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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Homemade easy Gnocchi & Pesto recipe

We love Gnocchi. They are delicious, and filling; some of the store bough ones contain whey, or another milk derivative, and I just do not like the frozen ones. Plus the homemade ones just taste so much better :)

Here is the recipe

Gnocchi
  • 200 gr. (about a good 1-3/4 C) Flour
  • 500 gr. (2-1/4 C) Potatoes (I used red potatoes as they should stay somewhat firm when cooking)
  • Salt
  • 50 gr. (3-1/2 Tbl.) Earth Balance melted
  1. Peel potatoes and boil in salt water until done
  2. Pour flour into a bowl
  3. Push potatoes through ricer onto the flour
  4. add Salt
  5. add melted Earth Balance
  6. Put everything gently together (I use a scraper) until it becomes a firm dough - this process should take about 5-6 minutes; very gently knead dough
  7. Divide dough into four equal parts
  8. Form, and shape each one into a long skinny roll with about 1/2 inch (1 cm)in diameter
  9. Cut each roll into equal gnocchi, each about 1 inch, or longer (2.5 cm)
  10. Bring water with salt to a boil
  11. Add the entire Gnocchi batch at once to the boiling water
  12. turn down heat to a simmer
  13. Cook for about another minute once they float to the surface
  14. Take out of the water

You can serve Gnocchi just with garlic & olive oil, crispy fried sage leaves, tomato sauce, etc. Since I had a bunch of basil, I made Pesto...

PESTO

  • Bunch of basil (leaves only) - about 2 packed cups
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1/3 Cup of pine nuts, or walnuts
  • 1/2 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/2 Cup of Parmesiano Regiano (optional - if you use, pls be sure that it is the imported version - FYI - Grana Parmsiano is not aged as long)
  1. Put garlic in food processor and pulse until finely chopped
  2. Add basil leaves and pulse
  3. Add pine nuts and pulse (if you use walnuts, then process them before the basil)
  4. Add Olive Oil and pulse
  5. If you do not add the cheese it is done and delicious - you may want to add salt
  6. Add Parmesiano and pulse (no additional salt is needed)

FYI - I did not have any nuts in the house and the pesto still turned out great.

Please let me know if you like it...Happy eating :)