Gnocchi
There’s simply nothing like handmade gnocchi. A true labour of love as they’re quite time consuming to make, but the result is unparalleled and unlike anything you can find at the supermarket: pillowy clouds with the most delicate flavour, they’re the perfect vessel for any sauce.
They’re very easy to make but you need to follow a few tricks to obtain the soft consistency that makes them so dreamy.
My personal sauce to pair with gnocchi is a classic, butter and sage, but pictured here is a version that is just as simple but extremely decadent, in a saffron and butter golden sauce.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Cooking time: 40 min
Prepping time: 30 min
1kg red potatoes
1 egg
300g 00 flour
Remilled semolina to taste
Fine salt to taste
30g butter
Two bags of saffron
Preparation
Boil the potatoes in a large pot until the tines of a fork enter without difficulty. Remove the skin while they’re still hot: I use a trick that helps in not burning my hands, you stick the potato on a fork, and remove the skin with a knife.
While still hot, mash the potatoes on the flour that you have sifted on the pastry board in a fountain shape. Add the egg with a bit of salt.
Mix with your hands until you get a compact dough. Don’t overwork it, the more you touch the mixture, the harder the gnocchi will get.
Roll part of the dough into 2 cm thick loaves, sprinkle the work surface with semola if too sticky. Cut them into evenly sized squares. The aim is to make gnocchi that are in identical size to each other.
Drag them on the tines of a fork to shape them, and lay them on a tray sprinkled with semola flour so they don’t stick together.
Cook them in boiling water until they float. I throw in a bit at a time so i can make sure they don’t stick together, and transfer them in a pan where I melted the butter with the saffron!
