Gluten-Free Potato Gnocchi
Gnocchi is an Italian dish that falls in the pasta category, although it is made mainly from cooked potatoes that are formed into soft, pillow-like dumplings served with an array of different sauces.These gluten-free potato gnocchi are served with either a sage butter sauce or homemade pesto sauce. The recipes for these sauces are included in the recipe card.
Equipment
- Deep stove-top pot
- Potato ricer, or or regular potato masher
- Food processor for pesto making
Ingredients
GLUTEN-FREE POTATO GNOCCHI
- 1.4 kg potatoes, unpeeled, whole
- 2 eggs, at room temperature, organic if possible
- 110-130 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free flour
- 2 tbsp sweet rice flour/glutinous rice flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg or fresh nutmeg, grated
- 4 tbsp rice flour, for dusting
- 30 g Parmesan cheese, grated
SAGE BUTTER
- 20 fresh sage leaves, torn
- 100 g butter
- 1 tsp salt
- freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
PESTO
- 100 g mixture of almonds and cashews, whole & skins removed
- 40-50 g fresh basil leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, whole
- 150 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 20 g Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
Instructions
GLUTEN-FREE POTATO GNOCCHI
- Wash the potatoes and place them in a large pot of salted, cold water.
- Turn on the heat to high and cover with the lid.
- As soon as the water has come to a boil, lower the heat to medium. Keep the lid on.
- Set your timer for 20 minutes and check if the potatoes are cooked by inserting a skewer or bamboo stick straight through the largest potato. If it easily pierces through, the potatoes are ready. Any resistance, they need another 5 to 10 minutes more to cook.
- Once cooked, drain the potatoes from the cooking water and return the cooked potatoes back to the empty pot. Lower the heat to low and gently move them around to dry out any water left on their skins.
- Remove the potatoes from the pot and immediately peel off their skins. I recommend using a latex glove to remove the peel with one hand and holding the hot potato with a tea towel or oven glove on the other hand.
- As each potato is peeled, place it in a potato ricer to press or mash it with a traditional masher in a medium bowl.
- Once all the potatoes are peeled and mashed, set aside to cool to room temperature for about 15 mins. A good tip for planning ahead is to make the potatoes the day before and store them covered in the fridge.)
- If using fresh nutmeg, grate the amount needed into a bowl.
- Add and combine the sweet rice flour and salt to the nutmeg.
- Once the potatoes are cool, make a space in the centre and add the eggs.
- Mix the eggs thoroughly into the potatoes using a fork.
- Add the sweet flour mixture and plain flour gradually, mixing well. Depending on the type of potatoes, you may need more or less plain flour to form the gnocchi dough. The dough should feel slightly moist and easily fall away from your fingers when dropped. Do not over-flour otherwise, your gnocchi will become too dry in appearance and flavour.
- Portion the dough into several balls and start rolling each one into long ropes about 3cm in diameter.
- Start slicing each rope into 3cm pieces. It is important to keep each piece accurate in size so that they cook evenly.
- Using the gnocchi press, sprinkle some rice flour on the gnocchi and press and guide it gently down the gnocchi press. Practice makes perfect, but don’t worry if you aren’t happy with the result, as you can re-roll the gnocchi and start over.
- If using a fork, press and roll the gnocchi at the back of a fork.
- Place the gnocchi onto a large tray and sprinkle some rice flour over them. As an extra measure, cover the gnocchi with a tea towel while forming the remainder.
- Towards the end of gnocchi rolling, heat up a large, deep pot with water and some salt. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat from boiling to a steady simmer and add 10 to 12 gnocchi at a time, so they don’t overcrowd the pot.
- They should rise and float to the surface in less than 2 minutes. Immediately remove them.
- Swiftly transfer the gnocchi to a warm serving platter using a mesh strainer.
- Cover the cooked gnocchi with a tea towel and continue cooking the remaining gnocchi.
SAGE BUTTER
- Tear the fresh sage leaves into rough pieces.
- Melt the butter over a medium heat in a small frying pan.
- Add the sage leaves and stir continuously until they are crisp and release their aroma. This should take around 5 minutes.
- Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
PESTO SAUCE
- Gather and measure all the pesto ingredients.
- Roast the nuts in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring often until slightly golden.
- Allow to cool down and set aside. This is important as hot nuts can scorch the basil leaves and impart a bitter taste.
- Blend the garlic cloves and basil leaves. Pulse a few times and scrape the mixture down from the sides.
- Add the cool nuts and pulse a few times until crushed evenly into a breadcrumb consistency.
- Select the lowest blending setting and slowly add the olive oil. The oil should be slightly floating on top of the pesto mixture. Otherwise, add a few more tablespoons to get to this level.
- Add the lemon juice, cracked pepper and optional chilli flakes.
- Add the grated Parmesan cheese.
- Taste and add more lemon juice, black pepper or cheese, if needed.
Serving
- Portion the cooked gnocchi into soup or pasta bowls and pour your chosen sauce, either sage butter or pesto, to serve over the cooked gnocchi.
- Sprinkle the top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Notes
- Keeps for 2 days chilled
- Can be reheated by refreshing the gnocchi in boiling water for 1 minute or briefly in the microwave
- Assembled, raw gnocchi is suitable to freeze
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