and the gnocchi stay light. A sweet potato version works too. That one's coming another day.

To drink

Easy A Pinot Noir from almost anywhere. Soft enough for butter, fresh enough for sage.

A step further A red Burgundy. Same grape, more earth, and the brown butter can take it.

Zero proof Verjus and soda with a lemon twist: tart like wine, without the wine.

Richly yours, H

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