Best Annas Gnocchi Recipes

GNOCCHI

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a sheet pan with a 1-inch layer of kosher salt. Place potatoes on salt, and bake 1 1/2 hours. Remove potatoes, and cut in half horizontally. Deeply score flesh in a crisscross pattern. Place halves on racks and allow to cool to room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Scoop flesh into a large bowl.
• Press potato flesh through a fine ricer or sieve, and weigh it. You need 2 1/4 pounds.
• Spread riced potatoes on a clean work surface, and shape loosely into a flat mound. Drizzle with egg yolks. Sprinkle with pepper. Cut into potato mound at 1-inch intervals with a pastry scraper, spatula or cleaver, to incorporate egg yolks. Sprinkle with flour as you go. Work mound by cutting and folding, but not kneading. Sprinkle with flour in handfuls until potato mixture feels fairly dry and is no longer sticky, and a small piece can be rolled easily into a ball.
• Line two sheet pans with parchment. Lightly dust with flour.
• Clean work surface with a scraper, and lightly dust with flour. Shape potato mixture into a loaf about 1 1/2 inches high, 4 inches wide and 12 inches long. Cut 1 1/2-inch slice from the loaf with a scraper or knife. Roll into a rope about 1/2 inch thick and 30 inches long. Cut at 1-inch intervals. Smooth ends of each piece lightly with fingertips. Place finished gnocchi on a paper-lined pan. Repeat with remaining mixture.
• Bring a large pot of water, with 1 heaping tablespoon salt for each quart, to a boil.
• Place ice cubes in a large bowl, add 4 quarts cold water, and place a large colander in the bowl so that it fills with ice water.
• Slide gnocchi from one baking sheet into boiling water. After about 90 seconds, gnocchi will begin floating to the surface. Remove to colander with a slotted spoon or skimmer. Repeat with second batch.
• Reline baking sheets with clean parchment. With a skimmer, transfer cold gnocchi to baking sheets. Cooked gnocchi can be served at once (see next step for a quick butter sauce, or toss cooked gnocchi with a warm sauce of your choosing), set aside for several hours or frozen in an airtight container for future use.
• For a quick butter sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup water until emulsified. (If not using entire batch of gnocchi, use proportionately less butter sauce.) Transfer sauce to 1 or 2 skillets large enough to hold gnocchi in a single layer. Add gnocchi, and cook over medium heat until butter starts to bubble and gnocchi are warmed through. Dust with cheese, and serve. Frozen gnocchi can be heated in butter without thawing.

GNOCCHI WITH PROSCIUTTO, SPRING PEAS, AND CHANTERELLES

Steps:

• Bring 2 pots, 1 large and 1 medium, with well-salted water to a boil over medium heat. Set up a bowl of well-salted ice water. Blanch the fresh peas in the medium pot of boiling water until they are cooked but still crunchy and then immediately plunge them into the salted ice water. Remove them from the ice water and reserve.
• Coat a large saute pan over medium heat with olive oil. Add the smashed garlic cloves and crushed red pepper. Bring the pan to a medium high heat. When the garlic has become golden brown and is very aromatic, remove it and discard. Add the prosciutto and saute until it starts to get crispy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and season with salt. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes, and TASTE to see if they are delicious (they should be!).
• Add the peas and chicken stock. Season with salt, TASTE IT (it should be more delicious). Simmer until the stock has reduced by about half.
• While the stock is reducing, add the gnocchi to the large pot of salted boiling water. Cook the gnocchi until they float and get very puffy. The gnocchi should be really puffy.
• While the gnocchi is in the boiling water, add the butter to the pan with the mushroom mixture. Cook over low heat and swirl to incorporate. TASTE and adjust seasoning if needed.
• When the gnocchi are cooked, carefully remove them from the cooking water and add them to the pan with the mushrooms. Toss or stir to combine. Cook the gnocchi with mushroom mixture until it clings to the gnocchi. Add the grated Parmigiano and the chopped chives. Transfer to serving bowls and serve immediately.
• Call yourself a superstar!
• Preheat the oven to 375 or 400 degrees F.
• Bake the potatoes until they are fork tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Check them!
• While the potatoes are still hot peel and pass them through a food mill or ricer. (I find that the food mill works just as well as a ricer and is much easier to handle) onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. When doing this pay careful attention to keep the potatoes as light and fluffy as possible. This will aid in keeping the gnocchi light. Refrigerate the potatoes on the sheet tray until cold. This is also a very important step. If the potatoes are warm while adding flour they will require more flour which will result in a much heavier finished product.
• When the potatoes are absolutely cold, transfer to a clean work surface. Beat together the eggs and cheese and pour onto the potatoes. Season with salt. Cover generously with flour. It should look like snow on the mountains.
• Crumble the potato flour mixture between your fingers. Begin to knead the dough until it is a dry homogeneous mixture. The dough should feel slightly moist, but not tacky. If too tacky, repeat the snow on the mountains stage.
• Form the dough into a large log. Cut slices off the log and begin to roll into long ropes that are about 1-inch in thickness. Cut the ropes into 1/2-inch lengths. Cover generously with flour. Place the gnocchi in a single layer on a sheet tray dusted with flour. DO NOT PILE ON TOP OF EACH OTHER!!
• Use or freeze the gnocchi immediately. If freezing, place tray directly into the freezer. Once frozen, the gnocchi can be stored in plastic bags, in the freezer, indefinitely. When cooking gnocchi they can go directly from the freezer into salted boiling water.
• Note: It is a general practice to take gnocchi out of the water when they float. This is a big mistake. Gnocchi need to be cooked in boiling water until they float and get nice and puffy. Not cooking gnocchi long enough will also result in heavy gnocchi.
• P.S. These are Chef Anne "Secrets" to great gnocchi, use them and you will be successful every time.

NANNA'S GNOCCHI

Steps:

• Place mashed potatoes, flour, egg, nutmeg and salt& pepper in a bowl.
• Knead lightly with your fingertips to make a firm but soft dough.
• Divide dough into 4 even-sized pieces and then roll into long sausage shapes on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut the rolls into small 1 inch pieces.
• Press each piece over the back of a fork, pressing lightly with 2 fingers.
• Bring a large pot of salted boiling water to simmering point.
• Drop six to eight gnocchi in water and simmer for 3- 4 minutes, or until they rise to the surface.
• Remove with a slotted spoon.
• Serve with your favourite pasta sauce and parmesan cheese.

CRISPY GNOCCHI WITH BURST TOMATOES AND MOZZARELLA

Steps:

• Heat the broiler with a rack about 6 inches from the heat source.
• In a large (12-inch) skillet on the stovetop, heat enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan (about 1 tablespoon) over medium-high. Add half the gnocchi to the pan, breaking up any that are stuck together. Cover with a lid or baking sheet and cook, undisturbed, until golden brown on one side, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi and olive oil.
• Add the butter to the skillet and cook over medium-high, stirring often, until golden-brown and toasty, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the garlic, red-pepper flakes, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and a few grinds of pepper, reducing the heat slightly if necessary to avoid scorching. Add the tomatoes and 3 tablespoons water and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the tomatoes have softened and the liquid has slightly thickened, 4 to 6 minutes. Smash the tomatoes as they burst to help them along.
• Add the seared gnocchi and 1/4 cup basil (if using), stir to coat, then shake into an even layer. Top with the mozzarella and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Broil until the cheese is melted and browned in spots, 2 to 4 minutes. Top with more basil, red-pepper flakes and black pepper as desired.