WEEK 34 WILDCARD WINNER

Ricotta and Chive Gnocchi

Photography by Sarah Shatz

    BY THE INTERNET COOKING PRINCESS | SERVES 4 TO 6

A&M: In this gnocchi recipe, The Internet Cooking Princess has reimagined the classic sour-cream-and-chive topped baked potato in the most ingenious way: she swaps in ricotta for the sour cream, lightening the dough and lending it a faint sweetness, and sautés the gnocchi in olive oil and butter for a golden crust. We sprinkled some chives and grated Parmesan on top and helped ourselves to bowl after bowl. After making them, The Internet Cooking Princess wrote, “For a Millennial of Spanish, Turkish, German, and English descent, I felt like a total Italian grandmother from the Old World.”

    3 medium russet potatoes

    2 large eggs

    1 cup ricotta

    ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

    ¹/₃ cup thinly sliced chives

    2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough

    6 tablespoons olive oil

    6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter

    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

    Chopped parsley or chives, for serving (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the potatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes, drain them in a colander, and let cool.
2. Once the potatoes are cool, remove and discard the skins. In a large bowl, mash the potatoes. The mixture needs to be as smooth as possible. Stir the eggs into the mixture, then the ricotta, Parmesan, and chives.
3. At this point, the mixture should be thick, but it needs to be as thick and malleable as dough. Add the flour and stir until you get a doughy consistency. The mixture will still be a little sticky, but that’s okay. Take a handful or two of flour and scatter it on a clean work surface. Place the dough on the flour and roll it around until it’s more doughlike and doesn’t stick to everything in sight.
4. Begin rolling the dough with your hands as if you’re forming a large snake. When the dough tube is about 2 feet long, cut it into quarters. Continue rolling each of the individual segments until you have rolls that are no bigger than a quarter in circumference. (Any bigger and you’ll have difficulty cooking the gnocchi.)
5. Cut or pinch off ¾-inch sections from the rolls and roll them around in the palm of your hand to make the gnocchi. You may need to continue dredging them in a little flour as you go, which is fine. Set all the finished gnocchi on a large plate to the side.
6. Once all the gnocchi have been formed, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Dump the gnocchi into the water and boil for 5 minutes to ensure that their centers are nice and tender. (They will automatically start popping up to the top of the pot once they’re cooking, but make sure you give them a little extra time in the water.) Drain the gnocchi in a colander.
7. In a very large sauté pan over medium-high heat, put 2 tablespoons each of the oil and the butter. Add the gnocchi in batches so that they have enough space to get a light, brown crust around them. Add more oil, butter, and gnocchi when the first batch is done (you may not need to use all the butter and oil). Lightly season the gnocchi with a little kosher salt, parsley, if desired, or extra chives.

    TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

    We scored an “X” onto each end of the potatoes before boiling so they were easier to peel afterward; used a ricer to mash the potatoes to ensure that they were perfectly smooth; and shaped the gnocchi by rolling them down the back of a fork, because we’re fancy.

    ABOUT THE COOK

    To learn more about The Internet Cooking Princess, see her recipes for Norma’s Eggnog and Andouille and Dijon Polenta.

    WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAID

    pierino: “I like this recipe because the American kitchen tends to deploy chives more as a garnish rather than for their distinct flavor.”

        monkeymom: “Finally had a chance to make these just now. They were addictive … light and slightly chewy with that crispy fried exterior. Fun to make, too!”