gnocchi

[thesmartestgiantintown]

want to have a go at cooking this so am looking for a good recipe please. also would it go with a tomato sauce and goats cheese? thanx

[Riveninside]

Bbc has two versions of the recipe

[Xiaoxiong]

I've only made these once with no success - now I usually buy fresh ones. We love them boiled, then fried in butter with sage and some butternut squash. Tomato and goat's cheese sounds nice too though.

If I were to try though, I might follow these recipes which have step by step pictures:
www.101cookbooks.com/archives/how-to-make-gnocchi-like-an-italian-grandmother-recipe.html
www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2009/05/19/15-minutes-to-fame-gnocchi-for-beginners-and-braggarts/
simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_gnocchi/

[thesmartestgiantintown]

thanx why do you think they went wrong? wondering if i should buy a backup packet!

[Xiaoxiong]

They came out rubbery and tough when I tried. Now having looked at the links I posted above, I'm pretty sure I did all of the following:

• used potatoes that weren't ideal (I think they may even have been waxy salad potatoes rather than floury ones)
  
• didn't let the potatoes steam in the sieve with a teatowel on top before mashing, to get rid of as much moisture as possible
  
• overmashed the potatoes so they were sticky (as they were pretty wet already, this didn't help)
  
• added too much flour because the dough seemed really sticky (probably because of the above)
  
• overworked the dough (to incorporate the extra flour)
  

Kind of a cascade of failures, mostly due to using the wrong potatoes from the outset. But now I've thought about it...I may try again!

[thesmartestgiantintown]

great thanx, am going to give it a try later, will report back!

[fangmaboobies]

I just made excellent gnocchi with this simple method. I've tried lots of more complicated ones before and none were as good.

Get however many spuds you want, weigh them, then microwave as for jacket potatoes. Weigh out a quarter of the potato weight in plain flour.

Scoop out the potatoes, layering with flour to trap the steam in a bit. Mix together quickly with a fork. Roll into a sausage on a floured surface & chop/ cook til they rise to the top as all the recipes say. I didn't do any kneading

I made these for DS' lunch (hidden veg sauce), covered the unrolled dough with clingfilm & used that for me and DH half an hr later (filthily rich blue cheese sauce). We thought the 2nd batch tasted nicer & more potatoey. But maybe we were just hungrier.

I used harmony potatoes (floury). Recently they've been the 2 for £2 variety at asda.

[MissTinaTeaspoon]

Don't boil or steam the potatoes, they'll get too wet and the gnocci will fall apart when you cook them. Either bake them for an hour and scoop out the flesh when cool or use a microwave as above.

[EmilyHallow]

My Italian grandmother used to make these from scratch and they were amazing- far more trouble than they're worth for me though. I buy the ready made kind (Giuseppe Rana are the best) but the kids aren't too keen I have to say. :)

[cybbo]

I buy ready made gnocchi (asdas extra special is delish) and serve baked with tom sauce and mucho mozzarella and basil

[thesmartestgiantintown]

thanx everyone. thought i would report back.
i made this gnocchi www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/basilgnocchiwithsimp_74596 and it was lovely. i will be making it again. i served it with a tom sauce, roasted veg and goats cheese