Crispy Potato Gnocchi with Pastrami Ragu
Potato gnocchi is pan-fried until crispy, and tossed with a pastrami ragu and fresh snipped chives. It’s a delicious meal to make for a special dinner!
Let’s be honest here. Gnocchi is kind of a pain to make. It’s not really difficult or anything, but there are a lot of steps that make me feel like I need to block out several hours to make it.
Now why on earth would I tell you that gnocchi is a pain??? I want you to make these recipes, right? It’s because I know you will look at this picture and make it anyway. Or at least, that’s what seems to happen to me anytime I come across a photo of gnocchi on the internet. That’s it for me. Off to the kitchen to make gnocchi. My body is a slave to my stomach and my eyes, once again.
The marriage of potatoes and pasta, and biting into these crispy edged fluffy little pillows…I feel truly comforted. Some people get that from mac and cheese. Me? Not so much. I get that warm cozy feeling from gnocchi. And this gnocchi recipe is definitely my new favorite.
The first thing you need to do is roast some potatoes. Three little Yukon golds, off to the oven:
After they’re tender, pass them through a food mill or ricer, and combine them with flour, eggs, and salt to make a sticky dough:
Refrigerate the dough for a bit, then roll it into a long rope. I always use a bench scraper to cut little pillows of gnocchi off the line:
Spread the little dumplings out on a sheet pan sprinkled with flour. They’re off to the fridge to cool down for an hour:
In the meantime, you can start on the accompaniment to the gnocchi. Gently cook some minced onion and minced celery until the onion is translucent and the celery is tender:
Add finely chopped pastrami and cook it until the pastrami browns and looks kind of like crispy bacon bits. OH BABY:
To put it all together, boil the gnocchi until they float, then dry them off with a towel. Pan fry them in a little butter or olive oil until golden brown and crispy, then toss with the pastrami mixture.
Top with some snipped chives, and eat!
Crispy Potato Gnocchi with Pastrami Ragu
Ingredients
- 1.75 lb yukon gold potatoes
- 1 cup flour
- 2 eggs beaten together
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 +2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
- 1 rib of celery minced
- 1/3 lb sliced pastrami finely chopped
- chives for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Poke the potatoes all over with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. Let them roast in the oven for about an hour until they are fork tender. Make sure to really put your fork all the way through and make sure they are done. Give them more time in the oven if they need it.
- Set up a food mill or ricer over a bowl and immediately press the potatoes while they are hot from the oven. (My food mill catches the skins, but if yours doesn’t, peel the skin before ricing the potatoes). Spread the riced potatoes all over a baking sheet and let them cool.
- To make the gnocchi dough, mix the riced potatoes with the flour, eggs, and salt, and knead gently until it forms a dough. It will be quite sticky. Divide the gnocchi dough into four even pieces. On a well floured surface, roll each gnocchi quarter into a long rope, then cut little pieces off with a knife or bench scraper. Spread the gnocchi out on a floured sheet pan and refrigerate for one hour.
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil, and season it heavily with salt, just like you would a pasta water. Prepare an ice bath as well. Boil the gnocchi for a minute or two, and remove them as soon as they float to the surface.Let them cool off in the ice bath for 15 seconds, then remove them to dry on a towel, then transfer the gnocchi to a bowl and drizzle with the 1 tbsp olive oil. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi dough until it’s all cooked.
- Heat up 2 tbsp of butter in a skillet over medium heat, and add the onion and celery. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until translucent and soft. Add the chopped pastrami and bump the heat up to medium high. Cook for 10 more minutes, until the pastrami starts to brown like bacon bits. Taste the mixture to season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the contents from the pan.
- Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of butter over medium to medium high heat, and pan fry the gnocchi for a few minutes on each side, until richly browned. Serve with the pastrami mixture sprinkled on top, and garnish with chives. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Other Gnocchi Recipes:
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Thyme Butter
Herbed Gnocchi with Parmigiano Cream Sauce
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage from Love and Olive Oil
23 Comments on “Crispy Potato Gnocchi with Pastrami Ragu”
I tried these as per spec and they were great, however next time I would make a few changes. I would not chop the onion and celery as fine, perhaps use bacon or a honey ham chopped but am seriously thinking of putting a mild or medium cheese in the center of each one. The whole dish is time consuming so a few extra minutes makes little difference. One tip, these brown quite easily, if using a fairly hot pan, watch them closely. I use a heavy pan which holds heat well over a gas flame and at first the brown turned very very dark, reduced the heat, added a bit more oil, (I used a blend of butter and olive oil ) and things went well. Be sure to open a nice bottle of vino with this dish, the time put into it requires a reward!
Hi Wayne, thank you for your comment. I loved hearing about the little tweaks that you plan to make. I agree, these are a labor of love, which is why I rarely make gnocchi, but oh is it good!
Gnocchi is on my bucket list for this year! You have me totally inspired to get after making it ASAP!
P.S – so happy I found your lovely blog! xx
This looks like total comfort food!!! I have always wondered how hard it was to make!!! You really make it seem easy!!!
This looks amazing, Joanne!! That pastrami ragu is pure genius!
What time is dinner????
Oh, I can totally relate. It is a huge pain to make and I keep swearing I won’t bother anymore…until I get a craving and find myself making it again. Your stunning photos are creating that damn urge again… 🙂
*suspicious* What is this delicious take on gnocchi….sounds like a deal with the devil!
I have always wanted to make gnocchi! This Ragu sounds amazing!
That is a great idea to use some pastrami!
This looks delicious!
Joanne, I really like your website… the videos, recipes, and the photograpy of the food is so professional!
Potato gnocchi sounds amazing! I’m excited to try this recipe. Thank you!
Gnocchi is on my list of things to make this year. And now I think it needs to be crispy gnocchi! Gorgeous dish!
I have crispy gnocchi for the first time in Berlin last summer and I fell in love.
I’ve only made gnocchi once and I used potato flakes, what a travesty!!! Clearly THIS is the way to make gnocchi! I am in love with pastrami ragu! What a fantastic idea!
Your photos and explanation make the process of making gnocchi very approachable. I’m inspired to give it a try. This looks absolutely delicious!
I love that the gnocchi is pan fried!