Beetroot Gnocchi
A fun and simple handmade pasta recipe, perfect for a Valentine meal.
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Beetroot (or 120g) pre-cooked, pureed
- 250 g Durum wheat flour/Plain flour or a mix of both
- 1 pinch Sea Salt
Instructions
- Put your flour in a mixing bowl. If using a blend of Plain/00 flour and Durum Wheat make sure you sift or combine them well together.
- Using a blender or food processor, blend a medium beetroot until you reach a fine purée texture and add it to the flour and salt. If the dough is too dry and struggles to come together, you can use a bit of water or - even better - beetroot juice to help it. Please be careful to only add a little bit at the time! Knead until a smooth dough is formed. Once Let it rest wrapped in cling film or a sligthly damp kitchen towel for at least one hour.
- Once the dough has rested I like to use a knife to divide it in long, 1cm think section first, and then roll it into little 'snakes'. That's how I proceed: take the dough and cut it into 4 sections (it doesn't matter if they aren't equal).
- Flip and divide each section into two smaller ones.
- Roll them using both your hands into snakes, then arrange them to one side like in the picture.
- Cut little squares, try to be precise here: since the cooking time depends on the size of each dumpling, we really want them to be roughtly the same size.
- Now it's time to have fun! You can shape the gnocchi with anything you have in the kitchen. We used a gnocchi board, it's an inexpensive yet handy tool to have for every passionate pasta chef! You can make various types of pasta, not just gnocchi.
- You can also use a sushi mat...
- ... the prongs/teeth or a fork...
- ...or the inside of a cheesegrater: the sky is the limit!
- Once all dumplings are formed they are ready to be cooked in abundant, salty, boiling water. If you plan not to cook them straight away, we recommend you cover them with a slightly damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.
- These fresh gnocchi cook quite quickly so keep an eye on the pot: when they rise back on the surface they are ready to be drained with a mesh spoon.