Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Cream and Walnuts
Riced baked potato and a little flour, rolled into pillows by hand and boiled in minutes flat.
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 10 min
- Written
Method
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Bake the potatoes whole at 400°F until a skewer meets no resistance, about 1 hour.
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Halve the potatoes while still hot and rice the flesh into a wide bowl, discarding the skins.
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Scatter the flour and salt over the riced potato, then work in the egg yolk just until a shaggy dough comes together.
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Turn the dough onto a floured counter and knead a few times until smooth — stop the moment it holds together.
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Cut the dough into six pieces and roll each into a rope about ¾ inch thick.
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Cut each rope into ¾ inch pillows and dust with flour so they don’t stick to each other.
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop in the gnocchi in batches, lifting each batch out once it floats to the surface.
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Melt the butter with the cream and gorgonzola in a wide skillet over low heat, stirring until the cheese melts into a smooth sauce.
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Add the drained gnocchi to the skillet and toss until coated, then finish with the walnuts, black pepper, and parsley.
Notes
Baking the potatoes instead of boiling them is the one non-negotiable step — a boiled potato drinks water and needs enough extra flour to compensate that the gnocchi turn dense and gluey. Baked and riced while still hot, the potato is dry enough to take almost no flour at all, which is the whole reason these come out light instead of leaden.
If gorgonzola isn’t in the house, the same dough is just as happy under a plain sage brown butter. Uncooked gnocchi also freeze well laid out on a tray until solid, then bagged — drop them frozen straight into the boiling water and they’ll only need an extra minute.