How to Make Gluten-Free Gnocchi

A few weeks ago I attended a course by Gabriele Taddeucci on how to make gluten-free gnocchi.  He kindly and generously allowed me to share his recipes with you.

A close-up view!

A close-up view!


I do have to let you know that I’m no expert in making beautiful, light-as-a-pillow gnocchi.  I have horror memories of once ambitiously making a birthday dinner for Carl with homemade gnocchi served with a sugo sauce.  From the outset everything went wrong and it wasn’t until around midnight that we finally sat down to a horror meal of solid, lumpy bullets covered in a sauce that needed further reducing.

Having attended Gabriele’s course, I now know all the places where I went wrong.

Scooping the potato out of the skins

Scooping the potato out of the skins

The first thing you must do is buy old potatoes – those with a thick skin so you definitely don’t want to buy new potatoes or those modern varieties that are covered in a fine veil of a skin.  Then cook the potatoes whole so they don’t absorb as much liquid – you want them as dry as possible.  Alternatively, you can cook whole potatoes in the oven and this is what I did so there was no risk of a watery potato mash.

Then the potato mash must be cold before you mix it with the flour.  I remember last time I was mixing the dough I was practically burning my hands the potato was so hot.

Adding the egg yolks to the dough

Adding the egg yolks to the dough

How to Make Gluten-Free Gnocchi
Author: 
Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: Serves 6
 
Gluten-Free gnocchi that tastes like real gnocchi
Ingredients
  • 175g rice flour
  • 500g mashed potato
  • 2 egg yolks (I used 60g organic eggs)
  • 10g salt (2 tspns)
Instructions
  1. The first thing you must do is buy old potatoes - those with a thick skin so you definitely don't want to buy new potatoes or those modern varieties that are covered in a fine veil of a skin. Then cook the potatoes whole so they don't absorb as much liquid - you want them as dry as possible. Alternatively, you can cook whole potatoes in the oven and this is what I did so there was no risk of a watery potato mash.
  2. Then the potato mash must be cold before you mix it with the flour. I remember last time I was mixing the dough I was practically burning my hands the potato was so hot.Put the flour on the table and add the salt and potato. Mix in the egg yolks then mix until you have a soft ball. Do not overwork the dough. As soon as it sticks to your hands, stop! Gnocchi is a very delicate dough and the less you work it, the softer your gnocchi will be.
  3. Cut a small piece of dough and roll it with the palm of your hands until you have a long thin cylinder. Cut it with a knife using a little flour if necessary. Give the gnocchi the proper shape and cook them in salted boiling water straight away. (If you leave the gnocchi in the fridge uncooked, they will start to get soggy and gluey).
  4. If you make the gnocchi the day before required, you can cook it then strain it and then cool in water and ice. Dry them with a cloth and store them in a container with a bit of olive oil. This way you will be able to keep your gnocchi cooked in a the fridge for a couple of days. When you want to have them, just tip them into boiling water until they rise to the surface.

 

Lightly mixing

Lightly mixing

Rolling the dough

Rolling the dough

The gnocchi all rolled and cut and ready for the saucepan

The gnocchi all rolled and cut and ready for the saucepan

Gabriele believes in simple sauces.  Hallelujah!  The sauce he made for the gnocchi involved some garlic gently sauteed in olive oil, a variety of chopped mushrooms added, then a ladle of the gnocchi water was added, some grated pecorino cheese and voila, the sauce was ready.

How to Make Gluten-Free Gnocchi
Author: 
Recipe type: Pasta Sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: Serves 6
 
An inexpensive but very tasty pasta sauce to serve with gnocchi
Ingredients
  • 2 tbspns olive oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1kg of mushrooms (I used button, Swiss brown, shiitake and enoki), wiped clean and sliced
  • handful of grated pecorino cheese
  • handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
  1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add olive oil and garlic and stir until fragrant. Add mushrooms and stir until combined in oil and garlic. Simmer until softened (around 10 minutes). Add cheese and parsley. When gnocchi is cooked, ladle 1-2 spoonfuls of pasta water into sauce and mix until combined. When gnocchi rise to the surface, strain gnocchi and add to sauce. Mix to combine.
  2. Serve gnocchi with mushroom sauce with a sprinkling of pecorino cheese.

The mushroom sauce

The mushroom sauce

 

I would certainly not say that I’m now an expert in making gnocchi however, this was an enormous improvement on my last efforts.  I believe making gnocchi is one of those skills where you definitely improve with practice.

Mushroom gnocchi all plated

Mushroom gnocchi all plated

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Comments

  1. I’m so glad you shared this recipe, thank you. I’m definitely making these, I have many Gluten intolerant friends and family. I can hardly wait to see their faces that it’s GF, I bet they’d lost hope of ever eating gnocchi again.

  2. Charlie, it looks WONDERFUL! I can’t wait to try this recipe. With the mushrooms it looks so tasty…I wish I had a plate for my breakfast this morning. Good job! 🙂

  3. looks fab Charlie, especially the mushroom sauce 🙂

  4. Interesting, when I was at The Long Apron cooking school recently, the instructions were to bake the potatoes and only add flour while they were hot otherwise they’d go gluggy. I wonder if gluten free makes a difference?

    One of us should try it. 🙂

  5. MMMMMM! Charlie!

    Your Gf gnocchi looks amazingly beautiful & very appetizing ly dear friend! I just gave you an AWARD!!! Yeahhh!

    Come on over @ http://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/awards-spinach-courgettes-smoked-tofu/

  6. Terrific recipes! Thanks for both. We do eat gluten, but have friends who are intolerant, so I’m very happy to get this wonderful looking gnocchi recipe. This is something I’ll definitely use! And I make a very similar mushroom sauce, although often add a bit of chicken stock to it. Good stuff – thanks so much.

  7. Sounds like I definitely have to add some more flour to my riced potatoes (I used a whole egg rather than the 2 yolks cause I didn’t want to be wasteful and usually toss the whites) to get more body into it. I weighed out 100 gms of all purpose flour and ended up putting some back because I was so afraid I was going to end up with gnocchi that were too dense. In any case, with some careful monitoring of the boiling rate, I ended up with an very successful first attempt but I’m sure I’ll do better on the second try.

    I’ll have to try that mushroom sauce one day. It would even made a good filling for a vegetable lasagna.

  8. I love gnocchi…your dish looks excellent.

  9. I love gnocchi too and it’s been far too long since I had any. My sister’s (about 12 at the time) first attempts at gnocchi were the size of tennis balls…she got bored rolling them.

  10. I’ve never made this type of gnocchi, but you have inspired me. It looks and sounds delicious and you make it look doable, which is no small feat, Charlie.

  11. Thanks for your clear description. It’s so useful to know where you went wrong, as I’d probably go wrong in all the same places. I call this an experienced cook’s description (experience = having the benefit of past failures)

  12. Thanks Charlie- and Gabriele! This looks amazing and I’ll definitely be making it soon. My girls asked gnocchi pesto, but I think the mushrooms look delicious 🙂 xox

  13. Wow, so that’s how gnocchi is made? I never thought to make those soft pillows of clouds! I may just have to try this out x

  14. Lady, you be tal-en-ted.

  15. Looks delicious! I just love gnocchi!

  16. Oh my, I have never attempted to make gnocchi before because it always seemed so intimidating! Your photos are so inspiring, I think I will try it one of these days, with this recipe because I love the fact that these are gluten free! Awesome 🙂

  17. I have had unsuccessful attempts at gnocchi too. This post has inspired me to give it another go!

  18. I like the addition of mushrooms to the sauce.

  19. You make it look so simple….

  20. I’ve been looking forward to learning how to make this gnocchi after seeing your first post. What a process but what a delicious end result! Thank you so much for sharing!

  21. I absolutely love gnocchi and order it out whenever I have the chance but I’ve never made it myself. I really really should! Yours looks pretty good to me Charlie. I am making meringue this week so maybe I should make gnocchi with the leftover egg yolks!

  22. G’day! It looks very YUM Charlie, true!
    Love homemade gnocchi and wish could try some of yours right now too!
    Cheers! Joanne
    http://www.facebook.com/whatsonthelist

  23. Well, as half the poor blogging world knows by now, I am not exactly into potatoes . . . yet gnocchi tempt: both the way you have been taught to make yours and the sauce [hmm, you have discovered my weakness!!] are simple and sound delicious . . . and guess which recipe has just arrived in the kitchen . . . 🙂 !

  24. I’ve been waiting for your GF recipe, Charlie. I don’t need it but I know of those who do and they’ll be happy to get your recipe. Thanks for sharing it.

  25. My 16 y o son “judges” wherever we eat by their Gnocchi. We have had the Gnocchi at Balla In Star city Sydney and they are as you say light-as-a-pillow. I will have to give this recipe a go and see if it “passes” his criteria when made at home. hehe Thanks Charlie for a great gluten free recipe.

  26. I bought a potato press at Aldi the other day with gnocchi in mind. Apparently a fine mash helps too. Thanks for your tips I shall definitely be baking the potatoes.
    Carolyn

  27. I am very impressed! I have never attempted, or contemplated attempting, gnocchi making myself – and I am still daunted after reading this! Yours looks wonderful.

  28. Awesome tutorial Charlie.
    🙂 Mandy xo

  29. Given that I mastered non-gluten-free gnocchi a few weeks ago, I think it’s time to tackle gluten-free! Great post!!

  30. Oh Shut up! not literally, ok lliterally – that looks wayyyyyy too good. I cant even cook the pre made gnocchi without stuffing it up. I am going to have to hit you up for a cooking lesson I think 🙂 xx

  31. Well look at you! These look beautiful to me! You are a quick learner, I think. 🙂 I think making gnocchi might actually be a bit therapeutic. There’s something lovely about the tactile quality, but then the potatoes are also comfort food. Good job, Charlie!

  32. They look fantastic Charlie! I remember I made the same mistakes when I had previously made gnocchi and these are the same tips that I learned from an Italian nonna and it turns out the best gnocchi. Good to know that it works for GF gnocchi too! 🙂

  33. Ai,ai,ai…I drool every single time that I look at the pictures of these

  34. What great looking gnocchi, and it looks so easy, too. Wonderful tips and this is encouraging me to try making my own. I like that it is GF, too. Thanks Charlie, am bookmarking this.

  35. My sister in law is going GF, I’ll have to share these with her!!

  36. Wow these came out awesome! So so professional looking 🙂

  37. Who says you are no expert in making ‘beautiful’ Gnocchi?! – Look how flawlessly they turned out! Tossing it with mushroom sauce makes it healthier, prettier, tastier, yummier 🙂
    Thank you so very much for the step by step pictured recipe 🙂 I bookmarked it.

  38. Thanks for the tips on making perfect gnocchi. Your sauce looks incredible…but you know who won’t eat mushrooms :/

  39. Hi Charlie – I’m so glad to see the recipe for this… I don’t care much about whether something has gluten or not, but it’s wonderful to see a gnocchi recipe which looks so darn easy to make (I love the step by step photos too… looks wonderful). I might try to make this on the weekend I think – let’s pray it doesn’t all fall to bits like previous attempts of mine, lol! 😀

  40. I am making this for our next dinner with my friend and her boyfriend. This will be a big hit. I love to make pasta for dinner parties, but since she is now on a gluten free diet, we have moved away from pasta dinners. This will be enjoyed all around – from me getting to make it to all of us getting to eat it! 🙂 Thank you for sharing this Charlie.

  41. Thanks for sharing a great tip about buying old potatoes! I wouldn’t have known. Haha it’s one of the cheapest family meals… sounds great for saving money and I know homemade gnocchi tastes great too! Love that you cooked with mushrooms. I’m saving this recipe now so I can try!

  42. This sounds great and definitely awesome for gluten intolerant people I never thought of using rice flour instead 😉 Hmmm it looks and sounds so comforting!

  43. I just saw this post. I have a gluten-free gnocchi recipe on my blog too but I must try this one. For me too, the simpler the sauce the better. This looks perfect.

  44. Oh, yes;I find more and more uses for rice flour.I like it very much.

Trackbacks

  1. […] But it is easy to make, and can be done using rice, buckwheat or potato flour. Here’s a great gluten-free recipe we found earlier. Or, you could […]

  2. […] But it is easy to make, and can be done using rice, buckwheat or potato flour. Here’s a great gluten-free recipe we found earlier. Or, you could […]

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