Gnocchi Piemontese

Let's do something vegetarian, something Italian, something with Potatoes.....Gnocchi. I will not say that I love Gnocchi because I say that with every food but.....yes I do love Gnocchi, hehehe!

They are pretty easy to make, one just needs a little patience and good products. The potatoes of course are paramount as if the potatoes are not good, then the Gnocchi won't turn out right. I always use potatoes that cook "floury" so they are usually grown towards the end of the season and are rather big. So the starch in them is perfect. If they are too young then the starch turns out like glue after mashing the potatoes

Then of course there is the big discussion of the mixing the other ingredients with the potatoes. Some chefs swear by the hot method, everything is mixed as hot as possible and some others cool the potatoes down. In this recipe we cool the potatoes down before pressing them through the masher, it is a safer method but usually uses a bit more flour, so taste a little more "industrial" If one does the hot method one can use less flour, but needs to be more experienced in cooking as the mix easily turns soft (this is a disaster for me, hehehe)

So, let's have a look at the recipe, I am sure you will love it as the outcome is great

Recipe

1500 g Potatoes

550 g Flour

4 ea Eggs Salt and pepper

Method

Boil the potatoes a day ahead in the skin

Peel the potatoes and make sure you have 1 kg left

Press the potatoes through a sieve

Rub the potatoes together with the flour

Season and add the eggs at the end

Mix quickly together to have a dry dough
Form the Gnocchi with rolling a long sausage, then cut it with the knife in small pieces.
Roll the pieces over a fork or a Gnocchi board into boiling salt water
As soon as they swim on top they have to be taken out and put in ice water

Sauce

500 g Tomatoes

100 g Onions

25 g Garlic

Basil

Salt, Pepper

Blanch the tomatoes and put in ice water, peel the skin then chop in cubes

Saute the chopped onion in a little olive oil without color till glossy, then add the garlic, fry some more

Add the tomatoes, season and add the basil

Simmer for 25 minutes, season to taste

Toss the Gnocchi in the tomato and basil sauce, then serve immediately

Generously add Parmesan on top