Making homemade pasta can seem like a daunting task, but the culinary whizzes at Delish have shared an easy-to-do hack that results in the fluffiest of gnocchi. Unlike traditional pasta, gnocchi is a small dumpling made from potatoes, flour and eggs.
However, Delish shared a useful tip which uses one leftover to complete the recipe, so you don’t have to worry about wasting food or spending money buying fresh produce. Instead of purchasing fresh potatoes, Delish explained that you can use leftover mashed potatoes in their place. They urged home cooks to think twice when it comes to throwing food away, particularly potatoes.
Delish used around two cups worth of mashed potatoes, adding them to a bowl with an egg and some flour. They recommended adding the flour bit by bit until you achieve the right fluffy consistency.
Delish said: “It’s not like a pasta dough, it’s like a mushier Play Doh-y type dough.”
When mixing the ingredients together, you don’t want the dough to be tacky. Once the ingredients have come together, place the dough onto a floured surface, kneading it until a soft texture.
It shouldn’t be sticky or wet. Once you’re happy with the texture, split the dough into two portions, rolling them into thick sausages.
Using a knife or sharp dough scrapper, cut the gnocchi into pieces around one inch thick.
Delish continued: “It’s like pasta dough meets bread dough equals gnocchi dough. It’s like soft and pliable.
“A great way to avoid food waste cause mashed potatoes are a little funky when they’re leftover, but this is a great way to incorporate them into something new.”
Before you even think about making gnocchi, if you’re looking to make the fluffiest mashed potatoes around, there’s a secret ingredient that makes them so soft and airy.
Delish previously tested out both baking powder and baking soda in mashed potatoes to see if they gave them a dreamy texture.
Delish added one teaspoon of baking powder to the first version and one teaspoon of baking soda to second, both against a control sample. Their regular recipe for mash included sour cream and butter.
Delish added: “The theory is that baking powder reacts with the acid to make a lot of little tiny air pockets, which makes your potato super duper fluffy.”
They whipped up each potato dish with hand whisks. When trying the mashed potatoes with baking powder added.
Delish said: “I’m mad that’s what the base was, I actually did not want this to work. I don’t like people putting a whole bunch of extra stuff in my mashed potatoes, but… that’s really good. Oh my god, these are thicker.”
