This beet gnocchi is beautiful with a vibrant red color, pillowy texture, and a subtle earthy taste. It's perfect for holiday entertaining, date nights, or special occasions like Valentine's Day. It's made with just five simple ingredients, and there's no special equipment required!
Ingredients
1lbRusset potatoes
½ lbbeets
1teaspoonsea salt
2 ½ cupsall-purpose flour, + more to dust
Olive oil, for the pot
Instructions
Peel the potatoes and beets and cut them in half. Place them in a pot and cover them with 1 inch of water. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes and beets are fork tender.
1 lb Russet potatoes, ½ lb beets
Drain the potatoes and beets through a colander and let them steam dry for a couple of minutes.
Transfer the beets to your food processor and blend on high until mostly smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides several times.
Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl and mash them well. Add the beets and salt to the bowl and mix them into the potatoes.
1 teaspoon sea salt
Add 2 cups of flour to the bowl and mix it in so that only a few streaks of flour remain. The dough will still be very sticky.
Sprinkle a large work surface (such as your kitchen counter) with some of the flour. Put the on top them sprinkle more flour over it. Knead the flour into the dough, adding more about ½ cup at a time until the dough feels only very slightly sticky and comes together into a ball.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Form the dough into a ball and then cut it into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, adding more flour to the surface if it becomes sticky. Then roll each piece into a log about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into 1-inch pieces. Place the gnocchi onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, making sure they don't touch each other. They will stick!
Put a large pot of well-salted water on the stove to boil. When the water comes to a boil, add half of the gnocchi and cook until they begin to float, about 3 minutes. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and put them into a bowl. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi and then toss the cooked gnocchi with some olive oil.
Optional step:
If you'd like, you may fry the gnocchi after you boil it. It's nice when one side is crispy. To fry the gnocchi, heat some olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and fry on one side until it starts to brown, about 2-3 minutes.
Notes
If you'd like, you can roll the gnocchi on a gnocchi board or on the tines of a fork. This is by far the most time-consuming part of the recipe. Gnocchi also tastes great cooked right after it's cut; it looks like little pillows this way.