“Touching on the senses” Gnocchi Cooking Class
Making potato gnocchi with the visually impaired local community.
Italian cuisine stimulates the senses of taste, smell, and touch, so this time we chose to make potato gnocchi. Making gnocchi, is an art that mainly relies on your touch; while you can follow the recipe, you must feel the dough in your hands before rolling and cutting your gnocchi into small “knots”
Glad to share with you the recipe and a few tips.
We @BellaVia with the GO See Foundation at Idler’s Home hosted a fantastic session, we made delicious gnocchi and had a great time!
Glad to share with you the recipe and a few tips.
What Are Gnocchi?
They are small pieces of dough, usually round or oblong in shape that are boiled in water or broth and then tossed with different sauces.
The term gnocco (which is the singular form of gnocchi) mean knot (or nodo), it refers to something hard such as the knuckles (nocche) of a finger. It was probably invented around the 16th century when potatoes were imported to Italy from America.
Ingredients:
Potatoes – best to use Yukon Gold or Russet
The perfect potato is an old potato, in other words no new potatoes. New potatoes contain more water which absorbs too much flour. Go for Yukon Gold or Russet Potatoes.
Flour – all purpose
Salt
How to make them
In a large pot boil un peeled potatoes until tender, remove from the pot and let cool enough to handle, then remove the skin.
Then pass through a Potato ricer or mash.
On a flat surface mix together the flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and add the riced potatoes then mix together with your fingers to form a soft dough, it should not stick to your fingers.
*should you use gluten free flour add one egg.
On a lightly floured surface, cut small amounts of dough roll and form ropes. Then cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) pieces.
Sprinkle with a little bit of flour and toss, so they don’t stick together.
Let the gnocchi rest for 20 minutes before cooking.
In a large pot of salted boiling water cook the gnocchi, gnocchi are ready when they float to the top.
Once they have been added slowly, not all together, to the salted boiling water give them a couple of stirs and watch carefully, it doesn’t take long for them to cook 1-2 minutes (sometimes less), once they float to the surface they are done. Remove them immediately. Over cooked and they will turn to mush.
Drain and toss with desired sauce.
We dressed with our special Tomato Marinara sauce and lots of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Tips:
Use a wooden surface: the roughness of the wood is more suitable than a simple smooth surface.
Flour the worktop: this way the gnocchi dough will not stick to the surface.
Enjoy!
Michael
