Homemade Gnocchi and Marinara

Homemade Gnocchi and Marinara

Although Gnocchi is known as an Italian dish, it is not technically a pasta. It is made primarily from potatoes. Below is the recipe I used. It seems to get great reviews so I will continue to use it and fine tune it over time.
There are many sources for recipes on making homemade gnocchi, however few of them nail it right. Many of the recipes call for you to peel, slice, dice, or prick the potatoes before boiling. Do not do this. The potato will absorb too much water and therefore require more flour, resulting in an overly heavy and mushy gnocchi.

Ingredients:

5 Large Russet Potatoes
1 Tbsp of Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/4 cups of Unbleached All Purpose Flour
2 Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup of Parmigiana Cheese, grated

Boil the potatoes whole with the skin on for about 35 minutes or until you are sure they will be cooked enough to mash. Remove potatoes and peel the skin (they may need to cool off a bit first). Using a ricer, potato masher, or fork, mash the potatoes until finely mashed, leaving them fluffy and without any chunks. It is best to try and aerate or fluff them with the fork if possible (unless you're using a ricer, which case, just let them fall and do not mash them). Take a little of the flour and sprinkle it on the surface that you will be working on. Place the potatoes in a pile and make a small bowl in the top to put the egg yolks, olive oil, and parmigiana in. Begin kneading the potatoes with your hands as if it were dough, adding a little flour at a time as you go, until the potatoes are smooth. You will want to continue adding the flour until the mixture is not tacky enough to stick to the surface, however you should not need more flour than what this recipe calls for.

Once your mixture feels complete, tear off a small handful and begin to roll it into a long roll about 1/2" - 3/4" thick. Take a knife and cut the piece off in sections about an inch or so long, or just eyeball it. At this point you can choose whether or not you prefer the gnocchi to be smooth or ribbed. Ribbed is a little time consuming, since you will be rolling each piece down the prongs of a fork (unless you have a gnocchi board). Either way will come out tasting fine. If you choose to rib them, take each piece and putting gentle pressure against the top (handle end) of the fork prongs, and roll downward until the piece rolls in half and folds over itself.

Once you are finished with the gnocchi pieces, boil a pot of water and then once boiling, reduce to a simmer.  Once the water is simmering, begin adding the gnocchi in groups of 20 at a time. Have a bowl of ice water ready on the side. Once the gnocchi starts to float to the top (usually about 45 seconds), begin removing them and shocking them in the iced water. This will prevent them from cooking further. Remove from ice water, strain, and place in a bowl.

You can choose to cook these any way you prefer. However, for this recipe, I chose to saute them. Heat a medium saute pan to medium temperature. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add a little fresh garlic or garlic powder, as well as some fresh sage or ground sage, and salt and pepper to taste. I sauteed these until they were lightly brown on each side, giving them a slightly crisp outside with a nice warm, soft, and fluffy inside.

The Marinara Sauce


The most important part of this sauce is the tomatoes. San Marzano are what most professional chefs would consider the finest tomatoes available for making sauce. They are of the finest quality and worth the extra change. I like the Cento as it is most readily available in my local grocery stores.

Ingredients:

1 Large can of San Marzano Tomatoes 

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup Fresh Basil Chiffonade

4 Garlic cloves finely chopped

2-3 Tbsp Fresh Parsley

Red Pepper to taste

Salt, Black Pepper to taste

Heat a sauce pan up to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Blend tomatoes either with hands or with a food processor until the desired amount of consistency is reached. Depending on your preference, you may want it smooth or chunky. Place garlic in pan and saute for about 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, basil, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. I like for mine to have a little heat to it so I add a little red pepper. Bring sauce to a boil and then immediately reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally. Serve over the gnocchi (or any pasta for that matter), and sprinkle with Parmagiana-Reggiano.

Enjoy!