Potato Gnocchi with Pesto di Rucola
Ingredients for 4/6 servings:
Cooking time: 3-4 mins
For the Gnocchi:
500g Potato (cooked, peeled) *
110-125g Flour (it depends on the potatoes, don’t go over 20% of the potatoes weight )
1 Egg
Nutmeg, ground to taste
Salt to taste
Preparation 45 mins:
1 Wash the potatoes, place them in a pot with skin on in cold water.
2 Bring to the boil and cook until tender; peel the potatoes while hot and mash them.
3 Mix in the other ingredients; move the dough on a bench and keep kneading.
4 Shape it as a rectangle, 2 cm thick; cut strips 2 cm wide and gently roll them, dusting with extra flour to avoid to stick together.
5 Cut the gnocchi 1 cm thick, dust with more flour and gently toss them using a spatula (not your hands, they will give a funny shape or even spoil the gnocchi). Cook immediately or place them in the freezer.
6 Cook the gnocchi in plenty of boiling and salted water; serve them with your favorite sauce.
*Tip: Cook the potatoes whole with the skin on, the quantity of potato required for the recipe is cooked & peeled. You can cook the potatoes in advance however you need to warm them in the oven or microwave before peeling and mash while quite warm for the best results.
For the Pesto:
100g rocket
40g Parmigiano Reggiano or mix of Pecorino & Parmigiano
20g Almonds*
1 lemon, zest & juice
1 small garlic clove
salt & pepper
olive oil
1 Place all ingredients except for the cheese in a blender to make a paste, if required add some water for a better consistency.
2 Fold in the finely grated cheese.
3 Taste for salt & cheese and adjust accordingly.
To serve we usually put the pesto in a mixing bowl, toss in the cooked gnocchi (or pasta) along with a little of the cooking water and gently toss until well coated.
*Matteo always recommends using whole raw almonds for recipes that call for almonds or almond meal, the fresher flavour + health benefits. We don’t have a blender at home at the moment so I crushed these with the mortar & pestle then we used a stick blender to make the pesto.
