Dr. Potato - Idaho® Potato Gnocchi

Q:

Is it hard to make potato gnocchi?

A:

You touched on one of my very favorite restaurant potato dishes. Gnocchi is pretty straightforward, but requires a dry potato (high solids) to make it in the traditional manner. These days you often see pumpkin gnocchi, sweet potato gnocchi and even Yukon Gold gnocchi. Each requires quite a bit of practice as the excess moisture content can ruin a recipe unless you have the experience to made modifications as you work the dough. It is much better to stick to an Idaho® russet potato and add in the flavorings as desired. Gnocchi in the United States starts out with a short list of simple ingredients: eggs, Idaho® potatoes, cheese, and flour. Here is a picture to illustrate:

idaho_potato_gnocchi

First let’s start out with a typical recipe for gnocchi:Potato Gnocchi [link]potato_gnocchiAnd this is simple but with truffle flavors added:Gnocchi con Fontina e Tartufo Idaho® Potato Dumplings with Fontina Cheese & Truffle [link]gnocchi_con_fontina_e_tartufo_idaho_potato_dumplingsAnd, here is one using left over mashed Idaho® potatoes:Basic Gnocchi [link]This one has a New Orleans flavor:Creole Cream Cheese Idaho® Potato Gnocchi with Crawfish [link]creole_cream_cheese_idaho_potato_gnocchiAnd finally one made with ricotta cheese:Potato Gnocchi with Ricotta [link]potato_gnocchi_with_ricotta