First post! Excuse the picture quality, lack of accompanying images and the writing style for now – bigger things to come in the future hopefully!
I’ve been working on getting gnocchi right for a while now, playing with flour type, flour ratio, degree of knead, cooking time, frying/not frying etc. First couple of times the gnocchi fell apart or turned into mush. Then after a few changes they held together well, but were a bit gluey. Finally today the texture was just right!
From what I gather so far there’s a few keys to getting it right.
Type of flour: High-grade (or strong flour) – the times I tried using plain flour, the gnocchi ended up gluey.
Type of potato: Floury potatoes are key – in NZ, agria is probably the most accessible.
Flour to potato ratio: This one is contentious because I think it probably changes depending on type of potato, how you cook it etc. My favourite Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo suggests 1 part flour to 10 parts potato (e.g. 100g of potato needs 10g of flour). Someone else I saw suggested 0.27 (e.g. 100g of potato needs 27g of flour). I tried both. I found too much flour and you lose the potato texture; too little flour and you might as well be having mash (but perhaps I need to try Gennaro’s method again). I had success today at 0.16 (e.g. 100g of potato needs 16g flour).
Length of knead and technique: I think there is a reasonable window between under-working and over-working the dough, but rather than kneading it’s more of a pressing/folding motion. I work the dough a little past the point that it just comes together so that I have more confidence in the gnocchi not falling apart.
Cooking time: The only rule is that you must not overcook the gnocchi – very easy to do. Some people suggest leaving the gnocchi in the boiling water for 20-30 seconds after it floats but I think it’s more like 10 if that. If cooked for too long it will turn to mush regardless of how well you’ve done all the steps prior.
With this in mind let’s get to it!
Note: The lamb shank was leftovers and went nicely with the rest of it. Any red meat stew would pair well. This recipe is just for the gnocchi.
Crispy gnocchi with capsicum and olive oil (vegan)
Serves: 2
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes
Ingredients for gnocchi:
3 medium Agria potatoes
~ 30-40g High grade flour + extra for dusting
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Ingredients for sauce:
Extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed) Ideally Red Island or The Village Press, wouldn’t recommend Lupi
3 cloves garlic
One small capsicum
Chilli (optional but recommended)
Top with:
Parsley
Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese (this would make it not vegan)
Instructions:
- Rinse and scrub the potatoes if necessary. With a paring knife, stab them 3 times on one side and 3 times on the other. Microwave for 3.5 minutes. Flip and microwave for another 3.5 minutes. Continue in 1 minute increments if not cooked after 7. This produces potatoes not dissimilar to baked potatoes in a fraction of the time and energy.
- In the meantime, slice the garlic and chilli. Dice the capsicum.
- While still hot, remove the skin from the cooked potatoes using a paring knife or just your hands.
- If you have a potato ricer, rice the potatoes out onto a flat surface (try to distribute the potato evenly across the surface rather than piling it into a mound) and allow to cool. This lets the steam escape. Otherwise use a fork to bash them up a bit and do the same, but don’t overwork them at this stage.
- Once cooled, weigh the potato and then put it back on the flat surface (again spreading it out). Multiply the weight of the potato by 0.16 and measure out that amount of high-grade flour.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg across the top of the potato, then cover the potato evenly with the flour.
- Using a blunt tool like a dough scraper or butter knife, use a chopping motion across the top of the mixture to start to incorporate the flour and potato. This starts the mixing process without kneading which would activate the gluten.
- After around 30 seconds, start to bring the mixture together by pressing down and folding the crumbly parts into the dough. Press, fold. Repeat until there’s no more crumbs and the dough just comes together. Then do a few more gentle presses and folds before shaping the dough into a ball and dusting with flour.
- Quarter the dough using the same blunt tool, then press gently between your hands to start to form a cylinder. On a flat surface very lightly dusted with flour, gently roll the dough using your fingers with a backwards-forwards motion of the arms. Aim for a log around 2cm thick. If the log starts to lose structure and fall apart as you roll, this may be because you need to be more gentle or you haven’t worked the gluten quite enough. If this happens, fold the log in half on itself and squeeze it a few times to work the dough before trying again.
- Once you have rolled the dough into logs, dust them with flour, then use the same blunt tool to cut the logs to form the gnocchi, roughly into 2x2cm squares (they will expand when cooked).
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Salt it well. Cook the gnocchi in batches so as not to cool the water too much, as this would mean they are soaking in the water for longer than necessary. After only a minute or two, once they float up (they will probably start to bounce up and down with the convection currents), wait another 10-15 seconds before removing and placing on a plate (or other surface where they aren’t crushing each other).
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large flat pan on a medium-high heat. Remove from the heat to place the gnocchi into the oil but try not to add too much of the gnocchi water as it will cause the oil to splash. Return to heat and brown both sides of the gnocchi – this might take a few minutes. Just before the second side is done, add in the garlic, chilli and capsicum. Fry for another 2-3 minutes, but don’t let the garlic burn. Add another pinch of salt and pepper.
- Serve topped with chopped parsley and another splash of olive oil (definitely) and pecorino or parmesan cheese (if you wish).
Concluding remarks: Have fun, chances are it won’t go quite to plan the first time round. To be honest it felt like a bit of a fluke that they worked out well today. The simple flavours of chilli, garlic and capsicum keep the gnocchi as the centrepiece, but additions such as cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, feta, capers, olives etc. would go down a treat. Thanks for bearing with me!