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Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of large, mature baking (russet)
potatoes, preferably Idaho (pick the larger spuds as they tend to be
more mealy), unpeeled
- 1-1/2 cups sifted flour, preferably
unbleached
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- salt to taste
Topping:
- 3 pats of butter or a tomato sauce or
meat gravy of your choice
- grated parmesan cheese
Wash the potatoes and place them in a pot
of boiling water over high heat. Add salt. When the potatoes reach a
boil, reduce to a medium flame. Cook until slightly tender - about 20
minutes for small potatoes, longer for larger ones. However the true
test of when they are done is when a fork or cake tester easily
penetrates to the center of the potato. Do not overcook them! Drain them
and allow to cool for a few minutes, then peel the potatoes. They will
be very hot, so hold the potatoes with a fork with one hand as you peel
with the other.
Place a large pot of salted water to
boil.
 It
is now time to mash or rice the potatoes. There are two ways of doing it
- mashing with an ordinary potato masher, or mashing them with a potato
ricer which looks like a giant garlic press (illustrated to the left).
Using a standard potato masher for this
job is more work and the results are usually lumpy or uneven. The ricer,
on the other hand is simple to use, quick, and the results are
consistently smooth. If you like home-made mashed potatoes as well as
gnocchi, the investment in a potato ricer is mandatory.
Cut each potato in half or quarters
(depending on how large they are), then fill the ricer chamber to
capacity. Crush the contents until you have done all the potatoes.
The next step is to combine the mashed
potatoes, flour and eggs. There are two ways for doing this:
1. The traditional way is to place a
mound of flour on a kneading board, make a hole in the center for the
beatene eggs, blend the eggs into the flower, then add the riced
potatoes and with your hands combine all the ingredients, then continue
working the dough to its final stages.
I prefer a less messy way that can also
be quicker:
2. In a large mixing bowl, place the
flour, make a hole in the center for the beaten eggs and add the eggs.
With an ordinary fork or spoon, combine the egg into the flour, then add
the mashed potatoes. Use your hands to finish combining all the
ingredients and work them until they can be removed as a single mass.
Place on the kneading board.
Lightly dust the kneading board and your
hands with flour. Slowly add the remaining flour and continue
turning and working the dough only until it becomes a homogeneous mass.
The way to tell if the dough is ready for the final shaping is by
cutting it in half with a sharp knife. If you can still see the shapes
of the mashed potatoes which look like rice kernels - hence the name
"potato ricer" - you need to work the dough just a little bit more.
Once ready, cut the halves into smaller
working pieces. Using both hands, roll each piece of dough into a long
tube about 1/2 to 3/4-inch in diameter and as long as your kneading
board and dexterity allow. Once you have reached a consistent tube
shape, cut the roll into 1/2 to 1-inch sections, depending on your
personal size preference. At this point, put aside some of the gnocchi
to convert them into gnochetti (Kiffel; cometti).
Always be sure that the kneading board
and your hands are sprinkled with flour.
 The
final step in the preparation of standard gnocchi before boiling
requires a hard cheese grater - either the small hand-held model or the
multi-purpose bow grater pictured on the right The photograph shows the
side with the larger holes which is not the side to be used.
If you are right handed, hold the grater
with the left hand (and vice versa if you are left-handed). Pick one
piece of gnocchi at a time, and using two fingers, roll the the
dough over the cheese grate, simultaneously pressing slightly with one
finger to create an indentation in the middle of the dough (created by
your fingers) as the grater makes its own indentations on the
outside. Once you get the knack of how to do this, this step will become
systematic and quick. Makes sure that you do not pile the finished
gnocchi
on top of each other, for they will stick together. Lay they singly on a
flat and heavily floured surface.
Cooking the prepared gnocchi is a simple
matter of placing the individual pieces into the salted boiling water
and waiting for them to rise to the surface which takes only a minute or
two. It is preferable to not empty the cooked gnocchi into a colander.
Instead, scoop up a batch with a hand strainer, drain over the pot, and
drop the gnocchi into a bowl that has some of the sauce at the bottom.
This way, not only will the gnocchi remain intact, but you can also coat
them more easily with the sauce and grated cheese on top. Repeat this
process until you have removed all of the gnocchi. Sprinkle with more
parmesan cheese to taste.
Gnochetti
(Kiffel; cometti)
Roll out each of the cut gnocchi that you
have set aside iinto long "fingers" approximately 3-inch long and
slightly thicker than a standard pencil. Boil them separately from the
regular gnocchi, then fry them in butter and confectioner's sugar. If
you are preparing gnochi de susini
instead of frying them, you may toss them in the same sweet breadcrumb
sauce as used for the gnocchi.
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See also:
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