Whenever I have a lot of time to cook, I like to make these gnocchi! Everyone loves them in my house and children always have fun while making little "pillows" from the dough. So playing with dough is our almost everyday entertainment.
It's great to make these gnocchi in advance so you can always make a quick meal with them! Warm them up with pesto or grilled vegetables, all sorts of sauces or make them the most delicious side dish by frying in a non-stick pan. There is nothing better than biting into a toasted gnocchi with a crispy exterior and a soft interior.
Is it difficult to make potato gnocchi?
This recipe is basically very simple. No extra steps are required, such as baking potatoes in the oven or adding ricotta or cheese to the dough. Just peel and slice potatoes or other vegetables and cook them, let them drip well, mash in a large bowl, add flour, salt and egg and the dough is done. Now you just have to cut the gnocchi and you can cook them in the same pot in which the potatoes were cooked!
You can either cook the potatoes peeled and sliced, as I do in this recipe, or you can bake them in the oven with the skin and then peel them, or you can cook them and then peel them. If the potatoes are peeled after baking or cooking, they will absorb less water and you will need less flour to make gnocchi.
Why to cook potatoes already peeled and sliced ?
I prefer to cook already peeled and sliced potatoes, because I usually (always) don't want to heat the oven up just because of the gnocchi and the baking in the oven takes at least 45 minutes to an hour. You know, and although I like to do almost everything in the kitchen, there is one thing that I really don't like to do. And that is peeling boiled potatoes and then grating them.
When I made gnocchi this way, which is a bit more traditional, it took me a whole day to do that. I just peel the boiled potatoes terribly slowly! So if this also takes you a lot of time, try this recipe, where the potatoes are peeled raw. For me personally, this is the best option.
What to use instead of celery root?
Celery root is great to have in your pantry because it lasts a long time. But quite often I just overlook it and it rarely gets its chance. It's really great to eat them raw if you have young fresh roots but I sometimes just don't know what to make with older ones.
Adding celery into potato gnocchi is a great way to use up a whole celeriac, but it doesn't add any weird taste to the gnocchi. In this way you can also use up pumpkins, sweet potatoes, parsley, turnips, parsnips, carrots or even beets.
How to make potato and celeriac gnocchi?
Let's start with with cooking vegetables. Peel 800 g of potatoes and cut them into 2-3 cm cubes. Clean the celery root and peel or cut off the brown peel. Then cut it into 1 cm cubes. If you want to make gnocchi only from potatoes, use 1 kg of them. Cook the vegetable in a big pot with salted water for about 15-20 minutes until soft.
When the vegetables are soft, drain the water from the pot and let it drain well and evaporate the excess water. Then mash the potato with a potato-masher or just with a large fork. There can be hard parts from the celery root that aren't enjoyable to eat, so throw them away if you find any.
In a big bowl, add slightly cooled mashed potatoes, 1 tsp of salt, 1 egg and 300 g of spelt flour. It is better to add flour little by little, because you may need less of it, or more. Make a pliable dough, but knead just enough for the dough to come together.
In a pot where you cooked vegetables now add a lot of water along with salt and bring to a boil. It's important to cook gnocchi as soon as possible, because the dough can become sticky very quickly.
Divide the dough into 4 parts. Then roll them into long ropes and cut them into smaller pieces to create gnocchi. Immediately, put the gnocchi very carefully in a pot with boiling water, stir with a spatula so that they do not stick together and cook for about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the gnocchi. Then try to halve one gnocchi if it is cooked through and, if not, let it cook a minute more.
Place the cooked gnocchi on a wider tray and mix with a little bit of butter .
How to pan fry the gnocchi?
Cooked gnocchi can also be pan fried in a non-stick pan Put the gnocchi in one layer in a hot non-stick pan with a little bit of oil. When they are toasted on one side, turn them on the other and fry until golden brown. Do not overfill the pan, otherwise your gnocchi will tear and not be toasted and crunchy.
How to store potato and celeriac gnocchi?
These potato and celeriac gnocchi will last you for about 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container. For reheating, you can fry them in a pan until golden brown or add them directly to the sauce or in a mixture of meat and vegetables and let them warm up.
What to serve with gnocchi?
TIPS:
- you can add also finely chopped pumpkin seeds into the dough - they will add another texture
- instead of pumpkin seed you can add also walnuts, hazelnuts or linen seeds,... - combine the nuts with some blue cheese sauce
- if you want to more Italian style gnocchi, add shredded Parmesan cheese
- it's also great to add some fresh or dried herbs to the dough, basil or thyme would be really tasty
Recipe
Recipe 4-6 servings
Potato and celeriac gnocchi
Ingredients:
- 800 g of potatoes
- 250 g of celery root
- salt
- 300 g of spelt flour
- 1 egg
- butter
Instructions:
- Peel 800 g of potatoes and cut them into 2-3 cm cubes. Clean the celery root and peel or cut off the brown peel. Then cut it into 1 cm cubes. If you want to make gnocchi only from potatoes, use 1 kg of them.
- Cook the vegetable in a big pot with salted water for about 15-20 minutes until soft.
- When the vegetables are soft, drain the water from the pot and let it drain well and evaporate the excess water. Then mash the potato with a potato-masher or just with a large fork.
- In a big bowl, add slightly cooled mashed potatoes, 1 tsp of salt, 1 egg and 300 g of spelt flour. It is better to add flour little by little, because you may need less of it, or more. Make a pliable dough, but knead just enough for the dough to come together.
- In a pot where you cooked vegetables now add a lot of water along with salt and bring to a boil.
- Divide the dough into 4 parts. Then roll them into long ropes and cut them into smaller pieces to create gnocchi.
- Immediately, put the gnocchi very carefully in a pot with boiling water, stir with a spatula so that they do not stick together and cook for about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the gnocchi. Then try to halve one gnocchi if it is cooked through and, if not, let it cook a minute more.
- Place the cooked gnocchi on a wider tray and mix with a little bit of butter.
Pan fried gnocchi: Put the gnocchi in one layer in a hot non-stick pan with a little bit of oil. When they are toasted on one side, turn them on the other and fry until golden brown. Do not overfill the pan, otherwise your gnocchi will tear and not be toasted and crunchy.
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