Gnocchi is of Italian origin. It is a little pasty thing – such that it resembles method of cooking of pasta by boiling them in salted water and dough. However, there are mashed potatoes in them, you will not normally find in pasta.
The word ‘gnocchi’ would allegedly come from the Italian ‘nocchio’, which means a knot in a tree or ‘nocca’ which means knot. And that seems to be the appearance, which with a certain amount of imagination can remind you of either a knot in a tree or a knot.
Gnocchi Recipe
As with many other Italian specialties, there are as many variations of gnocchi as there are regions in Italy and Italian housewives. Gnocchi dates back to Roman times, and at that time it did not contain potatoes, but was made of a porridge-like dough. The potato variety only came after the potato had taken its way to Europe. And now it’s come to stay.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 500 g potatoes
- 200 g wheat flour
- 50 g parmesan
- 1 egg
How to make gnocchi
- Peel the potatoes and cook them in so much water that it covers them completely.
- Let the potatoes cool and mash them.
- Blend together mashed potato, flour, parmesan and egg together into a uniform, smooth dough and let it rest for half an hour.
- Put a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling.
- Roll the dough to form sausages, cut the sausages into pieces of 2-3 cm (fand give each piece a pressure with a fork.
- Boil gnocchi – possibly by several rounds – for 3-4 minutes. They reach the surface when they are finished.
Gnocchi is served – like pasta – by turning in a sauce or getting it poured over. A good choice is the Neapolitan marinara sauce or a more traditional tomato sauce. But here on the picture they are served with basil pesto and some extra good olive oil.
Tip: Have you cooked potatoes left over from dinner, so you can easily use them. Then you also save the time to boil potatoes, which undoubtedly makes gnocchi even more fast-mums!
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes