Family Gnocchi Making

If you weren’t already aware, I had the best week at home ever.  I met all of my goals (more on that within the rest of the week), and I got to see most of my family and friends. All in all: huge success.

Yesterday was probably one of my most favorite days at home.  First of all, it revolved around family and food.  What else is better than that?? My mom’s side of the family (the Italians) came over to our house to learn gnocchi making from the pro: my grandma.

Not only did we make yummy homemade gnocchi, we made FOUR TYPES of homemade gnocchi.  We all found different recipes and made a pound of each! I made a vegan recipe, and others made ones with cheese, eggs, and one recipe was my grandma’s own recipe.  It was so awesome!

Although she didn’t have a recipe written down and would typically make it from memory, here’s grandma’s recipe (which we cut down to a third of the recipe):

Ingredients

• 3 pounds russet potatoes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, extra large
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup canola oil

Here’s the vegan recipe that I used (which we cut in half):

Ingredients

• 2 pounds russet potatoes, washed and scrubbed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 T olive oil
• 1.5 to 1.75 cups all-purpose flour

Although all four recipes had different directions, here’s what Grandma had us do.  And what Grandma says goes considering she’s been making these babies longer than any of us have been alive.  She told us stories of watching her aunt make them when she was younger, too.  It was so cool to hear her stories about when she was younger!

Directions

Boil the whole potatoes until they are soft (about 45 minutes). Dry potatoes completely.  While still warm, peel with fingers and pass through a ricer.  Put potato in the fridge or freezer to cool it down and get as dry as possible.

Set 6 quarts of water to boil in a large spaghetti pot.

Add all ingredients of the recipe and knead until ball is dry to the touch.  We had to continue to add a lot of flour until the dough was no longer sticky.

Flour a hard surface and roll a bit of the dough until about 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick.  Cut the dough into inch-long pieces.  Then, using a fork, roll the dumping from one end of the tines to the other.

At this point, sprinkle any gnocchi you would like to save with flour, place on a baking sheet, and freeze 30 minutes.  Then place them in a zip-log bag.  When ready to cook at a later date, just follow the subsequent directions for cooking fresh gnocchi.

Boil gnocchi in small batches (if making full recipe, 3 batches is sufficient). Within 2 minutes, the gnocchi will rise to the top.  Boil LESS THAN ONE MINUTE once they have risen.

Drain the gnocchi and enjoy!

We enjoyed ours alongside some homemade googola.  Growing up, googola is what my grandma knew pizza as.  For us, it is some pizza dough with olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.  It’s perfect!

We also had homemade sauce and meatballs (which I unfortunately couldn’t enjoy and had to have some jarred marinara instead).

Everyone except me did a taste test, and the general consensus is that Grandma’s recipe is the best! I thought the eggless gnocchi tasted just delicious!

Here’s my little bowl:

It was definitely a learning experience and it is always fun to spend time with my cousins and family.  Making the gnocchi was also much easier than I thought it would be.  Yay! for new recipes!

Have you ever made your own noodles or anything Italian? As a family, we have made gnocchi, ravioli, and stuffed shells!