Gnocchi I

A great, basic gnocchi recipe. I like this served with a simple garlic butter sauce and some oregano, basil, and black pepper. I might have an idea about why reviewers have disagreed on how much flour this recipe needs: It depends on how much water the potatoes absorb during cooking. If you boil them whole, they'll absorb a fair bit of water; if you boil them in chunks, they'll absorb even more. If you steam them, they'll absorb less, and if you microwave them, they'll absorb none at all. My suggestion: Start with one cup of flour and add more to the potato mixture as you knead it until the dough is dry to the touch (but not so dry that it crumbles). My experience is that two pounds of potatoes will take about a cup and a half of flour.

I have a tip for anyone who thinks the recipe takes too long - after I knead the dough, I put it in an icing bag, squeeze it straight into the boiling water, cutting it into 1-inch pieces as I squeeze. Great recipe!

Okay, I've never eaten a gnocchi before in my life, but from what I understand, the potatoes should be really finely mashed (by using a ricer or whatnot), and I have a suggestion to anyone wishing to get finely mashed spuds: Use a mixer! I'm using a stand mixer but I've used hand mixers in the past to make whipped potatoes (I never had mashed potatoes growing up, they were always whipped with a mixer). I cooked 6 medium-large unpeeled potatoes in the microwave in batches of 3 for 7 minutes per batch (turning halfway through), and then I let them cool slightly and peeled them (accomplished more easily with some napkins and towels, the skins just sloughed off). Put them in my mixer bowl, added 3 TBS butter, some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and nutmeg. Let them fully cool, then I added 2 eggs and mixed them in slightly with the beaters. By hand, I mixed and kneaded in the flour. I only used 3/4 cup, and it seemed good, so I cooked a dozen little gnocchi up. They were way too squishy, so I kneaded about another ½ cup or so of flour into the remaining dough. I snaked them out, cut them, and put them on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. I then put the sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, into a freezer bag! I cooked some frozen ones up to make sure they're great, and they were pretty good with a mushroom pasta sauce! Thanks for a fun recipe!