I made the gnocchi and froze them. Today I cooked them using the the pan fried gnocchi with lemon and sage recipe. Not so good. Sauce was great, but something was wrong with the gnocchi. They felt as if they were not cooked...limp..slightly slimy and stuck to the pan. They lacked any body. Any suggestions? I love gnocchi and was really looking forward to them. :< Dottie

If you're going to cook frozen gnochhi, make sure they go in plenty of boiling, salted water ONE AT THE TIME. If they are thrown in, they will quickly cool the water and sit at the bottom as a lump. Make sure they float, take one out and taste to make sure they are cooked through. Also, frozen gnocchi will cook a bit more starchy than fresh ones, so may require being re-freshed in cold ice bath to remove the starches, set in the fridge AND THEN pan fried in the butter.

I would love to try this recipe but don't have a ricer. Can you suggest an alternative method?

Thanks.
Charmian

You could let the potatoes cool slightly enough to handle them (still warm though) and then push them through a stainless steel colander. The collander needs to be one with small holes though. Or you could gently mash them being careful to not over mash them.

The results from a ricer though are much better as it actually helps to aerate the potatoes as well.

I fully cook the gnocchi, briefly cool them in ice water (or just gently rinse in a sieve with cold water if I am lazy), let them dry in a single layer on paper towels, and then quick freeze them on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Wrap well, defrost what you need. I like to warm them in plenty of unsalted butter, then put them (about 1 1/2 layers, if that makes sense) in a small baking dish, and then sprinkle with parmesan. Bake in a hot oven or broil until cheese and gnocchi are lightly browned

Do you find that the gnocchi stick to the paper towel though?

Rinsing the gnocchi helps with sticking, plus I don't leave them on the paper very long. Since making gnocchi is time consuming and messy, I like to make 2 or 3 batches because once you are set up, it does'nt take that much longer and you are set for impromptu side dishes.

A friend from Sicily once had us over for dinner and had us help with shaping the gnoccis. Instead of a paddle, he simply handed us each a fork! It's a bit different from using the paddle, as it's a quick sort of back-and-forth movement, but the end result is the same shell shape with that striped pattern on the outside. Once you got the move right, you could churn them out quite rapidly, and it was a lot of fun.

I had two "problems" while making this dish. Can someone tell me what I might have done wrong? First, when the dough was ready and I was rolling it up for cutting, the dough kept breaking into tiny pieces. Second it was simply impossible to shape them :) lol Seriously, I tried to shape them like I saw in the video, but the dough didn't roll like it was supposed to. It didn't stick, so I don't think the problem was the flour...also I tried different kinds of pressure, but that didn't work neither...I felt like it wasn't "light" enough, that's why it didn't roll....what happened?

Anyway I froze them up, gonna cook it tomorrow and let you guys know if the taste was good (cross your fingers!!). Truthfully it is the least of my concerns because I had a lot of fun doing it and that's what really matters! Maybe next time i'll completely get it right ;)

Ah, something with so few ingredients can be so tricky sometimes. Probably need more info, looks like the dough wasn't ready for shaping yet. Make sure the potaotes are cooked through, riced when they are hot, then cooled. Add your egg yolk, or equal part whole beaten egg (don't need too much), then add your flour, incorporating it gently. At one point you will have to firmly press the flour into the potatoes to develop enough gluten so they don't break apart too easily. Form your flat disk of dough with plenty of flour on top and bottom. Rest for at least 5-10 minutes before cutting and rolling. Then shape them with plenty of flour nearby to coat.

Believe me, my first crack at this was a disaster. This is feel cuisine. Follow the guidelines again and you'll have better success. Get back on the gnocchi bike..the ride is worth it.

Thanks Tony! You know what? You're absolutely right, I'm gonna try to do it again today and I'm positive I'll have better luck this time. Thanks for the tips, I'll keep them in mind while I go through with this recipe once more. And oh, inspite of the trouble with rolling the dough and not being able to shape them, the gnocchis tasted wonderful! I was actually surprised myself! Thanks for the recipe, the tips and the incentive, knowing that I was not the only one who had trouble with this at the first time is a relief! :) Hopefully I'll come back with good news! Thanks again!

This went fantastic!! :) I didn't have a paddle, instead i try what Björn K described above (using a fork) and it worked really good, i got a really nice shell shape with pattern on it!

We just had Gnocchi with Warm Sage Butter for dinner and we love it :). Next time i will try to combine the gnocchi with another type of sauce. Any suggestions?

Congrats on your gnocchi success...so glad you liked it.

One of my favorite gnocchi variations is one we actually have on the site is called:

Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Lemon-Sage Sauce

Joe also loves taking melting mascarpone cheese with fresh sage and cracked black pepper and then he tosses in the warm gnocchi (sometimes he even pan-frys it first). Rich and delicious.

Hi,
I have been wondering which is the material of your counter top. It looks so resistant to everything!. We are getting a new house and we are figuring out what kind of counter top to choose. Could you give us some advise based on your experience?
Thanks!

I am no expert on counter tops, but I think my next one would be made of quartz. It is apparently stronger than granite. It is also highly resistant to stains and scratches.

For more information, here is an article that talks about the growing popularity of quartz counter tops (and why they are so good) http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=72ffd83a-0ba5-49b2-afc7-f37ac815d911

As for the counter tops here at Rouxbe, they are actually not that durable. I think perhaps it's the color (which we picked because it was very neutral) that makes them look like they have very few marks. But next ones we will look into will most likely be quartz.

Good luck, hope this helps!

can one keep gnocchi in the refrigerator? cooked or uncooked? how long?

Thanks
Tori

If you're going to hold the gnocchi for any length of time, best to simply pre-cook them, cool them in ice water and immediately lay them on a tray with a touch of olive oil. Then can then be stored in the refrigerator for at least two days. Simply reheat in sauce, with no need to dunk them in simmering water again.

Uncooked gnocchi can rest on a floured counter for a couple of hours, but don't transfer them to a refrigerator because they can absorb moisture and become sticky.

I made these last night and they tasted great, the wife loved them. I had one issue though and that was shaping the gnocchi. When I tried to roll the gnocchi they just seemed to fall apart? Am I not working the dough enough if this is the case? When I was working the dough I was trying to be consious not to work it too hard or too much but Im thinking this is where I went wrong. They tasted great, but were almost too soft? Any suggestions?

A couple of possibilities here. One, the dough needed just a bit more flour. Also, make sure when bringing the dough together, there are no pockets of flour inside the dough. It appears you were also perhaps too delicate bringing the dough together - a bit of gluten is good, too much will make them tough. Finally, let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting and rolling. The longer the rest, the better the flour absorbs the moisture evenly. So, a bit more flour, more deliberate bringing together of the dough, and longer rest before cutting.

Gnocchi - what a delicate thing, eh?

Is it possible to substitute sweet potatoes or butternut squash for the Yukon gold potatoes for a different flavor?

Yes it is possible but it may change the amount of flour you need as their water content can be different or more wet.

I saw an Italian TV chef once doing it in a weird way, he made a well of flour like in pasta then he added the potatoes in the middle with the eggs.

I made these on the weekend and they turned out great! I have been making them for years but never could figure out how to make them not so rubbery. I think its the chopping with the flour and eggs that must keep them tender.

I just saw the pasta making videos...could Gnocchi be made in a food processor using a similar method?

I don´t have a food processor yet but after seeing the pasta videos I have another reason to get one.

No, I wouldn't try this. Even the pulsing mechanism on a food processor would be too much and could potentially form too much gluten in the dough. Keep these tender by making them by hand. Cheers!

I don't have a ricer. Can I use a food mill instead, like the one used to remove seeds for the tomato sauce?

Yes a food mill, fit with the finest disc, could also work; however it is important to know that a ricer makes fluffier potatoes and therefore the lightest gnocchi. Hope this helps!

Instead of peeling them with a paring knife, I like to scoop out the inside into a bowl, and scrape and excess off with a knife before putting it into the ricer. This is an ok method to use?

Ultimately you can peel the potatoes however you like. The advantage to peeling them (rather than scooping them) is that you waste less on the potato. But like I said, whatever floats your boat. Cheers!

Thank you for all the advice, I am a prep cook at a very busy restaurant and one of our biggest sellers is a Braised short rib served over gnocchi. As a former student of Chef Tony, I greatly appreciate the work done on this website.
Thanks Rouxbe