One of my family's favorite pasta dishes is Homemade Gnocchi with Veal Ragu. A dish I don't make as often as I'd like. Pillow soft potato bundles covered in a tangy meat sauce made from veal not your mother's ground beef.
My first time making gnocchi was a gluten free gnocchi. Pretty quick and easy to make especially if you have gluten free flour in your pantry. Or you can try your hands at sweet potato gnocchi with a creamy butter sage sauce.
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My mom always reserved gnocchi for special occasions and now I know why. Potato gnocchi are really easy to make, but require patience. Making these for the second time, I've got some great tips to share with you so that your experience making them goes smooth.
This was inspired by my recipe for easy to make Cheese Manicotti which is another delicious dinner idea that will make you look like you spent hours in the kitchen, but you really didn't!
Love Pasta dishes? Try my recipe for Orecchiette Pasta with Sausage and Rapini, my delicious Beet Gnocchi with Alfredo Sauce or this Italian Seafood Pasta.
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Here's Why You'll Love this Dish
- easy to make with ingredients that are staples in your kitchen
- versatile that you can pair any sauce with this dish
- inexpensive ingredients make this dish affordable
- comfort food worthy for those moments when you need a hug
Ingredients You'll Need
You will need the following ingredients to make potato gnocchi: yellow potato, egg, flour and salt.
For the Veal Ragu: ground veal, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, crushed tomato, tomato paste, olive oil, red wine, beef stock, herbs, salt and ground pepper, parmesan cheese.
Yellow fleshed potatoes are optional, but preferred because of their color and moisture level.
Ground veal is used as a substitute for ground beef in the meat sauce. Veal if more mild tasting and less gamey than beef.
Red wine is used in this recipe to add a flavorful and tangy zing to the tomato sauce.
See recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Soft Potato Gnocchi with Ground Veal Ragu
Clean and boil your potatoes until fork tender. Use a potato ricer to rice your potatoes while they are hot and place them in a bowl to cool. (no need to peel them if using a ricer).
When the potatoes are at room temperature make a hole in the centre of the potatoes and add an egg. Mix well.
Add 1 cup of flour and mix with a spatula. Continue to add flour until the potato mixture isn't so sticky.
Place mixture on a floured surface and continue to work in flour by rolling the dough or using a dough scraper.
Cut little squares from the roll about ½ inch by ¾ inch. Place a little bit of flour on a gnocchi board and roll each square over the board. Work from bottom to top letting the gnocchi roll over the board onto your baking sheet.
To cook the gnocchi, use a large stock pot that can be filled with plenty of water. Bring water to boil and using a spatula, gently place them in the boiling water. The gnocchi will float to the surface once cooked.
Use a spider spoon to scoop the gnocchi from the water into plates or a sauté pan with your favorite sauce.
Storage
Same Day: Leave the gnocchi on the baking sheet in a cool room until you are ready to boil them.
Cooked gnocchi leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an air tight container.
You can freeze freshly made gnocchi. Place the baking trays with the gnocchi in the freezer until full frozen. Then transport them in to a freezer bag and continue to freeze them for not longer than one month or until you are ready to cook. When ready to cook, make sure that you use a large stock pot so that the water does not get cold as you add the frozen gnocchi. If the gnocchi cool down the cooking water, it may result in gnocchi becoming mushed up.
Meal Prep Tips
- If you are using a potato ricer, you don't need to peel your potatoes. Just remove the skin from the ricer between ricing.
- Let the riced potato cool to room temperature before adding egg. Otherwise you will cook the egg instead of using the egg as a binder.
- If you are unsure whether you have added enough flour to your gnocchi, test a few before you proceed to make the remaining gnocchi. Do this by boiling some water and dropping a couple in the water to cook. Scoop out and test with a fork and taste as well. Adjust if too soft and add more flour to your potato mixture.
- The potato mixture isn't dough. Don't treat it like it was dough. It will be sticky, hold yourself back from adding more flour than needed.
- Place gnocchi in a single layer on a floured baking sheet so that they don't stick together.
- If cooking from frozen, use a large stock pot and add a little of the the gnocchi at a time to the pot so that the water does not cool down and turn your gnocchi to mashed potato.
- You will know that they are cooked, when they float to the top of the pot.
- You can can save time by making the gnocchi ahead of time and freezing them. Freeze them while they are on the baking sheet, once fully frozen, transport them to a freezer bag and store in freezer for not longer than 1 month.
- You can make the sauce ahead to save time.
Possible Ingredient Substitutions and Variations
Here are some great variations and substitutions to consider:
- Sweet Potato - instead of using yellow potato use sweet potato to make a sweet potato gnocchi with a brown butter sage sauce.
- Gluten Free - use gluten free flour to make your gnocchi gluten free friendly.
- Marinara Sauce - skip the meat and top your gnocchi with a tangy meatless marinara sauce.
- Vegan - try a vegan version of potato gnocchi that's eggless and tastes great.
The perfect recipe isn't that far away. I'd love to know how you substituted ingredients to fit your dietary needs. Drop a comment below and let me know!
Answers to Commonly Asked Questions
Yukon gold potatoes are the best potatoes to use for homemade gnocchi because they don't retain too much moisture and they are dense and creamy.
Yes, you can bake potatoes for homemade gnocchi. A dryer potato is better than one that is boiled.
Here are a few reasons your gnocchi turned to mush. One - you did not use a binder like egg. Two - you added all of your gnocchi to the boiling water at once. Three you didn't use a large enough pot which resulted in your water cooling down and your raw potato gnocchi coming undone in water.
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Recipe Details
Homemade Potato Gnocchi with Veal Ragu
https://easyhomemaderecipes.caIngredients
Gnocchi
- 12.5 oz potatoes yellow preferred, about 4 medium
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- water for boiling
Veal Ragu
- ¾ lbs ground veal
- 2 oz carrots 1 carrot, chopped
- 2 oz celery 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 5 oz onion 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 25 oz tomato puree
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cupe beef stock gel
- ½ cup red wine
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 leaves basil
Instructions
Gnocchi
- Clean and boil your potatoes until fork tender. Use a potato ricer to rice your potatoes while they are hot and place them in a bowl to cool. (no need to peel them if using a ricer, just remember to clean out your ricer after each potato).
- When the potatoes are at room temperature make a hole in the centre of the potatoes and add an egg. Mix well. Add 1 cup of flour and mix with a spatula. Continue to add flour until the potato mixture isn't so sticky. (it will still be sticky no matter what, you want a consistency you can work with).
- Place mixture on a floured surface and continue to work in the flour by rolling the dough or using a dough scraper. Be careful how much flour you incorporate - the more flour you roll into the dough, the denser and harder the gnocchi will be. (Use 1.5 to 2.5 cups of flour) The amount will vary depending on how moist your potatoes are.
- Using a dough scraper, remove a section of the dough and roll out in to a finger like shaped roll about 10 inches long and ¾ inches wide. Cut little squares from the roll about ½ inch by ¾ inch. Place a little bit of flour on a gnocchi board and roll each square over the board. Work from bottom to top letting the gnocchi roll over the board onto your baking sheet. If you don't have a gnocchi board, you can use the back of a fork.
- Repeat until you have rolled out all the pieces from that roll of dough and arrange the gnocchi on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper dusted with flour. Do not place gnocchi on top of one another otherwise they will stick together.
- Repeat until you have used up all of the dough. You can leave the gnocchi on the baking sheet in a cool place until ready to boil the same day. (see notes section for freezing instructions)
- To cook the gnocchi, use a large stock pot that can be filled with plenty of water. Bring water to boil and using a spatula, gently place them in the boiling water. Salt your water. The gnocchi will float to the surface once cooked. Use a spider spoon to scoop the gnocchi from the water into plates or a sauté pan with your favorite sauce.
Veal Ragu
- Chop the garlic, onion, celery and carrots. You can use a mini blender.
- Brown the veal in olive oil in a medium sauté pan. Remove browned veal and set aside.
- Place the vegetables in the pan and sauté until translucent. Add cooked veal to the sauté pan with the vegetable mixture.
- Add the wine and let infuse into the meat and vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes, scrape the bottom of the pan while mixing sauteing.
- Add the beef cube or beef gel mold and the tomato paste. Mix well while sauteing to ensure that the tomato paste and beef cube are well incorporated into the ground meat. Add fresh basil (optional). Alternatively, you can add dried basil once sauce is cooked.
- Add tomato puree and mix. Season if necessary with salt and pepper.
- Let simmer on stove top for 1 to 2 hours until thick. Add dried basil once cooked either in sauce or on top as garnish. Serve with your gnocchi or favorite pasta dish.
Notes
Tips and Tricks
-
- If you are using a potato ricer, you don't need to peel your potatoes. Just remove the skin from the ricer between ricing.
- Let the riced potato cool to room temperature before adding egg. Otherwise you will cook the egg instead of using the egg as a binder.
- If you are unsure whether you have added enough flour to your gnocchi, test a few before you proceed to make the remaining gnocchi. Do this by boiling some water and dropping a couple in the water to cook. Scoop out and test with a fork and taste as well. Adjust if too soft and add more flour to your potato mixture.
- The potato mixture isn't dough. Don't treat it like it was dough. It will be sticky, hold yourself back from adding more flour than needed.
- Place gnocchi in a single layer on a floured baking sheet so that they don't stick together.
- If cooking from frozen, use a large stock pot and add a little of the the gnocchi at a time to the pot so that the water does not cool down and turn your gnocchi to mashed potato.
- You will know that they are cooked, when they float to the top of the pot.
- You can can save time by making the gnocchi ahead of time and freezing them. Freeze them while they are on the baking sheet, once fully frozen, transport them to a freezer bag and store in freezer for not longer than 1 month.
- You can make the sauce ahead to save time.
Storage
Same Day: Leave the gnocchi on the baking sheet in a cool room until you are ready to boil them. Cooked gnocchi leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an air tight container. You can freeze freshly made gnocchi. Place the baking trays with the gnocchi in the freezer until full frozen. Then transport them in to a freezer bag and continue to freeze them for not longer than one month or until you are ready to cook. When ready to cook, make sure that you use a large stock pot so that the water does not get cold as you add the frozen gnocchi. If the gnocchi cool down the cooking water, it may result in gnocchi becoming mushed up.Nutrition
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Food Safety
Note that the storage guidelines provided on this page and site are estimates from personal experiences. We are all adults and as an adult you are responsible to ensure that the food you eat is safe to eat. Since, I'm not a food safety expert, you are responsible to review your local guidelines on food storage prior to storing any food left-overs.
Remember to:
- Not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
For Canadian Guidelines check the Government of Canada Food Safety Guidelines or see more guidelines at USDA.gov.
Johnthechef! says
I can't believe how soft these turned out. And the sauce, oh la la!