Cooking gnocchi To cook your gnocchi, bring a saucepan of water to the boil, adding a pinch of salt. Add a few gnocchi to the pan at a time. Cook for two minutes and remove from the water with a slotted spoon. Serve with tomato and basil sauce or a sauce of your choice.
Important points
It's important to use the right type of potato – it should be a floury variety like Up-to-date. If the variety is not written on the potato bag, ask for assitance. You can also use potatoes that are marked as floury potatoes or potatoes for baking.
Don't overcook the potatoes – it will cause your gnocchi to become mushy and fall apart during cooking.
Peel and mash the potatoes while they are still hot – wear rubber gloves to protect your finger.
Press the potato through a sieve twice if necessary to get it smooth. Spread mashed potato out to allow steam to escape.
The less moisture there is in the potatoes before you start adding flour, the less flour you will need. The less flour you add and the less you handle the dough, the lighter the gnocchi will be.
Check the moisture at the end of step 3 to make sure you have the correct consistency. Shape a few gnocchi and put them into a saucepan of boiling water. They should float to the surface without dissolving or breaking apart. If they fall apart, the dough is too soft. Sprinkle a little more flour over the dough. If the dough is too dry and not holding together, add a little more egg.
Once you've formed the gnocchi, they must be cooked or frozen immediately otherwise they'll go soft.
To freeze gnocchi, place on a baking tray and freeze solid – this would take about 3 hours. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag and freeze until needed.
Tomato and basil sauce
Heat 30 ml olive oil in a saucepan. Add three cloves of garlic, sliced. Saute over medium heat until garlic turns golden, the remove from pan. Add two cans of Italian plum tomatoes, 25ml tomato paste and 2ml sugar. Break the tomatoes up with a spooon and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes. Blend until smooth in a liquidiser, then return to the pan and add 25ml fresh basil, shredded, and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Spoon over gnocchi, sprinkle with freshnly grated Parmesan cheese and serve.
