Hearty Gnocchi with Herb Pesto

 Overview

This is the Recipe shared by Amanda Freitag from Food network on our company's Team Appreciation day. We had a Virtual cooking class with her and I followed her recipe and it came out real good.  This is the first time I made Gnocchi from scratch but with Chef Amandas instructions it was easy to follow and came out real good.

Hearty Gnocchi with Herb Pesto

Ingredients for Gnocchi

2 Large Idaho Potatoes

1/2 cup flour

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Steps

1. In a medium sauce pan cover the potatoes with salted water, keeping the skin on. Boil the potatoes until fork tender. ( I cooked the potatoes  whole in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles till it is cooked).

2. Drain the potatoes and cool down to a point where you can safely handle them. it is best to make this dough while the potatoes are still slightly warm.

3. Using a pairing knife carefully peel the cooked potatoes.

4. Pass the peeled potatoes through a ricer or push though a colander. ( I didn't have a ricer so used a boxed grater and grate the cooked potatoes)

5. Separate eggs retaining yolk in a large mixing bowl, combine the potatoes, flour, egg yolks, salt and pepper, use hands to combine being careful not to over mix.

6. Once the dough has come together, turn it onto to a clean lightly floured surface( you should work as fast as possible here to work with the dough while it is still warm and so it doesnt dry out before you cut the gnocchi) 

7. Separate roughly half the dough a little larger than a tennis ball

8. Use your hands to roll the dough back and forth until forms a 1 inch thick log of dough.

9. Working with one log at a time, use the tip of a chef's knife to divide the log into inch pieces. as you work, place the cut gnocchi on a lightly floured sheet pan covered with a slightly damp towel to prevent the gnocchi from drying out.

10. Repeat the process until all of the dough has been rolled and cut.

11. Once the gnocchi has been cut, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocchi into the water. When they float after about 2 minutes they are done.

12. Drain and serve immediately with the prepared pesto sauce.

Ingredients for Pesto Sauce

1 bunch flat leaf parsley( 1 cup)

1 bunch basil( 2 packed cups)

2 lemons ( zest and take juice)

3 medium garlic cloves

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

( I added additional 8 walnuts)

Steps

1. Pick the leaves from the stems of all herbs discard the stems. Roughly chop the garlic.

2. Place all ingredients in the blender, slowly streaming in the live oil until it is just combined. Do not over blend the pesto, it should be chunky. Tase and adjust seasoning.

Serving with the Gnocchi