I would never think of making my own pasta but I would also never think of buying gnocchi. The shop bought ones I have tried (and some at Carluccio's restaurant that Mr VST had one time) were like little stodgy, heavy balls of pasta and weren't very nice at all.
My Mum made these for us once when we went to visit and they were so good I had to get the recipe from her.
(serves 4)
Ingredients:
600g floury potatoes
350g spinach
150g plain flour
50g flour for dusting
1 egg yolk
1. Peel and boil the potatoes and boil for 20 minutes, drain very well, then mash.
2. Cook the spinach on a large pan over a medium heat, mixing regularly until wilted and soft. Drain well and squeeze all the excess water out (I used a potato masher and a colander to help with this!). Once drained finely chop the spinach.
3. Mix the mashed potatoes, spinach, flour and egg yolk together and season. This makes quite a goey dough.
4. Dust your hands and a board and take small nuggets of the dough roll into balls (about 2-3cms round).
5. Gently flatten the top with a fork (I'm not sure why this is but all gnocchi seem to have grooves on them!)
6. Heat a large pan of water to just boiling point and then reduce the water to simmering temperature. Add just enough gnocchi so they have room to move around and cook for two minutes or until they float to the top. Remove and drain well and then cook the next batch.
7. I then layered mine with a home made tomato sauce and a little grated cheese and popped the dish in the oven for about ten minutes and served them with salad.
They are little balls of light doughy heaven that melt in your mouth. When I started making them Mr VST was especially pleased, they are one of his favourites. I was telling him how long they take to make (which is probably 1 1/2 - 2 hours altogether) and he said that they were worth it. I told him that he could make them next time!
