The Italian influence is very apparent in South American cuisine, especially in countries like Argentina and Uruguay. This yellow potato gnocchi recipe (ñoquis in Spanish) is a classic Latin Italian fusion dish - the gnocchi are served with a creamy aji amarillo pepper sauce rather than a traditional Italian pasta sauce. Aji amarillo is a bright orange chile pepper with a sweet, fruity flavor (and a kick!).
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2-3 pounds yukon gold potatoes (or similar yellow potato)
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cups aji amarillo sauce (recipe here)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scrub potatoes and pierce with a fork in several places. Place potatoes on baking sheet, and bake until tender when pierced with a fork (about 30-45 minutes, depending on size of potatoes).
- When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel potatoes and press the peeled potatoes through a potato ricer. Spread the riced potatoes out on the baking sheet to cool.
- Place the cooled potatoes into a bowl, and add the egg, 1 cup of the flour, and salt. Mix gently with a spoon until potatoes come together, then start to knead with your hands, adding more flour gradually if necessary until mixture becomes a soft dough. If dough is very sticky, you can add more flour, but you want the dough to feel light, not dense, so add as little flour as possible.
- Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Working on a lightly floured surface. roll each piece into a 3/4 inch diameter rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch long pieces. Roll each individual gnocchi over the tines of a fork to make ridges (see How to Make Gnocchi for photographs of the technique). Place gnocchi on a baking sheet lined with parchment. You can freeze gnocchi at this point, and once frozen, gnocchi can be transferred to a ziplock bag and stored in the freezer.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- While water boils, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Whisk in the flour and stir over heat for 2-3 minutes more. Whisk in the milk and continue to heat, stirring constantly, until sauce begins to thicken.
- Whisk in the aji amarillo sauce and stir until heated through. Keep sauce warm.
- Add gnocchi to boiling water (in batches if necessary) and cook for about 4-5 minutes (2-3 minutes more after gnocchi rise to the surface). Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon and toss with parmesan.
- Serve gnocchi warm with aji sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro for garnish, if desired.
Serves 4 as a main course.
