Homemade Gnocchi

The simplest way!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1kg Maris Piper Potato's (or any floury starchy potato variety)

• 130g Plain flour (and extra for dusting)

• tsp salt

• 1 egg yolk

Method

Step 1

Boil your potatoes until cooked all the way through. I leave the skin on to save time, as the skin will be removed when you mash! Once cooked throughout, remove and let cool until they are okay to handle.

Step 2

For this step, the tool you use for mashing is actually very important in order to both remove the skin easily and get the smooth, lump-free mash you require. So, I would either use a sieve or a potato ricer. I use a sieve as it’s what I’ve got, plus once it has all passed through the sieve, you know that it is as smooth as can be! It does take a little elbow grease though!

Step 3

Add in your plain flour and combine together. I use a dough scraper and find it the easiest, but use what you have and want! Once combined, add in your salt and egg yolk and combine again.

Step 4

Start to heat up a large pot of water, enough to fully submerge the gnocchi with room to move, and put on the heat to simmer. On a floured surface, once all is combined and you have a smooth, non-sticky, dough-like ball, remove a handful of the gnocchi dough and roll out into as even a tube as you can get, until it is about 1½ cm thick in width. Get a knife or, if you’re like me, your dough scraper, and start cutting off just under inch-sized gnocchi, making sure they are reasonably coated in flour and not heaped on top of one another when you set them aside (they can get sticky together).

Step 5

Put your gnocchi in your simmering water and cook until the gnocchi starts to float. Keep concentrated because it happens quicker and more all at once than you may think. This should be around 2–3 mins. Drain them, coat them in a little oil, add your sauce of choice, and voilà!

Visual Step by Step: