Lockdown, Recipe

Lockdown – gnocchi

Serves 2; takes 5 mins to cook both batches, plus 20 mins prep and an hour to bake the potatoes

Ingredients:

  • 500g medium-sized floury potatoes (Maris Pipers work really well)
  • 75g plain flour

Method:

Bake the potatoes for about an hour at 200C. When a knife goes into them easily, take them out, cut them in half, scoop out the potato and mash well (if you have a ricer, great – if not, a sieve will do – don’t add butter or any liquid).

Add the flour – cut it in with a knife, then work it in with your hands and knead lightly until it’s a non-sticky dough. (You might need a little more flour if it’s still sticky.)

Divide the dough into four and roll each piece into a sausage about 2cm thick; cut off slices about 1.5cm thick and roll into an oval. Place a fork on your work surface, so the tines are sticking up; hold the handle of the fork with one hand, and with your other hand roll your gnocchi up the tines and flip it over the edge (so you get ridges on one side and a light thumbprint on the back).

Drop half the gnocchi into a large pan of boiling water. When they rise to the surface (about 2 mins), they’re done. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm while you cook the second batch.

Serve with whatever sauce you like – the classic sauce is melted butter with fried sage, but we used an arrabbiata sauce (aka passata, garlic, onion and a bit of chilli) mixed with roasted Mediterranean veg.