Riding the Proverbial Bicycle: Killer Potato Gnocchi

Here in beautiful Central Oregon in early March, we've endured an extended stretch of snowy weather that continues to influence our dinners, making us crave warm, filling, slow-cooked meals, rather than the light, crisp, and refreshing meals that warm weather will make us desire.

Potato Gnocchi with Pork Ragù

The other day with snow streaming out of the sky, Ann and I were nestled under blankets on the sofa opposite the fire when she mentioned seemingly out of nowhere that pasta with pork ragù would make an awesome dinner. She was thinking of the bag of ragù that I had stashed in the freezer from the last time that I made a big batch. And no doubt she was thinking that we'd spend some together-time in the kitchen knocking out a batch of fresh pasta.

A few minutes later, I was walking through the kitchen where I spied three big russet potatoes starting to sprout on the counter. These unfortunate-looking spuds sat unused from one of our planned dinners back at the end of the year, a dinner that we cancelled on account of illness. Those potatoes prompted me to ask Ann if gnocchi would scratch her itch, rather than fresh pasta. We agreed on gnocchi to go with the ragù.

It's been a good long time since I made potato gnocchi. At least for the last decade and probably longer, I have been making ricotta gnocchi almost exclusively. But I am no stranger to making potato gnocchi, having made countless of the little dumplings in my life.

In fact, I remember on a dark day at my restaurant spending a majority of the day making a huge batch of potato gnocchi with my friend Frank, a typically brusque New York Italian and a hell of a baker, to serve at a big charity event. That batch started with five 50-pound cases of russet potatoes and a 50-pound sack of flour! So yeah, I have some experience making potato gnocchi.

Making potato gnocchi for the first time in ages was like riding the proverbial bicycle for me. Once you know how to ride, even if years have elapsed since the last time you rode, you can hop right on and pedal away. Like riding a bike, making gnocchi is something that you have to do for yourself to learn. I can write you all the instructions in the world for riding a bike, but that is in no way going to help know what it feels like to maintain your balance. Ditto for gnocchi. Learning what a proper gnocchi dough feels like is 100% a hands-on experience. Fortunately, learning to make gnocchi is much simpler than learning to bicycle.

Two final thoughts on potato gnocchi. First, ideal gnocchi should be light little pillows that remind you of mashed potatoes. The wetter the potatoes, the more flour you have to add to the dough to be able to handle it. The more flour you have to add, the denser and more leaden the gnocchi are and the further away from the ideal they become.

So, a lot of people recommend that you bake your potatoes rather than boil them, the thought being that baked potatoes do not absorb water as boiled potatoes do. While that is true, the gnocchi end up tasting of baked potatoes rather than of good mashed potatoes. For me, baking potatoes results in less than ideal gnocchi, even if they are easier to make and clean up. So I boil them exclusively.

Second, the type of potato that you use for gnocchi really matters. Gnocchi are not the place to showcase fancy potatoes. Save your cute waxy potatoes for potato salad and salade niçoise. What you want for gnocchi is a starchy, dry potato. Fortunately, the ideal gnocchi potato is one that we grow here in Oregon and next door in Idaho. This potato is the most common potato in the US, the russet that you can find at any grocer.

Making Potato Gnocchi

To start, peel the potatoes, cut them into large cubes (I will cut a typical 70-count Idaho into 16 pieces), put them in cold salted water, and boil them until you can pierce them easily. Drain the potatoes well.

While the potatoes are hot, put them through a ricer (at the restaurant, we used a large manual food mill) as in the photo below. Using a large spoon, turn the steaming riced potatoes over a few times while they cool to the point that you can touch them. This will allow some of the steam (and hence the water) to evaporate further.

At this point, start heating the water that you're going to poach the gnocchi in. You want to cook them soon after you shape them. This time, I ladled the potatoes out of the boiling water and added more fresh water to the already hot water in order to conserve both water and time.

Ricing the Boiled Potatoes

My Ricer Has Taken a Beating over 35 Years

Add a sprinkle of salt and some flour to the riced potatoes. I like to start with a large kitchen spoon of flour per large potato, knowing that it will probably take more later.

Add Flour and Salt

Mix the flour in well with your hands, kneading really gently. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary. You want a dough that just barely holds together. I ended up adding a fourth large kitchen spoon of flour to yield the dough that you see in the bowl below.

This is the finesse step of making gnocchi. If you've never made them before, add flour sparingly, knead sparingly so as not to develop the gluten in the flour, and test cook a lone gnoccho or two to see if it holds together during poaching. If so, you're golden. If not, add a bit more flour and retest. Soon enough, your hands will be able to feel when the dough is correct.

I have found that during the course of making gnocchi in a hot (restaurant) kitchen, the later batches of dough seems to take more flour compared to the earlier batches. It seems that as the dough sits, it can require more flour, so the goal is to shape them as quickly as possible. In any case, go easy on the flour and trust your feel.

Gnocchi Dough Ready to Roll

To start shaping gnocchi, cut a long piece of dough. For example, I cut the disk above into four long slices. On a lightly floured board or counter, using flat palms, roll out the dough into a long rope as you did in kindergarten with clay. I like my gnocchi rope to be slightly less than an inch (call it 2cm) in diameter, but the size is up to you. Then with a scraper or bench knife, cut the gnocchi rope into pieces. I like mine just slightly longer than wide, as you can see Ann cutting below with a plastic scraper.

Cutting the Gnocchi Rope into Pieces

Once they have cut the dumplings, a lot of people will roll the gnocchi on the back of the tines of a fork to give them little ridges that will help capture the sauce. I do that sometimes, but this time, I used a technique that I've seen a lot of nonne use: dimple each one with a thumb as you see in the photo below. These dimples are also pretty effective at capturing a bit of the sauce.

Gnocchi, Dimpled with my Thumb

Transfer the Gnocchi to a Lightly Oiled Sheet Tray

Once your gnocchi are ready to poach, adjust your cooking water so that it is lightly simmering. Drop the gnocchi into the water batch by batch taking care not to overcrowd the pan. You will see that they drop immediately to the bottom. And when they're done, they will float to top of the water. Actually, I give the little dumplings 30 extra seconds once they float. The process is quick; these gnocchi floated in about two minutes, give or take.

Gnocchi Just Dropped in Simmering Water

Gnocchi are Cooked When They Float

Scoop the gnocchi onto a well-oiled sheet tray as each batch finishes. If you will be using them later in the day, let them cool completely and then cover them with film such that they do not dry out. If you are using them later, I recommend reheating them one of two ways. First, you can reheat them in butter (or olive oil) in a skillet on the stove top. You can even brown them if you like; this is definitely non-traditional in Italy, but it is damned good. Or second, you can mix them with their sauce in a shallow ovenproof dish and bake them in the oven for 15 minutes or so.

But really what I recommend is to toss the hot gnocchi with their sauce and serve them immediately.

Poached Gnocchi, Ready to Sauce or to Cool

Even though it's probably been longer than a decade since I last made potato gnocchi, it was as easy as getting back on a bike and riding off down the street! This batch of gnocchi was killer and the perfect antidote to a cold, stormy, snowy day.