By Philip Vella
My family has a rich history of phenomenal cooks, and that is normal for an Italian family. Like all Italians, my family loves food, especially pasta. Personally, gnocchi is my favourite, which is why I chose this recipe.
My family has a rich history of phenomenal cooks, and that is normal for an Italian family. Like all Italians, my family loves food, especially pasta. Personally, gnocchi is my favourite, which is why I chose this recipe.
My grandmother loves to cook, and this is her recipe. It is as if she was born to cook because she is very passionate about it. Most of the time, her pasta is homemade, and this recipe is no exception.
When I was young, I used to make pasta from scratch with her, and gnocchi was my favourite to make. It also tasted the best! Who knows how many little gnocchi we made, but there sure was a lot of it. No matter what, though, there were rarely any leftovers!
Of course, no pasta is complete without tomato sauce. Although I did not help my grandmother make it, I watched her the whole time. The smell of that fresh tomato sauce always made me happy.
After a fun day of making pasta, the whole family would come over and we would eat until we dropped! It is typical for an Italian family to get together and eat what they love most, and gnocchi are high up on my list of favourite foods!
Recipe
Ingredients
– 4 lbs (1.8 kg) potatoes
– 1 tsp salt
– 4 large eggs
– 1 cup flour
Procedure
- Boil potatoes without their skins for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are soft. Drain and mash until smooth.
- Beat in the eggs and mix the flour in gradually until you have smooth elastic dough.
- Divide the dough into small portions and roll them on a lightly powdered surface until they resemble fingers. Cut into 1 inch (2 centimetres) lengths.
- Curl them by pressing down on each piece with your thumb and then pulling towards you.
- Bring 6 quarts/litres of water to a boil with 3 teaspoons of salt.
- Shake the gnocchi in your hands to remove excess flour. Toss them into the boiling water. When they rise to the surface, remove from water.
- When ready to serve, pour the tomato sauce (bought or homemade) over the gnocchi. Lastly, sprinkle some Parmesan or Romano cheese (this is optional but it is an Italian tradition) onto the gnocchi and dig in!
Photo source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/kitchen/2008_05_22-RicottaGnocchiCut.jpg
