She’s a celebrated Portland chef and 6-time James Beard award nominee who hopes her new cookbook will inspire us to slow down, cook a little, and enjoy the flavors of the season. Chef Cathy Whims, author of “The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita”, joined us to share her cookbook!
Potato Gnocchi
SERVES 4
You’ve probably cooked shelf-stable gnocchi from the supermarket—chewy, firm dumplings that sink to the bottom of your stomach like lead balloons. If that’s your preference, this is not the recipe for you. Actually, let me rephrase that: Try this recipe, but understand that the supermarket option will likely never bring you the same joy again. The best gnocchi are pillowy and light, magically straddling the line between firm and falling apart, something I learned from the late, great Marcella Hazan herself. Achieving this ethereal texture requires avoiding sog-inducing activities (choose a slightly waxy potato, don’t poke too much during cooking, boil the gnocchi in small batches so the water returns to a simmer faster). It’s also important to start with the minimum amount of flour you think you might need, then gradually add more just until the dough is soft, pliant, and smooth but not sticky.
If serving these for a dinner party, try tossing some in tomato sauce, some in pesto, and some with butter and sage, then plate up all three side by side as an edible ode to the Italian flag.
- 1 1/2 pounds Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold potatoes (not newly dug), unpeeled, preferably all the same size
- 3/4 to 1 1/4 cups (90 to 150 g) all-purpose flour
- Flaky sea salt
- Marcella Hazan’s Tomato-Butter Sauce (page 182), or Basil Pesto (page 175) for serving
- 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for garnish
Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, lower the heat to a steady simmer, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes once the water starts to boil. Choose one sacrificial potato to test with a wooden skewer; it should slide in and out easily. (Avoid testing too many times or the potato may become waterlogged.) When the potatoes are cooked, drain and peel as soon as you can handle them but while still hot (it will be much easier that way).
Press the potatoes through a potato ricer directly onto a clean work surface. Alternatively, use a potato masher and mash as thoroughly as possible, then refine the texture even more by mashing with a fork.
Sprinkle the flour (start with the smaller amount) onto the potatoes and toss together, sifting through your fingers, until well incorporated. Begin kneading the dough, adding a little more flour as needed if the dough seems too soft, until the dough is smooth, soft, and not sticky (see “Gnocchi Know-How”). Cover with a clean towel to keep the mixture warm while you form the gnocchi.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil for testing the gnocchi when shaping.
Dust a smooth, wooden work surface with flour. Pinch off a handful of dough and roll it into a 3/4-inch-thick log. Cut crosswise into 3/4-inch lengths. Using your thumb, press each piece on a gnocchi paddle or the tines of a fork to create grooves on one side and an indentation on the other. Drop a few gnocchi into the boiling water. If they start to fall apart, knead a little more flour into the dough. If not, proceed to shape gnocchi from the remaining dough. The gnocchi can be shaped up to 4 hours ahead and kept covered by a towel (see “Gnocchi Know-How”).
Place a serving platter in a warm spot near the stove or inside a very low oven and spread with a bit of your preferred sauce, reheated if necessary, so it’s ready to combine with the gnocchi, which will be cooked in batches.
Fill a wide shallow pot (such as a Dutch oven) with water, bring to a boil, and salt well. Lower heat to a steady simmer. Drop in the gnocchi in batches of one-third to one-half of the recipe (adding too many at once can lower the temperature of the water too much and slow down the cooking process, resulting in waterlogged dumplings). Adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a steady simmer, not a full boil. When they float to the surface, let them cook for 10 to 15 seconds longer, then transfer with a large slotted spoon to the serving platter. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi. Each time you scoop out a new batch, drain thoroughly, add to the platter, add a bit more sauce, and toss very gently with a flexible spatula. Before you discard the cooking water, scoop out about a cup to use for adjusting the final consistency of your sauce.
Gently toss the gnocchi with the remaining sauce, just enough to coat well. Thin out with a few drops of the cooking water, if necessary. Garnish with Parmesan and serve more at the table.
Gnocchi Know-How
Gnocchi success is all in the details.
Perfect potatoes: I prefer medium-starch potatoes, such as Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold, because the flavor is quite potato-y but they don’t contain a lot of water. Russets are low moisture and will work, too, but avoid red potatoes or any other variety known for having a high water content. The extra moisture will interact with the flour in the dough and create more gluten and toughness in the final gnocchi. And, although it pains me to say it, don’t use fresh, new potatoes from the farmers’ market because they have a high water content, too. Try to select potatoes that are all the same size so they’ll cook at the same rate.
Add flour with caution: The trick to knowing how much flour to use is to be one with the dough. Don’t get hung up on precise measurements. Instead, let your senses and your instincts guide you. You have to be brave enough to stop adding flour at just the right point so as not to overwork the dough. If you poke it, it should be soft enough to leave an imprint. But you have to be generous enough that the dough isn’t tacky and the dumplings will hold together when boiled. It’s better to err on the side of using less flour; you can test the gnocchi when shaping and add more flour, if necessary. Keep in mind that if it’s humid or rainy, you might need to use more flour.
Skip the egg: Sure, adding an egg helps the dough hold together, but it also makes the gnocchi tougher. Marcella Hazan told me some traditional Italian restaurants might use an egg because they’re making batches of 30 servings, but even then, they’d use only one.
Make-ahead tips: Gnocchi can start to get soft if they sit for more than a couple of hours, so cook them relatively soon after shaping. You can shape them up 4 hours ahead of cooking as long as the environment isn’t too humid, but don’t wait that long if it’s a muggy day. Don’t try to freeze gnocchi, as they will get mealy and fall apart.
Bonus fun fact: Did you know Thursdays are for gnocchi? Traditionally, in Rome, gnocchi are made on Thursdays, as it’s supposed to be a filling dish before you have a fast day on Friday. That’s what inspired our Giovedi Gnocchi tradition at Nostrana, when we take pasta off the menu each Thursday and serve only gnocchi.
