I’m not the artist here, just the technician.
The man responsible for these truly awesome gnocchi is the New York chef and restaurateur Andrew Carmellini. It’s his recipe that I used, and I have used it ever since first coming across it several years ago. (Here is the link to the original and complete recipe.)
There’s a good reason Carmellini titled this recipe “The Best Gnocchi.”
When it comes to potato gnocchi that is exactly what they are.
I have never made a lighter, more luxurious potato gnocchi than I have when using this recipe. And so if I am not making my own cheese gnocchi recipe then I am using Carmellini’s potato version.
If you enjoy a fine potato gnocchi then I strongly suggest you do the same.
Start with around two pounds of Idaho potatoes. Clean them, put them on a baking sheet, and into the oven they go (425 degrees F should do it), until the flesh is nice and soft. These took a little over an hour.
While the potatoes are baking it’s best to get all of your other ingredients together and ready to go. The reason is that you’ll want to mix them into the potatoes while they’re still warm out of the oven. This is very important. You do NOT want the potatoes to cool down before mixing the gnocchi dough.
What you’ll need is 1 beaten egg, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon course ground black pepper. In addition you’ll need around 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour on hand.
When the potatoes are cooked slice them open and scoop out all the flesh while it’s still warm.
Run the potato through a ricer (use the smallest die) and into a mixing bowl.
Immediately add all the other ingredients, except for the flour.
And gently incorporate, using your fingers.
Then add 1 cup of the flour and very gently mix all of the ingredients together until a dough forms. The dough should hold together but not be sticky; if it does feel sticky work in a little bit more flour. Note: Do not take the term “gently” lightly. A successful gnocchi dough requires a very light touch. Anything more forceful will make for a heavy, tough gnocchi.
Please. Trust me on this.
Form the dough into a ball and turn it onto a well-floured work surface.
With a pastry cutter (or just a knife) cut an inch-or-so-wide piece of dough from the ball.
And lightly roll it out using your fingers. (You see that I said “lightly,” right?)
This is about what you’ll wind up with after rolling.
Each strand you roll out then gets cut into inch-wide gnocchi, like so.
Just a note: This recipe will easily feed four people. If you don’t want to cook all the gnocchi at once then lay some out on a well-floured baking sheet and put them in the freezer. Once the gnocchi are fully frozen tranfer them to a freezer bag and store.
Here, of course, we have opted for cooking the gnocchi. (In well-salted water, but you knew that.)
It will only take a couple minutes for the gnocchi to cook; as a rule of thumb figure that when they are all floating atop a rolling boil of water the gnocchi are done. Do NOT empty the gnocchi into a colander, as you might with some other pastas. Take them out of the water using a slotted spoon and transfer into a pan with whatever sauce you plan on using. Then gently stir and transfer the gnocchi to individual plates for serving.
Like so.
I promise that if you take your time and use a gentile hand you will thank me for this recipe.
Just as I thanked Chef Carmellini years ago.
Mister Meatball 