Soft pillows doused in yummy pesto is an amazing meal to have on a rainy night. It's warm and comforting and very filling too. Although it is difficult to get the best texture to actually enjoy these pillows because there's no way of saying whether they will be chewy or yummy or just plain mushy without cooking them and actually tasting them. So spend some time with the dough and maybe cook a piece or two before you actually make a whole batch out of it to avoid any kind of surprises during dinner.
Ingredients:
2 Boiled Potatoes
1/2 cup of Maida
Heavily salted water for cooking
3 cloves of garlic
pinch of salt
1 cup of Basil Leaves
8-10 cashew nuts
50 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Grind everything together into a chunky paste.
Method:
Let's talk about boiling the potatoes correctly first. You need to pressure cook similar sized potatoes for 3-4 whistles based on their size. As soon as the last whistle goes off, release the excessive pressure and open the cooker. Strain out all the water and let the potatoes cool completely. To check the doneness, you can use a not-so-sharp object, like the back of a thin spoon. If it goes through the potato and comes out the other end with ease, the potatoes are cooked properly. (If you do this with a knife, it will come out the other end with ease due to the sharpness of the knife regardless of it being properly cooked)
Once the potatoes are boiled, mash them using a fork or your hands. You want them to be quite smooth. If there are any lumps in the potatoes that won't mash, discard them.
Add flour to your potatoes and make a dough out of it. it should resemble a soft chapati dough and shouldn't be sticky at all. In case your potatoes are of the dry kind, you can add a teaspoon of yoghurt to bind it properly. Do not use a mixer for this because it will make your potatoes sticky, that also means you shouldn't over mix your gnocchi dough.
Roll the dough out into a thin snake and portion into 1cm tiny pillows. Use extra flour to stop them from sticking to the surface or to each other. Run the pillows on the back of a fork to get a pretty design that will also hold the sauce in it.
To cook the gnocchi, boil it in heavily salted water. The water should be simmering when you add in the gnocchi.
The gnocchi will be ready when it floats to the surface of the water. This usually takes up to 2 minutes only.
Drain the cooked gnocchi and add it to a bowl, top it off with a spoonful of pesto and toss away. Serve immediately.