The Potato Dumpling Feast

I’ve started making gnocchi again.

I thought I had gotten the habit under control in the ‘80s, after the little potato dumplings started showing up on Italian restaurant menus all over town. For a while, I was making them all the time, then all of a sudden I wasn’t.

But I started again around Halloween. I’m pretty sure there’s no connection. After all, I had just returned from Friuli, where gnocchi are king.

Still, on this particular night of horrors, the gnocchi would not come together no matter what I did. Every time I tried to roll out a rope, it fell apart on me. I’d add a little more flour and knead a little more; the same thing would happen.

Finally, after adding what seemed like way too much flour, I smushed the dough around pretty violently in a fit of exasperation. Then it came together--but the resulting gnocchi were tough and dense.

Trying to figure out where I’d gone wrong, I started looking at gnocchi recipes. I quickly found that everyone has a different method. I came away with more questions than ever: What sort of potatoes? How do you cook them? How much flour do you add? How about an egg? How much do you knead them? And what about shaping them? Pillows? Dimples? Ridges?

Considering that few things are simpler than gnocchi--the usual ingredients are potatoes and flour and nothing else--there is an amazing amount of disagreement about how they should be combined.

I started experimenting. First, I turned to the question of the egg. Some recipes expressly forbade adding an egg, others insisted on it, still others called for it with the admission that it would make the gnocchi heavier. Sure enough, I found that the egg made the dough easier to handle and the resulting gnocchi heavier. I also found that without too much effort, the dough could be worked without it.

Then I addressed the potato. In Italy, all potatoes are waxy-fleshed boiling potatoes, which are higher in moisture than baking potatoes. That’s why Italian cookbooks call for old potatoes for gnocchi--they’ve dried out. Moisture is the enemy of light gnocchi (this is also why you should peel and rice the potatoes as soon as they’re cooked, so that moisture can escape in steam).

My best gnocchi came from a bag of Yukon Golds (a boiling potato) that had been under my counter for a couple of months. They were light but still had a bit of texture. The next best gnocchi came from baking potatoes, and they’re what I recommend, especially for beginning gnocchi makers. Baking potatoes--the sandy-skinned russets--are so dry they can take a lot of handling without turning gummy (here’s a hint: The smaller ones that are sold cheaply in five-pound bags work better than the big expensive ones; they cook more evenly). But boiling potatoes work too, if you handle them carefully.

The cooking method turned out to be almost as significant as the kind of potato. I made six batches of gnocchi by baking, boiling and steaming both baking and boiling potatoes, and steaming worked best all around. Boiling made for heavy gnocchi; baking resulted in very light gnocchi but with too strong a potato flavor for what is essentially a type of pasta.

When it comes to turning the potatoes into dough, I found ricing the potatoes gives the best result, but a food mill is also acceptable. Never use a food processor for gnocchi, though--you’ll get a gummy mess. I like to rice the potatoes in a thin layer onto a sheet of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, which makes them easy to handle.

Let the riced potatoes cool completely, then form the dough into a messy mass and begin kneading it gently, like pie dough, shaping it and pushing it softly forward. Keep the board well floured and sprinkle more flour on top when the dough feels wet.

How much flour should you add? This is the trickiest part of making gnocchi, because no two batches of dough will have the same moisture content or take the same amount of flour. Start with a quarter of a cup on the board and add another quarter to third of a cup on top. Add more as necessary. The dough will absorb a lot--between two-thirds and three-fourths of a cup of flour per pound of potatoes--but I found that it is best added a little at a time.

Though you’ll hear many warnings about too much flour making gnocchi heavy, it’s important to remember that too little flour makes gnocchi impossible. This is a lesson that has been neglected by modern food writers, but Pellegrino Artusi emphasized it in the first great modern Italian cookbook, “La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiare Bene” (1891). Artusi actually called for 1 1/4 cups of flour to every pound of potatoes--but remember, he was using the moist waxy variety.

You’ll know the dough has been kneaded enough when it begins to feel somewhat elastic and firm instead of crumbly and almost hollow; this usually takes between five and 10 minutes. The surface will become smooth, though not nearly as smooth as pie or pasta dough. Keep an eye on the cracks that will invariably form, too. You’ll see them lose their sharp edges and become softer and more rounded.

To form the dough into a rope, roll it flat on the floured board with both hands, the way you used to do with Play-Doh when you were a kid. If the dough crumbles and splits, it needs more flour and more kneading. The finished rope needn’t be exactly uniform.

When you’ve rolled out a rope, cut it into sections and toss them in a bowl with a little flour. This will knock the sharp edges off and give the gnocchi their characteristic pillow shape.

You can cook them like this, or you can shape them in one of two ways. The simplest method is to poke a little dimple in the center of each piece. This thins the center, making the gnocchi cook more evenly, and it also forms a small cup to hold sauce better.

If you want to get really fancy, you can ridge your gnocchi. In Italy, ridged wooden paddles are sold for this purpose at outdoor markets. Or you can just use the back of a fork, forming the ridge on one side as you impress the dimple on the other.

When the gnocchi have been formed, you can set them aside on a well-floured tea towel for a couple of hours. Much longer than that and they’ll get sticky, plus enzymatic changes in the potato will turn those creamy white gnocchi gray.

Next, boil the gnocchi as you would fresh pasta; they’re done when they float to the surface. They’ll do as a main course with pesto or a meaty ragu as sauce. But I think the best introduction is simply to toss them with herbal butter and dust them with Parmigiano-Reggiano.

There are, of course, many other types of gnocchi. There’s quite a fashion in Italy today for making gnocchi from winter squash, and there have always been gnocchi based on ricotta or colored with things like beets or spinach.

Even the French have a gnocchi--they call it Parisienne--but it’s made with cream puff dough that is poached and then baked. Now, that’s scary.

Potato Gnocchi

Active Work Time: 40 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 1/2 hours

1 1/2 pounds baking potatoes

1 to 1 1/4 cups flour, plus more if necessary

Salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

2 sprigs rosemary

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Steam unpeeled potatoes until knife slips easily into center, 40 to 45 minutes. While potatoes are still quite hot, scrape off peel, holding potato in tea towel and scraping with back edge of paring knife. Using potato ricer, rice potatoes onto sheet of plastic wrap and cool completely.

When cool, dump riced potatoes onto work surface floured with 1/4 cup flour. Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/3 cup flour over top and gather together into rough mass. Knead gently, adding more flour as necessary, until surface is smooth, interior feels elastic and any cracks on surface have rounded edges, 5 to 10 minutes.

Cut off piece of dough and roll into rope 1/2 to 3/4 inches in diameter. Cut rope into 3/4-inch pieces and toss in mixing bowl with 1/4 cup more flour. Shape gnocchi, if desired, by indenting with finger and/or ridging with fork tines. Repeat until all dough has been used.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, melt butter in small saucepan with whole rosemary sprigs. Cook over medium-low heat until gnocchi are ready. Do not let butter color.

When water comes to rapid boil, add gnocchi and cook until gnocchi float to top, 30 to 45 seconds. Drain gnocchi. Remove rosemary sprigs from butter and drizzle over gnocchi. Toss lightly and dust with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve immediately.

6 servings. Each serving: 264 calories; 286 mg sodium; 27 mg cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 0.54 gram fiber.