Tag Archives: Gnocchi

Potato gnocchi – gluten free

Posted on May 11, 2013 | 6 Comments

My beautiful daughter Tamara moved back home a few weeks ago after a rather nasty breakup with her boyfriend of one and a half years. I am overjoyed at having her home so we can watch girly movies, go shopping, get our nails done together and I can cook her wonderful home made meals. She tells me I am turning into her nonna by always having a meal ready for her when she gets home. She has been eating gluten-free for about a year (which has really helped her feel better) but it does present a bit of a challenge for my usual repertoire of home made pasta, cakes and her favorite gnocchi. Last week I was determined to make gluten-free gnocchi for her as it had been so long since she had been able to eat them (photo below is Tamara with her nonna Livia).

It was so much easier than I thought it would be! Armed with Blue Moon potatoes from the local Farmer’s Market, which have a bluish skin and are floury which makes them ideal for gnocchi, I trawled the Internet for information on what to use in place of regular plain flour. The were recipes with sweet rice flour, cornflour, gluten free bread flour, tapioca starch and a whole lot more. I liked the sound of a recipe using potato starch (or potato flour) in place of regular flour. I felt I couldn’t go wrong mixing potato with potato.

The result was quite spectacular. I was worried that they would fall apart when boiled due to the lack of gluten, but it didn’t happen. They stayed together beautifully. They were a bit difficult to roll so it took a bit more time than it would normally take to prepare them. And you can’t roll them on the back of a fork to give them a little curl to hold the sauce in. However they were tender and like pillows of potatoes. Using regular plain flour to make gnocchi you run the risk of incorporating too much flour and them becoming chewy. This doesn’t happen when you mix potatoes with potato flour. We ate them covered in a rich tomato basil sauce. They were delicious and I am now a convert to the gluten free way for gnocchi…and Tamara is pretty happy too!

Gluten free potato gnocchi with a simple tomato basil sauce
serves 4
2-3 large Blue moon (or Desiree) potatoes – about 750g
1 cup potato starch
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
sauce:
1 tin of chopped peeled tomatoes
1/2 onion, peeled and whole
50g unsalted butter
Stem of fresh basil (or about 6 fresh leaves)
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar

Scrub the potatoes and place in a large saucepan, 3/4 filled with cold water. The potatoes should be whole and unpeeled. It is easier if they are a similar size so they all have the same approximate cooking times. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the potatoes are tender (start testing them at 20 – 30 minutes depending on how large they are) when prodded with a fork. Drain (removing one at a time if needed) and peel. Place the cooked potatoes through a potato ricer (or mash them finely) and spread out onto a chopping board. Allow to cool completely. In the meantime make the tomato sauce. Place all the ingredients in a smallish saucepan on medium to low heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, discarding the onion and basil before serving.

Make a well in the center of the cooled cooked potatoes. Break open the egg in the center of the potatoes and sprinkle over the cup of potato starch and salt. Mix with your hands until the mixture is uniform and make a large loaf shape. Cut off a slice of the potato mixture and cut into cubes that are approximately 5 or 6 cm across. Roll each cube between the palms of both hands until you form balls. Set aside and work on the rest of the potato loaf one slice at a time (covering the loaf with some plastic wrap to prevent it drying out). Cover the gnocchi you have rolled as you prepare them with a clean tea towel (again to prevent them from drying out).

Boil a large pot of salted water. Gently drop the gnocchi in the water (don’t throw the lot in at once as you may overcrowd the pot, drop then in a handful at a time ) and cook them a few minutes until they rise to the surface. The potatoes are essentially already cooked so you will just need to heat the gnocchi through.

Lift the cooked gnocchi out of the water carefully with a slotted spoon, a few at a time, and place on warmed plates. Spoon over the prepared tomato sauce (or other favorite sauce) and scatter with grated parmigiano before serving.

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Posted in Pasta, rice and gnocchi, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tagged gluten free, gluten free gnocchi, gluten free gnocchi recipe, gluten free potato gnocchi, gluten free potato gnocchi recipe, Gnocchi

Potato gnocchi stuffed with prunes – gnocs di Cerzuvint

Posted on August 12, 2012 | 4 Comments

Sweet ingredients often work surprisingly well in a savoury dish. When I was recently holidaying in the Friuli region of Italy, I found some delightful recipes in a book that brought together traditional recipes from the Carnia, the alpine corner of north east Italy. There were recipes which had combinations of spices like cinnamon and cloves and dried fruit such as figs, sultanas and prunes in savoury food, which I found fascinating as we don’t generally think of these ingredients as being italian.

Regular readers of my blog will know of my love affair with gnocchi having posted about beetroot gnocchi, ricotta gnocchi and eggplant gnocchi. So when I found a recipe for Gnocs di Cerzuvint (in Friulano, meaning Gnocchi of Cercivento, a tiny town in Carnia) that use both dried fruit and spices in the gnocchi recipe, I copied it down to try it at home.

Potatoes and plums/prunes are eaten together all over this part of Italy, even in parts of nearby Austria and Hungary, and are generally made into dumplings, often coated with breadcrumbs and cinnamon. This recipe is fairly traditional though the cinnamon is incorporated in the potato dough and breadcrumbs are omitted. The result is a soft ball of savoury potato goodness with a hint of cinnamon with a luscious sweet surprise in the centre. Sage burnt butter is perfect with these gnocchi, and I would suggest a glass of Sangiovese wine would be ideal if you served these for entree (4 or 5 gnocchi per person) or as a main (Mark ate 10 of them when I made them today). Scatter salty parmigiano on top and you have the perfect mix of sweetness and saltiness. Buon appetito!

Gnocchi with prunes
Makes 20 gnocchi
300g potatoes
150g 00 flour
2 small eggs, lightly beaten
a large pinch of powdered cinnamon
20 moist prunes, stone removed
75g unsalted butter
50g grated parmigiano cheese
6 sage leaves
salt to taste

Cook the potatoes whole in water until they are soft (I used Desiree potatoes) – 30 minutes or more depending on the size of the potato. Test them with a fork and remove when the fork pierces the potato easily. Peel the potatoes and mash them with a potato ricer (if you have one – or else use a potato masher though it is important that they are smooth with no lumps) whilst they are still warm.

Allow the potatoes to cool completely before mixing in the flour, cinnamon and eggs until you have a homogeneous dough. Put a small amount of dough (size of a small egg) in your hand and roll into a ball. Open the ball of dough and insert a prune and close again, rolling in a bit of extra flour if needed. The prune should be completely covered by a thin – medium layer of the potato mixture. Set aside.

Boil a large pot of water and salt as needed. Place the gnocchi in the boiling water, about 10 at a time (depending on the size of your saucepan – don’t over-crowd the saucepan) and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove from the saucepan with a large slotted spoon and place on serving plates. Spoon over the sage burnt butter (see below) and top with grated parmigiano. You can also place the gnocchi in the pan with the burnt butter and toss them for a few minutes if you like the outer layer of the gnocchi a bit crisp and drenched in butter – it is nice either way. Scatter with parmigiano before serving.

For the sage butter: heat the butter in a frypan and when it has melted, add the sage leaves. The butter will froth up after a few minutes, turn brown and the sage leaves will become crispy.

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Posted in Italy - Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Pasta, rice and gnocchi, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tagged Friuli, Gnocchi, parmigiano, prunes

Red gnocchi

Posted on June 10, 2012 | 7 Comments

My gnocchi are yellow. They always have been. That is the way my mamma taught me to make them, with beautiful yellow potatoes. Having recently had success making eggplant and potato gnocchi, I decided to continue with the theme of adding other vegetables to the traditional potatoes in gnocchi. When I looked through what words and sentences had been used by you, the readers of this blog, in searching for recipes, I found beetroot gnocchi. Red gnocchi. Fascinated by the idea, I decided to do a bit of searching myself and found my favorite of the Two Greedy Italians, Gennaro Contaldo and his beetroot gnocchi recipe. Well how could I resist?

I was going to modify the sauce that went with the beetroot gnocchi, adding goats cheese, walnuts, dill or other things that are traditionally married with beetroot. But the pantry was bare and I had the simple ingredients that Signor Contaldo’s recipe required, being oranges, sage leaves and butter. So this is what I did without too many changes. And I loved the results. Really loved it. Mark proclaimed that it was his new favorite meal and I think it has become mine as well. It looks dramatic, tasting sweet and salty at the same time. The richness of the butter sauce and the fragrance of the sage blend beautifully with the zesty bite from the oranges.

Be prepared to end up with bright red hands though. Mark thought I had slaughtered the neighbours when he came in and caught me red handed making the gnocchi dough. Or you could use gloves when handling the beetroot. The recipe below will make a good size entree portion for four people. Serve the red gnocchi with a glass of red wine, of course, to follow the theme. A Sangiovese will do nicely.

Red gnocchi*
serves 4 as an entree
300g fresh beetroot (200 g beetroot puree)
550g Desiree potatoes (500g potato puree)
150g plain flour
1 small egg, beaten (or half a large egg)
Juice of half an orange
Zest of one orange
Sage leaves, fresh, about 20 small ones
120g unsalted butter
Salt to taste

To make the beetroot puree, start the day before. Wash and trim the beetroot and cover with cold water in a saucepan. Simmer covered until the beetroot are cooked through and soft when pierced with a fork but continue to retain their shape. How long you need to cook them depends on the size of the beetroot, mine took just over an hour and were medium to large beetroots.

Remove the cooked beetroots from the water and peel while hot. The skin should rub off easily. Use gloves if you don’t want to end up with red hands. Place peeled and roughly chopped beetroot into a small food processor. Process until smooth. You can also pass the puree through a sieve to make sure there are no little pieces of beetroot left. Place in a drainer and allow liquid to drain from the puree overnight. You don’t need to do this but it will result in gnocchi that absorb less flour when you are making the dough and therefore they will be softer. You will need 200g of beetroot puree for this recipe.

To make the the potato puree, place the washed unpeeled potatoes in cold water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer until cooked through. Remove from the water, peel, and pass through a fine sieve. Lay the potato puree on your working surface to cool. Once cooled, scatter on the drained beetroot puree, half the flour and the egg. Incorporate to make a dough. You can also do this stage in a large bowl. Add the rest of the flour (or as much as you need to make a dough that can be rolled). Salt to taste. Cut off sections of the dough, roll into long thin sausages and cut off 2 cm pieces with a sharp knife to make gnocchi. Repeat with remaining mixture until you have made dozens of tiny gnocchi. Dust with a bit more flour if needed.

To cook, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi one at a time to the boiling water and cook until they rise to the surface (2 or 3 minutes). You will need to cook the quantity of gnocchi in this recipe in two batches or use two pots of water. Remove the cooked gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon and place in the frypan where you have made the sauce (see below). Toss in the pan until they are covered in the buttery sauce and it has thickened (will take a couple of munites) and serve, scattered with plenty of freshly grated parmigiano and the orange zest.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a large frypan. Add the sage leaves and cook for a few minutes until they are fragrant. Do not let the butter burn. Add the orange juice and heat through. The sauce takes about 3 our 4 minutes to make so start it when the water has almost boiled but before adding the gnocchi to the water.

* recipe adapted from Gennaro Contaldo on BBC Food.

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Posted in Pasta, rice and gnocchi, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tagged Beetroot, Beetroot gnocchi, Gennaro Contaldo, Gnocchi, Red gnocchi, two greedy italians

Eggplant and potato gnocchi

Posted on May 20, 2012 | 5 Comments

Growing up I often ate potato gnocchi. My mamma made the best potato gnocchi and they were better than the ones that anyone else made. They melted in your mouth. It was always a special occasion when she made them as it was so much work – my sister and I would help by rolling them and curling them on a fork so that they would pick up more sugo when you were eating them. Lately I have been making gnocchi with different ingredients, such as with ricotta and last night I tried to make them with eggplant.

I love the taste of eggplants (also known as aubergine and called melanzane in italian). There are so many different shapes, sizes and colours – purple, black or stripy. They are very wet vegetables – in fact most recipes require that they are salted and drained prior to cooking (to allow the liquid to drain off). In last month’s Gourmet Traveller magazine (the Italian issue), there was a recipe for eggplant and potato gnocchi. It sounded delicious so I had to try – and I was intrigued by the taste and the concept.

I tried to followed the recipe in the magazine but I had to change it to get the consistency right – everything stuck to the bench when I was trying to incorporate the flour. The eggplant was so wet that I needed almost double flour to what the recipe called for. It ended up being a rather messy affair but it was absolutely worth the effort! The gnocchi were deliciously tender with a subtle taste of eggplant that made them a bit more complex than the regular potato ones. Mark and I ate them with burnt butter with crispy sage leaves and shavings of parmigiano. Serve this dish with a good pinot nero (otherwise called Pinot Noir). Buon appetito!

Eggplant and potato gnocchi
serves 4
500g Dutch cream potatoes (2 large)
450g eggplant (1 large)
1 egg
225 – 250g plain flour
50g parmigiano, grated
salt
100g butter, unsalted
sage leaves, handful
Extra parmigiano, shaved, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Cut your eggplant in half lengthways and score the cut surface in a criss-cross pattern. Place on a baking tray with the eggplant cut side up and cook for 40-50 minutes until the flesh is soft and can be scooped away from the skin with a spoon.

Wash the skin of the potatoes and place them in a pot of cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on until the potato is cooked (about 40 minutes – test it with a fork). Pass the cooked potatoes through a potato ricer (remove the skin if it is not removed by the ricer) so they are finely mashed. Set the potato aside in a large mixing bowl. When the eggplant is cooked, remove it from the oven and spoon out the soft flesh and place it into a strainer. Press the eggplant to remove as much water as you can. There will be some harder bits left from where the top of the eggplant has cooked in the oven – I left this to add a bit of texture. Add the eggplant to the bowl with the potatoes. Wait for the vegetables to cool before proceeding.

Add an egg, the parmigiano and a good pinch of salt to the bowl of mashed cooked vegetables. Add about 100g of the flour to the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it is mixed in. Place half of the remaining flour on your work board (I have a stone kitchen bench so I worked directly on that) and place the vegetable mixture on top of this. Incorporate the flour on the bench into the mixture folding it onto itself. It will still be fairly wet.

Keep adding the flour bit by bit until it is in a large rough ball. Place the ball back into the same bowl. Taste the mixture and adjust for salt. Now you are ready to roll your gnocchi.

Take out a handful of the mixture and place it onto a floured surface. Make long thin rolls about 1 cm wide. Cut the rolls into 1 cm pieces with a sharp knife and place on a floured surface. Repeat with remaining mixture until you have made dozens of tiny gnocchi. Dust with a bit more flour if needed.

To cook, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the gnocchi one at a time to the boiling water and cook until they rise to the surface (2 or 3 minutes). You will need to cook the quantity of gnocchi in this recipe in two batches or use two pots of water. Remove the cooked gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon and place on serving plates.

For the burnt sage butter, place the butter in a small frying pan on medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sage leaves. Keep swirling the ingredients of the pan around and remove from the heat after the butter starts bubbling and turning slightly brown (4 to 5 minutes). The sage leaves should be crispy by then. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the burnt butter onto the gnocchi making sure the sage leaves are evenly distributed between the plates. Scatter shaved parmigiano.