Fabio explains potatoes 101 and prepares a super simple pasta dish starring the creamy and starchy stuff.
Tips:
- Pick a potato based on its shape. Oval are best for baking and smashing, round for roasting and boiling, and longer ones for frying.
- Always cook potatoes starting from cold water. This will heat them through and prevent them from crumbling.
- Gnocchi dumplings are served as often as pasta in Italy and for good reason. It's super easy to make restaurant-quality gnocchi at home.
- The trick to perfect gnocchi is to start with a cold potato. Mix dry ingredients first, then add the potato slowly. Fabio's perfect ratio of ingredients is 3 pounds of potatoes to 2 cups of flour to 1 cup of Parmesan cheese and a pinch of ground nutmeg.
Gnocchi
Recipe by Fabio Viviani
Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients:
3 lbs. russet potatoes, baked
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Bake the potatoes the night before and let them sit in the refrigerator for a few hours, overnight if possible.
Peel and chop the baked potatoes.
Push the potatoes through a ricer or a food mill.
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Add the potatoes to the mixer and work for 5 minutes.
Remove the dough and shape into a fist sized ball. Press out any air bubbles. Roll into a tube and cut the gnocchi in about 1 inch pieces with a sharp knife.
Place the gnocchi in boiling water to cook. All the gnocchi is ready when the first pasta rises to the top of the boiling liquid.
MANGIA!
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