Homemade Potato Gnocchi: Rich flavour on a budget!

Over a year ago I did a tutorial on gnocchi but I just wanted to go over it again. I had some potatoes that were on their way to the compost any day so I wanted to use them up and make a special treat for Reg while on holidays. Is there any better comfort food? I doubt it!

This time I used a Food Network Kitchens recipe for very basic gnocchi. I divided the recipe in half because I had two potatoes that I peeled, chopped up and boiled for 12 minutes until fork-tender. Then I put them through my ricer and left on a baking tray to cool off and dry out.

Once cooled I added just over half a cup of flour, 1 large egg yolk, 1/4 tsp salt, ground black pepper and a bit of freshly ground nutmeg.

I divided the dough into four equal parts on a well-floured wooden cutting board.

I rolled out each section quite thinly and then cut the gnocchi into 3/4″ pieces.

I rolled the tines of my fork along the cutting board and into the potato dumplings, giving them the ridges that would end up holding my sauce.

I was supposed to put the gnocchi on a flour baking sheet. Doh! Not to worry, they did not end up sticking. I put them in the fridge to set for an hour.

While I started to boil the water for the gnocchi I worked on the sauce. Instead of pesto, I made my own garlic sage butter. I melted some butter into olive oil and then added chopped fresh sage leaves and garlic. The heat was enough to simmer it all together without overcooking.

I added the gnocchi to softly boiling water. They cooked quickly and came to the surface in under two minutes. The hard part was getting them out with a slotted spoon before they overcooked.

I tossed them in the garlic sage butter, added some sauteed mushrooms and topped with some freshly grated Parmesan. They did get a little overcooked this time but they were still so pillowy-soft and delicious I really didn’t care.

A beautiful dish and treat on our holiday! If you haven’t made gnocchi before, I encourage you do to give it a shot. You get million-dollar flavour for next to zero money. A great way to feel rich when you are on a tight budget!