Below is a basic potato gnocchi recipe with fresh chives. Working with as little flour as possible is the key to producing light gnocchi's, too much flour and they're little gut bombs. Avoid the temptation to add more flour if the dough seems a little sticky at first, the potatoes will pull the moisture in and make the dough more manageable. Also, be kind & gentle to the dough, don't overwork it, don't apply too much pressure when rolling it out.
Making Potato Gnocchi's - makes about 225 pcs.
Idaho Baking Potatoes, 60 ct, cooked peeled, warm - 2-3/4 lb
Egg Yolks - 1-1/2 cups
Flour, all purpose - 2-1/2 cups
Kosher Salt - 2 TBL
Fresh Chives, minced - 1/4 cup
Flour, all purpose - as needed
Bake potatoes in a 350° oven for 1 hour or until completely done. Do not season or oil the potatoes prior to baking them.
Let potatoes rest for 15 minutes after they come out of the oven but do not let them cool down to room temp before peeling or it will be hard to put them through the ricer.
Weigh peeled potatoes out, cut potatoes into small enough pieces to fit into the ricer, press all of the potatoes through the ricer into a large mixing bowl, let potatoes cool to room temperature before proceeding to the next step.
Mix egg yolks into potatoes with a rubber spatula, blend thoroughly until all of the eggs are evenly incorporate into the potatoes.
Cut half of the flour into the potato mixture using a rubber spatula, add the remainder of the flour, work the flour in by hand, knead the mixture in the bowl briefly until it forms into a dough.
Add the salt & chives and knead into the dough until evenly incorporated.
Flour a full sized cutting board with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, turn the dough out of mixing bowl onto the floured surface and roll the dough until it forms a large "Log" the length of the cutting board.
Lightly flour the cutting board with only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, too much flour will make the Gnocchi's heavy. Cut 6-8 oz pieces of the dough off and roll by hand until they are the length of the cutting board and 3/4" thick.
Using a French knife cut gnocchi dough into 1/2 inch pieces.
Bring water to a boil in a kettle. Place gnocchi's in boiling water. Let gnocchi's boil until they float (about 1 minute) and then continue to boil for 1 more minute.
Using a skimmer remove gnocchi's from water.
Place gnocchi's in an ice bath. Drain and coat with a small amount of olive oil. Chill until ready to use.
