This is an authentic simple recipe, that's been in our family for over 100 years.
The potatoes are mashed, lightly seasoned, and rolled into the gnocchi-shaped pasta then topped with homemade Traditional Sunday Sauce and generously sprinkled with grated cheese.
The sauce is always a thick meat sauce and has meatballs and sausage in the pot when simmering.
Every time any holiday came around, these were first on the list of most asked-for homemade pasta dishes besides lasagna.
Although they take a little time by hand, the rewards are great in flavor and everyone always raves about them
Scroll down to the recipe card and when you make these, thank you for keeping the family's memory alive in your kitchens.
Homemade Gnocchi Pasta
Being one of my childhood favorites and more of a celebration holiday pasta, I felt this would be a tribute to my brother who passed recently.
The pasta came out great and the memories of everyone's lives on through their teachings.
Potato pasta is pretty easy to make, just a little sticky to handle.
Get the consistency of the dough is the key to success.
Adding the flour a little at a time to smooth warm potatoes is how mom taught me.
Grandma sometimes added the flour while still hot.
You will need to add more flour than usual if they don't cool a little first in my experience.
For the last several years of making pasta, I never used a gnocchi board, this was the first time, and what an easier method than rolling and using a fork as they cut the time in half to shape these.
I was very pleased with the gnocchi board and you can purchase it in specialty stores or online.
I will leave more details below on how you can order one of your own.
Ingredients You Will Need to Make Homemade Potato Gnocchi
(see the measurements by scrolling down to the recipe card)
- mashed potatoes we use russet, or creamy white potatoes (not yellow potatoes or red-skinned) these need to be creamy and smooth with no lumps ( for a quicker version use prepared mashed potatoes in original style a 2-pound size from the supermarket dairy case)
- all-purpose flour
- butter
- salt
- Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
- Traditional Sunday Sauce
Rolling the dough
If you don't have the gnocchi board, no problem.
Roll in ropes, cut one-inch pieces, and roll towards you using a floured fork.
You can also just use a flour index finger and the middle finger together to roll towards you without the floured fork method.
Gnocchi Board
Truthfully I had never used one neither did mom or grandma.
We made over 10 pounds of potatoes at a time to feed the whole family around the holidays.
They just had a little assembly line, roll, cut, shape with two fingers, and move on.
I love using this little board and how they look, so it's been a new toy for me in the kitchen I love it gnocchi boards you can find online.
Cooking the Pasta
Always salt the water and bring to a boil.
Add the frozen or fresh pasta to the boiling water and cook until they just float to the top.
For serving and authentic results use homemade tomato sauce.
Top with Italian freshly made tomato sauce and freshly grated Italian pecorino romano cheese.
Meat Sauce is a Must!
Making the sauce from scratch is always a treat and certainly will give you the best results..
Mom loaded the sauce with meatballs, sausage, and sometimes braciole.
During the summer we even made our sauce with fresh-picked but of course you can also use canned tomatoes imported from Italy to make our Traditonal Sunday Sauce recipe.
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Fusillioni Pasta with Sausage
Pasta and Broccoli Aioli
Roman-Style Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Yield: 6 to 8
Homemade Potato Gnocchi
prep time: 30 Mcook time: 14 Mtotal time: 44 M
This is how my Grandmother and Mom made our Italian gnocchi pasta. A simple traditional recipe we made around the holiday season. The pasta is made with cooked mashed potatoes and flour, rolled with a fork or gnocchi board then cooked and topped with tomato sauce and grated cheese.
ingredients:
- 4 cups of mashed potatoes we use russet, or creamy white potatoes (not yellow potatoes or red-skinned) these need to be creamy and smooth no lumps ( for a quicker version use prepared mashed potatoes original style a 2-pound size from the supermarket dairy case)
- 4 cups of all-purpose flour (more for rolling and adapting to the amount of moisture in the potato,( have a 5 lb bag on hand)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- black pepper is optional to taste
- Garnish:
- Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
- Traditional Sunday Sauce
instructions:
How to cook Homemade Potato Gnocchi
- Cook the potatoes until the fork goes through easily.
- Whip with the butter and salt until no lumps are remaining.
- Mix the potatoes in a large bowl making sure to add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
- On a large floured board, roll out long ropes.
- Slice in one-inch pieces.
- With your index and middle finger, roll each piece of dough toward you or use a fork, rolling the dough towards you to make lines.( or use a gnocchi board, you can find online at Amazon.
- There should be a center that is rolled.
- Put rolled gnocchi parchment paper sprinkled with flour and not touching or sticking together.
- The pasta gnocchi should stay single on the sheet. Use more than one if you have too.
- You can stack by layering them with parchment paper sheets between them.
- These can be cooked immediately in salted boiling water or
- freeze them on the cookie sheet and add to plastic freezer bags when totally frozen.
- These don't usually make the freezer, but if you want to make them ahead of time for an occasion they freeze very well.
- Serving:
- In a big saucepan large enough to house the amount you want to cook, fill the pan with water, add salt to the water around 1 tablespoon (or more depending on how many you make), when the water comes to a boil add the gnocchi, when they float to the top they are done around 12 minutes.
- Top with meat homemade Traditional Sunday Sauce and sprinkle with Pecorino Romano cheese on top.
Calories
295
295
Fat (grams)
17
17
Sat. Fat (grams)
7
7
Carbs (grams)
22
22
Net carbs
14
14
Sugar (grams)
8
8
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Other Recipes To Try
Grandma's Spaghetti and Meatballs
Pasta Fazool
Authentic Fettucine Alfredo not the American version
Disclosure: This recipe was originally shared in 2009. It was edited and re-published in 2019.
