Recipe Basil Gnocchi

[The Late Night Gourmet]

First off, I want to thank CraigC, who commented on a gnocchi recipe I posted 2 years ago, with the advice to bake the potatoes instead of boil them. I had done what I often do at the time: basing the recipe on one by a famous chef, who boiled the potatoes. I have to say that there's no comparison here: Craig was clearly right. I needed 3/4 cup of flour per pound of potatoes after boiling them, but I only needed 1/4 cup after baking them. Thank you, Craig.

By the way, the black fragments on the gnocchi happened because I pan fried the gnocchi in butter, and I decided to be extra clever by putting dry basil in the butter. The taste is terrific, but some of the dry basil did burn somewhat.

Ingredients

2 lbs russet potatoes
1/2 cup flour (Italian 00 flour)
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon dry basil, divided
1 egg
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Bake potatoes at 400°F (205°C) until they can be easily pierced with a fork, about 40 minutes.
2. Allow to cool somewhat, then peel.
3. While still warm, press through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl. NOTE: trying to rice the potatoes when they are cold will result in a chunkier gnocchi, which you will feel like calling, “no, yucky.”
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Set up a large bowl of ice water near boiling water.
5. Make a well in center of riced potatoes and pour flour on the potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon of dry basil, egg, and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes.

6. Once egg is mixed in, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently until fully blended and ball is dry to touch, but don’t overwork it, otherwise you will end up with chewy gnocchi...which you will also call “no, yucky.”​

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7. Roll baseball-sized ball (or cricket ball-sized ball) of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels. If desired, create a crease down the middle of each dowel. Cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces.​

8. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute). Make sure not to put more than a single layer worth of gnocchi in the water at a time. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath using a slotted spoon or spider. The ice bath is necessary to stop the cooking process and avoid overcooking the gnocchi.​

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9. Only put the amount of one potful in the ice bath at a time. As the next batch of gnocchi forms, remove gnocchi from ice bath and place on a cooling rack or paper towel. Add ice cubes to the ice bath frequently, as the hot gnocchi will melt the ice.​

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10. Continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and cooking until all dough is used.​

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11. Once all the gnocchi is cooked, heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan, and sprinkle remaining dry basil. Toss some of the gnocchi to coat with melted butter. Heat in the pan until one side browns, then flip over using tongs. Continue cooking until the other side browns, then move gnocchi back to the cooling rack. Once the pan is emptied, melt the other tablespoon of butter in the pan and repeat with remaining gnocchi. Add butter and dry basil as needed.​

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12. Once the gnocchi cools, place in a sealed container with wax paper to separate layers of gnocchi.​

 

[rascal]

View attachment 43193

First off, I want to thank CraigC, who commented on a gnocchi recipe I posted 2 years ago, with the advice to bake the potatoes instead of boil them. I had done what I often do at the time: basing the recipe on one by a famous chef, who boiled the potatoes. I have to say that there's no comparison here: Craig was clearly right. I needed 3/4 cup of flour per pound of potatoes after boiling them, but I only needed 1/4 cup after baking them. Thank you, Craig.

By the way, the black fragments on the gnocchi happened because I pan fried the gnocchi in butter, and I decided to be extra clever by putting dry basil in the butter. The taste is terrific, but some of the dry basil did burn somewhat.

Ingredients

2 lbs russet potatoes
1/2 cup flour (Italian 00 flour)
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon dry basil, divided
1 egg
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Bake potatoes at 400°F (205°C) until they can be easily pierced with a fork, about 40 minutes.
2. Allow to cool somewhat, then peel.
3. While still warm, press through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl. NOTE: trying to rice the potatoes when they are cold will result in a chunkier gnocchi, which you will feel like calling, “no, yucky.”
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Set up a large bowl of ice water near boiling water.
5. Make a well in center of riced potatoes and pour flour on the potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon of dry basil, egg, and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes.

View attachment 43188

6. Once egg is mixed in, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently until fully blended and ball is dry to touch, but don’t overwork it, otherwise you will end up with chewy gnocchi...which you will also call “no, yucky.”​

​

View attachment 43189

7. Roll baseball-sized ball (or cricket ball-sized ball) of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels. If desired, create a crease down the middle of each dowel. Cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces.​

View attachment 43184
View attachment 43187

8. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute). Make sure not to put more than a single layer worth of gnocchi in the water at a time. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath using a slotted spoon or spider. The ice bath is necessary to stop the cooking process and avoid overcooking the gnocchi.​

​

View attachment 43185​

​

9. Only put the amount of one potful in the ice bath at a time. As the next batch of gnocchi forms, remove gnocchi from ice bath and place on a cooling rack or paper towel. Add ice cubes to the ice bath frequently, as the hot gnocchi will melt the ice.​

​

10. Continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and cooking until all dough is used.​

​

11. Once all the gnocchi is cooked, heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan, and sprinkle remaining dry basil. Toss some of the gnocchi to coat with melted butter. Heat in the pan until one side browns, then flip over using tongs. Continue cooking until the other side browns, then move gnocchi back to the cooling rack. Once the pan is emptied, melt the other tablespoon of butter in the pan and repeat with remaining gnocchi. Add butter and dry basil as needed.​

​

View attachment 43186

12. Once the gnocchi cools, place in a sealed container with wax paper to separate layers of gnocchi.​

Gnocchi is on my to do list, thanks for posting.

Russ

 

[Morning Glory]

Very nice The Late Night Gourmet. Interested that you chose to use dried basil. Was there a reason you didn't use fresh?

Craig was clearly right. I needed 3/4 cup of flour per pound of potatoes after boiling them, but I only needed 1/4 cup after baking them.

I've heard of doing this but I'm really surprised what a difference to the added flour quantity it makes. Do you think that is because the boiled potatoes are retaining moisture?

 

[medtran49]

Yes, boiled potatoes have more moisture than baked. Look at the difference in potatoes you boil for mash versus a baked potato.

Per the weekly menu thread, we are also having basil gnocchi this week, but I'll be using fresh. Thought about using dried, but I want them to be greenish. They'll have a barely cooked heirloom tomato sauce, with, of course, basil.

Good job The Late Night Gourmet ! Glad you tried the tip about baking the potatoes I got from a little old nonna. It makes such a difference. You can even bake them on a salt bed to get them drier, but that wastes a lot of salt and doesn't make such a huge impact as baking versus boiling.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Yes, boiled potatoes have more moisture than baked. Look at the difference in potatoes you boil for mash versus a baked potato.

Per the weekly menu thread, we are also having basil gnocchi this week, but I'll be using fresh. Thought about using dried, but I want them to be greenish. They'll have a barely cooked heirloom tomato sauce, with, of course, basil.

Good job The Late Night Gourmet ! Glad you tried the tip about baking the potatoes I got from a little old nonna. It makes such a difference. You can even bake them on a salt bed to get them drier, but that wastes a lot of salt and doesn't make such a huge impact as baking versus boiling.

It also depends on what kind of potatoes you use for gnocchi, not all potatoes suite good

 

[medtran49]

He used russets, which is what i use.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Very nice The Late Night Gourmet. Interested that you chose to use dried basil. Was there a reason you didn't use fresh?

Two reasons:

1. I wanted to get a speckled look, which I knew I could get with a dry basil. I learned this when I made portobello tagliatelle by drying then grinding the mushrooms and incorporating them into the dough.
2. I didn't want to make a special trip to get fresh basil.

Really, it was more the first point. I should really try this with fresh basil and see what happens. Maybe it will result in a solid green color, or maybe there will be big chunks of basil integrated into the dough?

I've heard of doing this but I'm really surprised what a difference to the added flour quantity it makes. Do you think that is because the boiled potatoes are retaining moisture?

There is a noticeable difference in the weight of the potatoes before and after baking vs. boiling. This is an indication of water retention, and how the moisture burns away with baking. There's a fascinating article about this at my second favorite cooking site (after this one, of course):

How to Make Light and Tender Potato Gnocchi

As the writer says, "In my tests, baked potatoes lost roughly a quarter of their water weight during baking, while boiled potatoes lost none."