Homemade purple potato gnocchi (eggless)

The intense chirping of cicadas underscores the heat.
How long has it been since the last recipe I shared on the blog?
It’s been a few months.

As I knead the purple potato gnocchi dough, I can’t help but think how quickly these intense past few months have passed.

Now I will tell you the reason for this long absence. My idea was to post one last recipe, ricotta and parsley tortelloni Bolognese, take a few weeks, and return to the blog to share the news.

The truth is I underestimated the fatigue and overestimated my strength.

From May to the present, I have organized a move, remodeled my house, and moved again to return furniture, clothes, and belongings. By the way, before all this, I emptied closets and drawers and filled boxes for months.
The day I took down the curtains, I thought, this is it.

Before the renovation began, I walked through the empty rooms feeling myself, at the same time, tired and happy to start what my husband and I had been planning for at least two years.

The artisans, started their work in late May, have almost finished. There is still something to make, but in the meantime, we have already scheduled the return home of the household goods that survived my decluttering rampage. So, while waiting to sort out the final details, I will spend August emptying boxes and sorting things out. If I’m lucky, I can rest for a few days.

Now you know there was a valid reason for my absence.
Anyway, after physically and morally surviving the move, I began to follow the renovation and make the new kitchen, resulting from my design. I no longer count the miles I did looking for materials and the hours of material labor to impregnate furniture, sand, and do things.

If the cooking project interests you, I wrote about it in Food Notes from Bologna, my newsletter (you can read it without subscribing, but if you support my job by subscribing to it, thank you):

• My new kitchen: the project
• My new kitchen takes shape

These hot, busy, and tiring days have left little room for cooking and even less time for taking some photographs. Without finding it, I chased for weeks, which became months, to find the inspiration to choose the recipe of the return to the blog.

Then, it suddenly came while I was making purple potato gnocchi.
I thought this was a right recipe for the blog, and soon after placing the purple potato gnocchi on the semolina-floured tray, I felt the need to write urgently as well.

Before the recipe, there is one more thing I want to share.

Nora House, where I currently live

Always covered in dust like an antique, beleaguered by the questions the artisans involved in the renovation ask, expecting sensible answers, I searched for a weekly moment that would be rejuvenating.

And since I love to buy food as locally as possible directly from producers, I found it at the farmer’s market in Castenaso, a small town on the outskirts of Bologna, where Casa Nora is located.

It is an old early twentieth-century house located a few kilometers from the center of Bologna. After being a private residence for over a hundred years, it has changed its use, becoming a room and breakfast and now a law firm where I temporarily live, sharing spaces with lawyers and clients during daytime hours.
It’s funny; despite my years as a student away from home, I had never had lawyers as housemates.

Nora era Eleonora Putti.

Nora was Eleonora Putti.
Her father left her this house, the original structure of which was a tower later incorporated into the dwelling. When she married Corrado Ungarelli, the dwelling, which on the side columns of the entrance gate bears her name, Villino Eleonora, became the family home until the last descendant decided that since she had no children, the house should revert to the Putti family, that is, my husband’s family.

We take care of it, custodians of a place where the old happiness that reigned here still reigns.

When we turned the house into an R&B a few years ago, many village elders stopped me to tell me they remembered Mrs. Nora because she was a good person. She always had some candy that she fished from her skirt or overcoat pockets.

I have mentioned Casa Nora many times on the blog but had never told who Nora-Eleonora was.

The farmer’s market and purple potato gnocchi

I was talking about the Castenaso farmers’ market. It is very genuine; the farmers are from the area and practice sustainable agriculture. I finally found zucchini with flavor, carrots with an almost balsamic taste, and small juicy tomatoes, like cherries and the first potatoes of the season.

You may not know that Bologna is devoted to growing potatoes, so much so that the Patata di Bologna variety is a POD.

At the end of July, the first ones are harvested. Since only a few hours pass from harvesting in the field to the market stall, they taste as earthy and intense as I like.

At the market, I also found purple ones.
Purple potatoes originated from South America but have been grown in Europe for centuries. Due to their unique color and health benefits, they are popular, especially in France and Italy.

And although there is a small, delightful purple potato variety typical of the Bolognese mountains, I cannot tell you my surprise when I found a kind of Italian vitelotte grown by a lowland farmer.

Vitelotte Noir differs from the Italian ones in size and thickness of skin; the Italian ones are larger and have thinner skin.

The Italian variety of vitelotte practically resembles the yellow ones, but they are only different in color.

I topped the purple potato gnocchi with a quick, to-be-prepared stracchino cheese fondue flavored with grated lemon zest and sprinkled with chives at the end. You can either arrange the sauce on the bottom of the plate and lay the gnocchi on top or stir in the pan.

As you can see from the photos, I’ve done both, so you can see that these gnocchi hold their cooking well, and you can stir them into the sauce without fear of breaking them.

Potato gnocchi is a wonderful Italian classic. If you like regular gnocchi, you will love the pop of color and taste of these purple potato gnocchi.

Buona cucina, Monica

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Homemade purple potato gnocchi

Purple potato gnocchi is a homemade and vegan Italian recipe

Course First Course, Fresh pasta

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Purple potato gnocchi

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• potato ricer

Ingredients

• 500 g of boiled purple potatoes with the skin
• 200 g of 00 or 0 flour
• 40 g of natural water, cold or lukewarm (if needed)

Instructions

• Peel the potatoes and cut them in half. Instead of mashing the boiled potatoes, pass them through a potato ricer to ensure additional lightness and fluffiness. Pass them directly on the work surface. Many do it when the potatoes are still hot, and it helps, but I do my gnocchi even with cold potatoes.
• Add half the flour and start kneading. Then, add the rest of the flour. Water, yes or no? It depends on how the potatoes absorb the flour. If the dough is crumbly and tends not to compact, add water. Knead until the dough is soft but not sticky. Working on a wooden surface helps absorb excess moisture.
• If the gnocchi are sticky, handle the dough and cut the gnocchi, wetting your hands often. However, don't add more flour; too much flour leads to hard, gummy, chewy gnocchi.
• Divide the dough into 5 or 6 parts with a knife.
• Sprinkle the cutting board with semolina and, one piece at a time, use the palms of your hands to make a rope about 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter.
• Then, cut pieces of dough from 1 to 2 cm in length with a bench scraper or knife.
• Arrange them on a tray dusted with semolina.
• Cook gnocchi in salted boiling water until they rise to the surface. Then, taste one. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and place them in the saucepan if it is soft.

Food Tips

• Please do not remove the peel before boiling the potatoes; otherwise, they will absorb too much water.
• Store the gnocchi in the refrigerator for two days and in the freezer for a month.
• If you salt the cooking water, there is no need to put salt in the gnocchi dough.