Nonna’s Homemade Gnocchi Recipe

Straight from my 92 year old Italian grandmother’s kitchen comes this extremely easy recipe for gnocchi that’s way better than frozen storebought stuff and way cheaper than any restaurant.

For a serving of 5 or 6, you’ll need the following:

• 5 medium potatoes of any kind (1 per person, more or less)
• about 6 cups of white flour (measurements don’t exist to Nonnas)
• 1 egg
• seriously, that’s it!

Start by peeling the potatoes and boiling them in unsalted water until they’re soft all the way through (test with a fork).

While they’re cooking, make a little mountain of 3 to 4 cups of flour on a counter/cutting board. If you have a food mill, bust that out now too.

Once the potatoes are soft, put them through the mill on the finest setting right into the flour. If you don’t have a food mill, mash the potatoes up with a fork or cheese grater if you can. You don’t want chunks of potato.

Add the one egg, and start working it all together with your hands. Add a bit of water if you find that things aren’t sticking together well. Eventually, you want to create a log.

With a knife, cut small slices off the log and roll them into long snakes, about as thick as your thumb. Then chop the snakes into little bite-size pieces.

Now for the most complicated part: making the iconic gnocchi shape. Nonna did laugh at us trying to attempt this, but as long as there’s a bit of a divot in your gnocchi you’ll be fine. Essentially, using two or three fingers, gently press into the dough and roll it towards you slightly, digging your fingertips in. Use flour if things seem sticky. You want it to roll back over the top of your fingers a bit, but it does take a bit of practice. Please enjoy this short video of the master at work.

Once all the dough is cut and rolled, you’re done! Spread the pieces out and let them sit for a bit (like 30 mins minimum) before boiling.

The boiling process is quick and simple. Once the water is bubbling, put the dough in, and salt the water as you would pasta. Once the pieces float, eat one to test texture. My family likes a fairly firm gnocchi. When you’re satisfied, dump the water and serve with whatever topping you prefer. I usually just like plain olive oil, but we had homemade tomato sauce this time.

But that’s it! Rolling all the dough is the most time-consuming part, so give yourself ample time if you’re working solo.

And let me know how it goes if you attempt this. As I said, the storebought gnocchi simply does not compare to homemade stuff, so please give it a go.

I’m a picky eater so most of Nonna’s recipes never really interested me, but there are a few that do, and I’m making an effort to have her teach me them, and actually record the info as she doesn’t work off a book or anything. So I hope to share a few more of her classic Italian dishes down the line right here on my blog. These aren’t family secrets or anything, so please share and enjoy! She’s 92 and doesn’t speak much English and certainly doesn’t understand the concept of the internet or a blog, but I think she’d be happy knowing that her recipes were gracing dinner tables all over.

That’s all for now!

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