Hi guys I'm Laura Vitale, on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, I want to show you
how to make potato gnocchi.
Now, you can make this recipe - I have a recipe on my website and I have a video here on YouTube
called gnocchi, you can watch it it's me and my nonna making potato gnocchi which is our
family recipe that I've eaten my whole life, but did you know that you can make that with
leftover mashed potatoes?
Which is what we are going to do today, because leftover mashed potatoes that are cold and
dry and I don't like leftover and reheated mashed potatoes but they make for a delicious
gnocchi.
So that's what we are going to work on today and the only ingredients you need to make
the dough is your leftover mashed potatoes and some all purpose flour, and you're also
going to need whatever you're going to dress it with so I'm going to use my regular good
old marinara sauce and parmesan cheese, you can use any sauce you like!
The idea is to show you that you can take mashed potatoes and turn them into something
fabulous like gnocchi.
So, let me show you what I have here.
This is mashed potato, you see this?
This is just a little bit of the stuffing because when we had our Thanksgiving dinner
which I made a Thanksgiving dinner the other day just so that I could have all the leftovers
to share with you, but we did enjoy Thanksgiving dinner a little early, you know some people
use the same spoon to grab the stuffing and that's fine, but you see how smooth this is,
I use a potato ricer to make my mashed potatoes because I like them lump-free.
As long as they're really smooth, you are good to go.
These are really well seasoned, if your potatoes are not very well seasoned, you're going to
need to add some additional salt here but I don't need to do that because mine have
plenty, so what I'm going to do is put the flour on my clean work surface.
Add your mashed potatoes.
If you've ever made potato gnocchi before then you know what I'm working with, and you
know what I'm doing.
But it's super easy, what you're going to do is by hand, you're going to just work on
incorporating all of this flour and it looks like it's never going to work, but it is you
just need to be very patient and just keep kneading until all of your flour is incorporated.
What I have here is a baking sheet with some - lined with a lint free kitchen towel and
it is sprinkled with some flour so that it's ready for the gnocchi, so I'm just going to
keep kneading and mixing, this is going to take a good four to five minutes, so be patient
and keep kneading until your dough comes together.
This dough is the dough of potato gnocchi dreams, now this is half, because look I did
already half of them but I wanted to just show you how beautiful and soft and pliable
it is, so here's what you do.
You take a piece, if you were to round it up it would be about the size of a golf ball.
Lightly, lightly flour your board, I say lightly because you don't want to dry out the dough
so much that it gets all crumbly, you don't want that.
So then what you do is you just sort of roll it into a three quarter inch rope, you cut
them, don't make them too big, these are a little bit on the bigger side but that's fine.
Ideally you would use a gnocchi board, but if you don't have one use the back of a fork,
place your gnocchi on top and roll.
That was not a very good - there we go.
See?
See those ridges?
you need those ridges.
Because that's whats going to help, that's what's going to help the sauce adhere, so
like I said, ideally you make them a little bit smaller but you know, patience and me
kinda don't go hand in hand.
But, you want to create those ridges, then you're going to put them on your baking sheet
that's been lined with a lint free kitchen towel, you might have to do a couple of baking
sheets because you don't want them to sit so closely together that they stick.
Then you sprinkle a little flour on top, cover with another kitchen towel and you let them
sit and dry out for an hour and a half to two hours, and then you're going to boil them
up and we're going to cook them and they're going to be so fantastic, just you wait and
they really are just delicious potato gnocchi made with leftover mashed potato!
So, I'm going to make the whole batch, you don't have to make the full two pound version
if you only have a little bit of mashed potatoes left, but they do freeze nicely before cooking,
so at this point, I'm not going to boil all of them, I'm going to boil half of them and
then freeze the rest for a later date.
So I'm just going to continue to roll them, see these are a little smaller, see how much
faster and better they come up?
And I'm just going to keep on rocking and rolling.
My gnocchi have been sitting for a while, and I just take my towel and I just kind of
mix them around like that.
I've got some boiling water here, and over here I've got a skillet with some olive oil.
Now these - you don't want to add the entire thing at once because you could risk them
all sticking together, and they cook within a minute, if that.
Once they sink to the bottom and then they float back up, that's how you know they're
ready.
So I just take a spider, terrible word for it but that's what it's called.
You could use any slotted spoon like this or a ladle, you just put a bunch in, make
sure your water is well salted, should be as salty as the Mediterranean, then add them
in.
Once they float, they are ready so I'm just going to do a couple handfuls at a time and
once they float, I'm going to take those, put them in here, once I put them in here
I'm going to toss them with the olive oil, and then I'll add the next batch and then
we'll add some marinara sauce and some parmesan cheese and then we serve.
I'll show you when we combine everything.
I've added those in, that was my first batch, I'll show you what they look like with this
next batch because it happens so fast, I mean don't walk away because you're going to come
back to overcooked gnocchi, so just add them in - I'm going to add the rest of these because
I'm only doing one sheet pan, I have another sheet pan that I'm going to freeze, add them
in make sure your water is really nice and salted.
And they're going to float, I mean you don't even have to go anywhere because you're going
to see it happen in the next few seconds.
Now by adding them in the oil, it kind of crisps them up a little bit and allows them
to hold shape really nicely, so look how beautiful, we're going to add the rest of these to here
in just a minute and then we add the marinara sauce, parm and we serve!
See that?
That was like what, thirty seconds?
Shake shake shake, get any excess liquid.
Add them in!
They might just splatter a little but it's fine.
Oh yeah!
Going to be a good lunch!
If you could come here right now I'd invite you to my lunch.
But ya can't.
Look at those gnocchi crispiness!
Yeah!
I mean!
Know what I'm sayin?
Add your marinara sauce - store bought, homemade - whatever you fancy.
Oh my word.
Come on!
Give it to me!!
I mean, if you're not a gnocchi fan, I don't know where you've been your whole life.
Cause let me just tell you, you've been missing out.
And now that you've got leftover plain old mashed potatoes laying around you can make
it yourself.
That!
Okay?
I'm not saying, but I'm just saying.
Is that not the best thing that you can make with your leftover gnocchi?
This is going to be so hot though, and yes, I'm covered in sauce but who cares?
Oh my word!
They literally melt.
It's like a pillow of love.
Mmm!
That is the gnocchi I want, that is the gnocchi that I love, that is the gnocchi of my dreams
and you can make it with leftover mashed potatoes.
Please just go make this, LauraintheKitchen.com I will have the breakdown for you, hope you
enjoyed spending time with me I'm going to go serve this for lunch and I'll see you next
time.
Bye.