I love Thanksgiving dinner. The whole meal. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole… The WORKS! What I don’t love so much… is leftovers. It gets kinda old. My challenge this year to myself is to find new and creative ways to turn my leftovers into something new! Hence, the leftover mashed potatoes gnocchi! It wasn’t hard to make and didn’t take long either. Here is a quick tutorial.
Start with a nice big working surface. (I love my plastic rolling mat! It is my friend. This is my second mat since being married. My last rolling mat died a very sad death… “sniff”)
Spread out half of your flour in a circle on your mat.
Plop your big ol’ goop of mashed taters on top the flour and make a well in the center.
Crack in an egg or two and add a bit of salt.
Whisk the eggs with a fork. (Please do this very gently)
Dump on the rest of your flour.
Prepare to get messy!!! Use your hands to fold in the flour. (Don’t be scared. It’s fun. I promise!)
Keep folding and kneading until you form a nice big lump. Or Hump. Or clump. Whatever you want to call it. It should be smooth and not sticky.
Let your Lump rest for a bit. (And for goodness sakes…Wash your hands!)
Divide your dough into four equal parts.
Take one chunk and begin rolling out the dough like you used do in Kindergarten when you made snakes with Playdough. (See! I use what I learned in Kindergarten ALL THE TIME!)
Roll until it is about 1 inch in diameter and cut into pieces. I try to do about 3/4 inch pieces. Whatever you do. Be consistent!
The next step is to give your Gnocchi little ridges so the sauce you make sticks to it. There are several ways to do this, but the back of a fork works good for me. Practice makes perfect. Press the piece of gnocchi on the back of the fork.
Then use your thumb to roll it down. I found dusting my fork with flour kept the gnocchi from sticking and gave better ridges.
Place your gnocchi on a pan that has been dusted with flour. They can hang out on the counter until dinner or freeze them on the sheet pan and transfer to a zip bag until you are ready to use them.
Gnocchi cook up really fast. Toss into salted, boiling water. When they float, they are done!
Gnocchi can be served with any of your favorite sauces. Alfredo, Marinara, Meat Sauce, or just a simple butter and parmesan is super Yummy!
- 2 C. Flour (more if needed)
- 2 C. Mashed Potatoes
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Tsp Salt
- Spread 1 C. flour in a circle on large working surface. Pile mashed potatoes on top. Make a well in mashed potatoes. Crack eggs into well, add salt, and whisk eggs with fork. Add remaining flour on top of eggs. Use your hands to slowly incorporate all ingredients. Add more flour if needed. Form a large ball and let rest.
- Divide into four parts. Roll each part into long log one inch in diameter. Cut into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces. Roll pieces over back of fork to make ridges. Place on flour dusted sheet pan.
- To Cook: Drop into salted, boiling water. When Gnocchi float they are done.
- To Freeze: Place sheet pan in freezer. Dump into a plastic ziplock bag when frozen.
KEIKILANI
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