Spelt Gnocchi

My grandmother’s recipe comes from our home province of Alto Adige. Depending on what’s local and seasonally available, each Italian region has slight differences. Some prepare gnocchi with cooked winter squash. Others use buckwheat flour instead of wheat or spelt. Once you feel practiced at making these delightful dumplings, try one of the variations.

By Lisa Masé / Photography By Lisa Masé | January 01, 2014

Ingredients

6 medium gold potatoes, scrubbed and chopped (leave skins on)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups spelt flour (try Green Mountain Flour)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°.

Bring a stockpot of water to a boil. Drop in the chopped potatoes and boil for about 10 minutes. When potatoes are tender, drain and then pass them through a vegetable mill into a large bowl or mash them in the bowl with a potato masher. Add salt and olive oil and mix to incorporate. Slowly stir in spelt flour until you get a dough that is supple without being too sticky.

Working on a floured surface, roll the dough into inch-thick ropes. Starting from the end of a rope, cut off a small piece and roll it with the edge of a fork to create grooves on 1 side and a hole in the other. Set aside on a floured plate. Continue cutting and rolling pieces until you have shaped all the dough.

As you are shaping the gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi in small batches and remove them from the boiling water with
a slotted spoon when they rise to the top. Place them in a baking dish and keep warm in a 250° oven, if desired.

Serve the gnocchi with the Spinach-Mushroom Sauce.