Task #10: Homemade Gnocchi

This entry is part 11 of 22 in the series Tackling Tasks

gnocchi prep 7

Tomorrow is a big day in our house.  Our youngest is turning ONE!  Yea!  We are so blessed to have her in our lives and can’t wait so get to know her better in the coming year!

We are planning on having a birthday party for her next Saturday, so I thought it would be nice to just have the grandparents (that can make it) come and join us for dinner.  And then I started planning the menu, trying to come up with things our ONE year old can eat.  I quickly settled on gnocchi (the massive bag of potatoes in my kitchen had nothing to do with it).  I LOVE gnocchi and I think W will, too!

I am planning on making a couple different sauces and serving some veggies and French bread on the side (’cause who doesn’t need a few more carbs in her life?).  After much deliberation throughout the week G and I have decided to make a vanilla cake with banana frosting for W.

So, tonight’s task was making the Gnocchi.  I went ahead and made a big batch of them, so I could freeze some and use the rest for tomorrow night.

The ingredient list is very simple: potatoes, flour, egg, salt.

gnocchi ingredients

I had already cooked the potatoes and peeled them, so I processed them in my food processor.  This is not the ideal tool for breaking down the potatoes (you would want a food mill for that), but it is what I have on hand.

Once the potatoes are very finely mashed (pureed), dump them onto a clean surface, make a well in the center of the potatoes, and sprinkle generously with all-purpose flour.

Gnocchi prep 1

Crack the egg(s) depending on how much you are making into the center of the well and season the egg with the salt.  Lightly beat the egg and the salt together and then incorporate the egg into the flour and potato.

gnocchi prep 2

Once it forms a dough or a ball, knead it gently for a little while, until the dough is dry.  You may have to add more flour through this process (this is the reason I did not include measurements here) depending on the type of potatoes you use and the humidity of the mixture).

After it is formed and dry to the touch, separate the dough into smaller sections to make balls (smaller than a baseball but larger than a golf ball).  You may have to flour your hands and your work surface for this.

gnocchi prep 3

Roll the smaller sections into long dough snakes.

gnocchi prep 4

Cut into 1″ pieces (give or take) and use the tines of a fork to mark the gnocchi.  gnocchi prep 5

I went to a class a long time ago on how to make gnocchi, but for the life of me I cannot remember what she said to do to make the gnocchi look “authentic.”  But the beauty of gnocchi is each one is unique.

gnocchi prep 7

I am so looking forward to celebrating our little one’s birthday tomorrow and to eating these gnocchi.

As I said, I am freezing some and saving some for tomorrow.  Since the potatoes are already cooked and the flour and eggs do not take long to cook, I am going to get a pot of boiling salted water going and add these to them to wake them up.  From frozen you can wake them up by adding them to a pot of boiling, salted water and cooking for a bit longer, until heated through.

Homemade Gnocchi


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This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. evonne

    What a great celebration! Wish I could be there. Happy birthday W!!!

  2. Deirdre

    This looks delicious! What a great birthday treat!

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