Pesach is just around the corner, so quickly finish up your bread, pasta and cakes! There’s still plenty to eat over the holiday, but sometimes its hard to find quick dinners when you can’t have spaghetti or sandwiches. In comes gnocchi! The pasta is based on potatoes, so its perfect for Pesach, and it can also be a fun activity – especially the shaping – for kids during Chol Hamoed, or the intermediate days.
You can serve these with any sauce you like – make it a whole meal with bolognese sauce – or even pan fry them to get nice and crispy. Plus, you’ll want to eat them all year round!
Make sure when you mash your potatoes that you get them nice and smooth – you don’t want to come across any big lumps when you bite into your gnocchi. Chag sameach!
Potato gnocchi
About 2 pounds potatoes
1/2 cup potato starch
1 egg
salt
Cut the unpeeled potatoes into similar-sized chunks. Place them in a pot and cover with water, then bring to a boil and simmer until cooked through (test with a fork). Drain and let the potatoes sit for 5-10 minutes, until they’re cool enough to handle, and remove the skins.
Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or ricer until smooth. Add the potato starch, eggs and salt to taste (start with a teaspoon). Knead the dough until it comes together cohesively. Pinch off a handfull of dough and roll it into a snake, about 3/4″ thick. Cut the rope into pieces about 1 inch long. Roll each piece of gnocchi along the tines of a potato-starch dusted fork, pressing gently to create the ridges (you can skip this step, but the ridges help it catch sauces later). Continue with the remaining dough.
Cook about 25 at a time in a pot of well-salted boiling water, for about 2 minutes, until they all rise to the top, then skim them out and repeat with remaining gnocchi. Serve with your favorite sauce (I made a quick bolognese, recipe another time!)
Amy Spiro is a journalist and writer based in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute’s baking and pastry track, a regular writer for The Jerusalem Post and blogs at bakingandmistaking.com. She also holds a BA in Journalism and Politics from NYU.
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