Gnocchi Alfredo
Gnocchi are bite sized Italian dumplings made with a few simple ingredients. We’re excited to share how we made our gluten free version of gnocchi as well as our recipe for a basic alfredo sauce that we spiced up a bit just to give our gnocchi some extra flavor.
We demonstrate how we made both the gnocchi and the sauce at Celiac Kitchen’s YouTube channel. Enjoy!
Gnocchi Alfredo
Ingredients:
This recipe is for 2 servings but you can scale it to suit your serving size
Gnocchi
1 pound russet potatoes
1 egg
1 cup gluten free all-purpose baking flour (we used King Arthur Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour)
1½ teaspoons xanthan gum
Alfredo Sauce
3 cloves of garlic
½ cup chicken broth
1 stick (8 tablespoons or ½ cup) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Seasonings to taste - we used:
salt
fresh ground black pepper
red pepper flakes
fresh basil
grated parmesan cheese
Step 1: Making Gnocchi
Please note that many factors come into play when making gnocchi, such as the temperature and humidity level in your kitchen. This dish calls for a good amount of basic knowledge (we’re here to help with that) plus a dash of feeling your way through it. The goal is to reach a point of having a soft, light dough.
Weigh potatoes on a kitchen scale if you want to know their exact weight. We used 2 small - medium sized russet potatoes, which was about a pound.
We chose russet potatoes
We’re after a potato with a high starch content as the base ingredient of our gnocchi and russet has the starch
Wash potatoes then use a fork to poke holes for air vents
Bake potatoes at 375°F for 1 hour or until a knife easily passes through it with no resistance
Scoop baked potato out of its peel (save peels for a later snack of potato skins made with melted cheese, crumbled bacon topped with sour cream and chopped green onion)
Put potatoes through a ricer. This works best when potatoes are hot, use a grater if they’re cold
Form a well in the center and put in egg (1 egg per pound of potato)
Beat egg in the well, right on the work surface
Sprinkle in flour mixed with xanthan gum
Add salt to taste
* Important note: for a light, fluffy texture rather than a dense, dry dumpling use only as much flour as it takes for dough to not be sticky.
Work ingredients together just until ingredients are combined; do not overwork dumpling dough
Cover dough in plastic wrap and let rest 5-10 minutes in refrigerator
Flour surface to keep dough from sticking to it
Separate dough into easy-to-roll segments and roll to desired thickness
Cut rolled dough into bite size pieces
Create little pockets where sauce can collect; we rolled ours over back side of a fork
Drop into boiling, salted water - enough water to allow gnocchi to move around freely
Boil until gnocchi float, 2-3 minutes
*Important note: wait until water comes to a full boil or gnocchi will fall apart when cooking
Once water is boiling, drop in gnocchi and cook 2-3 minutes. Gnocchi float to the top once they’re cooked.
Toss in sauce (recipe follows)
Step 2: Making Alfredo Sauce Seasoned for Gnocchi
Since this sauce is made for gnocchi, which is on the salty side of neutral, we added flavors not found in traditional alfredo recipes
Pour a very small amount of olive oil into a skillet over medium - medium low heat
Add garlic; cook 2-5 minutes until softened (no crunch in sauce) and just begins to turn light brown (dark brown, burned garlic is bitter)
Add chicken broth; cook until reduced 3-5 minutes
Add butter; melt 1-2 minutes
Stir in heavy cream, stirring constantly 7-10 minutes; do not let it boil
As sauce begins to thicken, add parmesan cheese
Simmer and stir until combined, 1-2 minutes
Add gnocchi, continue to stir and simmer until sauce reaches desired thickness and sticks to gnocchi
Remove from heat and toss in seasonings: salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
