Gnocchi a la Uncle Matty
When I was growing up, gnocchi, the Italian pasta made from a potato-based dough, was virtually unknown to the general public. They weren’t in vogue listed on the menu of Italian restaurants, and they weren’t sold in a plastic bag on the supermarket shelves. Nope, if you wanted gnocchi, you had to make your own.
In my family, Uncle Matty was famous for his homemade gnocchi; and he would make a big batch every Christmas. Whether you were invited for an actual meal or were just making a family Christmas visit, those gnocchi made an appearance. His gnocchi were my first introduction to this delicious and toothsome pasta which set the bar and spoiled me for any other gnocchi in my lifetime.
Uncle Matty made them the way his parents made them in the old country, so the technique is well over 100 years old. What way is that, you ask? Well, the results are very different from the gnocchi you get at restaurants today. I used to order them any time I saw them on a menu and was always disappointed until I finally gave up on restaurant gnocchi. Those gnocchi were invariably (how shall I put it tactfully?) overly soft and mushy. Ugh. I once read a review of a restaurant’s gnocchi describing them as “ethereal.” Now, if these are the kind of gnocchi you’ve always eaten and loved, fine—Uncle Matty’s recipe is not for you. If you, like me, can’t bear pasta that is cooked 10 seconds past al dente, then you’re in the right place.
These gnocchi are delightfully al dente. The literal translation of al dente is “to the tooth” and means firm to the bite. I would actually describe the texture of these gnocchi as firm and chewy, probably a bit more chewy than properly cooked al dente pasta as gnocchi are thicker than most pastas. For some strange reason, my mother was not a fan of al dente pasta; and I learned to scoop out my serving of pasta from the pan a minute before she was finished cooking it as I felt she overcooked the pasta. Once again, if you fall into this category, these gnocchi are not for you as they are quite firm and chewy—just the way I love them. So, you have been put on notice, but I really hope you try them as they are a very special treat to almost everyone in my family.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs. Maine or Yukon gold potatoes
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Approx. 5 1/2 cups flour
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Directions
Scrub and wash the potatoes—you do not need to peel them if you will be using a ricer as the skin will be left behind when you squeeze the potatoes through the ricer. If you don’t have a ricer, then peel them. Cook the potatoes as you would for mashed potatoes. I usually cut any large potatoes in half so that the pieces will cook uniformly.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain them and use a ricer to press them into your kitchen mixer’s large bowl. If you don’t have a ricer, then drain the water and mash the potatoes in the pan. I would mash them there as it’s easier with the pan’s flat bottom; then transfer them to your mixer’s bowl.
Add the two beaten eggs and mix well until incorporated with either a wooden spoon or your mixer’s paddle beater.
Next, start adding your flour a cup at a time while still using either your wooden spoon or your mixer’s paddle beater. When it starts to get too thick for stirring by hand or your paddle beater, switch to your mixer’s dough hook and add the rest of the flour. The gnocchi dough will be stickier than either bread dough or any other pasta dough you may have made. That is because of the potatoes—but it needs to be a very firm, almost hard, dough. The dough should be firm and slightly sticky before you transfer it to a work surface for kneading.
Sprinkle some flour on a large cutting board or countertop, then transfer the dough to your work surface. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and start kneading it until it becomes smooth and easy to work with. You can keep sprinkling flour as you knead it so that it doesn’t stick to your hands.
Once the dough is smooth, cut the dough into small segments. It doesn’t matter how many pieces you cut. The photo below is where I started, but I took each quarter and cut it into many smaller segments.
You’re going to start rolling the dough into long ropes/snakes approximately 1/2″ in diameter. Once you start rolling your ropes, you’ll figure out how big a piece of dough to start with depending on how big your working surface is. Cut each rope into 1” pieces.
Then use the tines of a fork to roll toward you. Voilà—gnocchi!
This makes a lot of gnocchi, so you’ll be rolling and cutting for a while. It’ll go faster if you have a helpful member of the household. 🙂 After you’ve made the signature markings using your fork, transfer the gnocchi to either a parchment-lined surface or parchment-lined cookie sheets to dry out a little. Be sure to space them out so that they don’t stick together.
If you’re going to cook them right away, you can boil them as soon as you finish making all the gnocchi. If you’re going to freeze some or all of them, freeze them on the cookie sheet. Once they’re frozen, put them in a freezer bag to cook at another time.
Bring a pot of water to boil with plenty of water as for any other pasta. Add 1 to 3 teaspoons of salt to the pot as you normally do when cooking pasta. Work quickly to get all the gnocchi into the boiling water so that they’ll cook as uniformly as possible. My husband Roger and I worked together to get them all in as fast as possible. The gnocchi are done when they float to the top. Make sure to drain immediately when they have cooked to al dente texture! It should take approximately 5 minutes for them to float to the top.
After draining, serve the gnocchi with your favorite tomato sauce and plenty of Romano cheese. Buon appetito and Buon Natale!
Makes 4 to 6 servings.