Julianna Jee

Ingredients

2 lbs potatoes
2 cups flour (and more)
1 egg
2 tsp tomato paste
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 medium beet
salt

Procedure

Bake the potatoes in the oven at 400°F for about an hour or until tender. Peel the potatoes and mash or pass through a potato ricer into a bowl while still hot.
Add the egg to the potatoes and mix quickly with a fork so that the egg doesn’t cook.
Add the flour and mix with a fork until it all comes together.
Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide the dough into 4 for the 4 different colours.

Traditional – Knead for about 2 minutes and ball.

Tomato – Add 2 tsp of tomato paste and knead, add a little more flour if necessary.

Spinach – Take 1/4 cup of thawed frozen, chopped spinach and drain well. After squeezing all the water out you will have about 1/8 of a cup. Chop it finely with a knife. Knead it into the gnocchi base and add more flour if necessary.

Beet – Roast 1 beet until tender, peel, and puree. Add 2 tbsp of puree to the base and knead for 2 minutes. You will have to add more flour to account for the extra moisture in this one.

Cut each colour into 2 or 3 pieces, lightly dust your work surface, and roll out into 1/2 inch thick ropes.
Cut into 1/2 inch length pieces and score by rolling each piece against the back of a fork for the traditional gnocchi shape or leave it at is.
Place each piece on a lightly dusted or parchment lined cookie sheet and ensure that the gnocchi is not touching each other.
To cook the gnocchi add to salted boiling water. They are cooked when they float to the top.

Notes

Gnocchi can be frozen on the cookie sheet and then transferred to a ziplock bag. Cook from frozen.
The scoring on the gnocchi is optional. The scoring will help pick up more of the sauce.