Makes: 10 portions. Cooking time: 1 hour.
Ingredients:
— 400 grams puree jacket potato, made very dry
— 4 egg yolks
— 100 grams strong flour
— seasoning of salt, nutmeg and pepper
— 100 grams potato flour or cornflour (for molding)
— 50 grams butter
— 50 grams grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
(1) Return the freshly mashed potatoes to the stove in a deep sided saucepan to aid mixing.
(2) Add the egg yolks, flour and seasoning and mix thoroughly with a wooden spatule.
(3) At this point the texture should be rectified if necessary after testing a few small balls of the mixture by gently poaching in simmering salted water (see Note (1) below).
(4) Divide the mixture into small walnut-sized pieces with the aid of potato flour or cornfiour. Roll them into the shape of either small balls or walnut shapes. If walnut shaped, place on a sieve, lightly press with a fork and roll — the effect will be an apricot shaped dumpling with slight indentation in its side.
(5) Lightly poach in a shallow sided pan in salted water — the water must be simmering when the gnocchi are added.
(6) Drain by gently lifting from the water with a spider and place into a buttered earthenware dish.
(7) Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and melted butter and slightly colour under a salamander grill.
Note:
(1) If when testing the mixture the balls begin to break up it is probably because the mixture is too soft.
(2) The dish may be completed with a little Tomato Sauce poured around the dumplings before serving.
Possible problem, cause and solution:
(1) Mixture is too soft:
— — insufficient flour; add a little more potato
flour, dry mashed potato or potato powder mix until the mixture is the correct consistency.
(2) Mixture is too hard:
— insufficient butter; add a little butter until the mixture is the correct consistency.