Fantastic comfort food in the form of soft, home-made gnocchi in a rich and creamy Carbonara sauce.
Today is the type of day they don’t warn you about when you say you want kids/when you’re pregnant. The type of day where your children didn’t sleep all too well the night before but you still have to go about your day in a normal, functioning fashion. The type of day when all that is going to get you through is good coffee (thank you Nespresso). So I’m sure you’ll excuse me for not writing a long, winding post about how fabulous this gnocchi is. I hope that, by now, you trust my judgement.
This takes a little bit of effort as I made the gnocchi myself (but it really is ok if you use store-bought). I make the gnocchi early on during the day so that they get a chance to dry out a little. I used the same recipe I did for my Pork ragu and roasted garlic gnocchi recipe, simply leaving out the roasted garlic. I loved how the soft gnocchi soaked up all the creamy, eggy, bacony sauce. Perfect comfort food for a tired Monday.
Ingredients
- 1 kg baking/fluffy potatoes
- 2 egg yolks
- 1-1.5 cups flour
- salt to taste
for the carbonara sauce
- 250 g dry cured smoked streaky bacon, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 4 free-range eggs
- 125 ml 1/2 cup cream
- 1 cup grated Pecorino cheese
- freshly cracked black pepper
- salt to taste
- large handful chopped Italian parsley
Instructions
- To make the gnocchi, place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake at 200°c until a skewer is easily inserted.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
- Halve the potatoes and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Mash well.
- Add the egg yolks and mix well.
- Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time and mix in gently, you don’t want to over-work the dough. I only needed 1.5 cups of flour for my gnocchi but some mixtures might need a bit more. It’s best to make sure your potatoes are quite dry before adding the flour though as the more flour you add, the tougher your gnocchi will be.
- When you’ve added enough flour to result in a soft dough, break tennis ball sized pieces off of the dough and roll into long strips on a floured surface. Cut the strip into 1cm gnocchis and place on a floured tray until you are ready to cook them. If you like, you can also use a fork to make indents in the gnocchi which create little spaces to suck up more of the sauce.
- To make the carbonara, fry the bacon until slightly crisp and add the garlic.
- While the bacon is frying, combine the cream, eggs, Pecorino and seasoning and whisk well. Add the hot bacon to the sauce and set aside.
- To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Drop in the gnocchi gently and when it floats to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon.
- Once your gnocchi is cooked, add it to the sauce and stir to coat all the gnocchi in the sauce. Allow to stand for a few minutes for the gnocchi to absorb the sauce then serve with fresh parsley.
Nutrition
Hi, can I ask what type of flour did you use?
All purpose or cake flour.
I have a go to carbonera recipe that I have always used, I think I like this one more! The only change i made was, I added the gnocchi and sauce (very very slowly) to the bacon pan, stirring constantly to avoid chunking the eggs. Seriously such a delicious recipe, thank you!!
So glad you liked it! 🙂
What temp for the potatoes do you suggest?
Oh goodness, never saw that I didn’t include a temp. Baking them at 200°c should be sufficient.
Nikki, I used what we call Fresh cream or Whipping cream but you can use Heavy cream.
What kind of cream is it that you use?
Question – do you cook the carbonara sauce at all? When I whisk the cream, eggs, etc. together, is it over heat? Or maybe when I add the gnocchi in, it’s over heat? Surely you have to cook it somehow?
Lexy, I had exactly the same question when I first made carbonara but I promise that the egg cooks as it gets mixed with the hot gnocchi. That is why you have to have the gnocchi hot hot hot. If you mix it over heat you risk the egg curdling and then you’ll be left with little chunks of egg in your sauce instead of the delicious silky sauce you would have if you just stirred it through.
Making this again tonight, thank you so much for the reply! I really appreciate it. 🙂
Enjoy!
Made this last night. Turned out great.
http://imgur.com/9VXsFKV <—- picture
If I were to use store bought gnocchi, how much would I need?
500g store bought gnocchi will be good for 2-3 people.
The best way to ensure you’ve got your Gnocchi dough at the right consistency is that it should be wet to touch but not sticky. I Love that you’ve baked them… again the best way to make Gnocchi! If you got a potato ricer even better! I can tell your page is going to be my next fave!
Wow! This looks amazing. I am going to Akers this at home very soon. Please check out the food blog I have just started http://www.surreyKitchen.wordpress.com. Thanks!