Potato sales are plummeting in North America, so as consumers, we can help by consuming more potatoes. I feel pretty passionate about this, so I’m doing my part: I’m making gnocchi.
Many moons ago, I shared my favorite recipe for sweet potato gnudi. Gnudi and gnocchi are both dumpling style pastas, except gnudi is shaped with a pastry bag & gnocchi is rolled out. I used to think making gnocchi would be tedious, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy. I treated myself to a cute little gnocchi board, but it’s not at all mandatory – you could easily attain similar results with the back of a fork. The original recipe was shared with me by a friend on Facebook. She’s an awesome Italian chef & cooking instructor, so I knew her recipe would be no-fail.
I paired this gnocchi with a delightfully delicious cream sauce that was a cinch to cook & chock full ‘o veg. I kept it on the healthier side by using 2% milk instead of heavy cream & flour as a thickening agent. If you’re vegan, it would be equally as delish with oat milk, or any neutral plant-based milk of your choice. I have included my sauce recipe below the gnocchi recipe, so just scroll down!
Alright, are you ready to step up and help by consuming more potatoes? Let’s do it!
Ingredients
Method
- Peel & chop potatoes into rough 2 inch cubes. (They will be mashed up later on, this just helps them to cook faster.)
- Place potatoes into a large pot of salted water. Bring everything to a boil. Continue boiling until potatoes are extremely tender, about 25 minutes. The smaller your potato pieces, the faster they will cook. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
- If you have a potato ricer, rice potatoes directly onto your work surface. If you do not have a ricer, mash into the pot with a potato masher until mostly uniform in texture. There should be few to no lumps.
- Create a mound with your potatoes on your work surface. Make a well in the centre and add beaten eggs.
- Place flour & pinch of salt around the potato mixture. Use your hands to incorporate the potatoes into the eggs and then the flour into the potatoes. If mixture is too sticky once it is all combined, add a little more flour, one tbsp at a time.
- Divide the dough into 8 – 10 pieces. (A pastry scraper is a great tool for this!) Use your palms to roll the dough into ropes, keeping the thickness as uniform as possible.
- Cut the ropes into 1 inch pieces.
- Sprinkle with a little more flour before shaping.
- Using your gnocchi board, or the tines of a fork, form an indentation on one side of each piece.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. Place prepared gnocchi on sheet.
- If cooking immediately, drop gnocchi into boiling water, stirring until they reach the surface, about 2-3 minutes. Do not crowd the pot.
- If preparing for later use, freeze gnocchi on baking sheet. Once fully frozen, transfer to a freezer bag for storage.
- Will keep for 3-6 months if well sealed.
Ingredients
Method
- In a large wok or wide bottomed saucepan, heat oil.
- Add mushrooms, stirring once. Cook over medium heat (but do not stir frequently!)
- Once mushrooms have reduced significantly, add broccoli & stir, cooking for 2 more minutes. (Or longer, if you prefer your broccoli softer.)
- Stir flour & salt into milk. Pour over mushroom & broccoli mixture.
- Continue cooking until liquid begins to bubble.
- Allow to cook over medium until liquid begins to thicken, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add spinach, stir. Cook until wilted.
- If desired, add parmiggiano & season with black pepper.
- Taste, and add salt if desired.
- Serve over gnocci (or any other pasta of your choice!)
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