Gnocchi senza patate all’acqua e farina, grandma’s recipe to make gnocchi without potatoes like Milk-and-flour gnocchi without potatoes, Spinach gnocchi without potatoes and Beetroot gnocchi without potatoes.
These days my uncle moved to another apartment, leaving the one he had lived in with my grandmother until she passed away, now thirteen years ago.
While tidying and boxing almost-forgotten things, I found so many scattered writings and between tears and memories, leafing through old papers and letters I found many interesting recipes.
My grandmother was from Trentino, but she had married a Sicilian, my grandfather, and from that union my father (who is no longer with us) and my uncles were born.
Leafing through and putting her old things in order (my uncle had thrown nothing away), we discovered old letters from my great-grandparents to their distant daughter, writings that are now over sixty years old, letters faded by time, in which they asked about my father as a child and his brothers and cooking recipes where my great-grandmother explained to her daughter how to prepare certain dishes…
I cannot fully explain the emotion and the lump in my throat I felt while reading, but I knew that many of those precious recipes had to be shared with you and the recipe you are about to read is exactly one of them.
Follow me in the kitchen, I’ll explain how to make potato-free gnocchi with water, flour and Parmigiano Reggiano, special, very quick gnocchi as good as potato gnocchi but without potatoes.
And to think my grandmother used to prepare them often and I didn’t even know it was my great-grandmother’s recipe… Before we get to work, I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my other recipes, you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 3
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 458.16 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 73.90 (g) of which sugars 1.09 (g)
- Proteins 15.98 (g)
- Fat 13.40 (g) of which saturated 7.94 (g)of which unsaturated 5.38 (g)
- Fibers 13.07 (g)
- Sodium 381.34 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 240 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients to make water-and-flour gnocchi
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 1/3 cups flour (semolina or 0 flour (or 00) or a mix)
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 2.1 oz Parmigiano Reggiano PDO (about 2/3 cup grated)
- to taste salt
- to taste nutmeg
- to taste black pepper
Tools
- Pot
- Work surface
- Metal bench scraper
- Gnocchi board
Preparation
Pour the water into a heavy-bottomed pot, add the butter, salt and spices, and bring to a boil.
As soon as the water starts to boil, lower the heat and add the flour (you can use semolina, 0 or 00 flour, or a mix). Stir until the mixture pulls away from the pot; it will only take a few minutes. Add the grated cheese, turn off the heat and keep stirring with a wooden spoon even if it becomes difficult.
Turn everything out onto your work surface and begin working the dough gently, being careful not to burn yourself.
You will need to stretch the dough and fold it over itself several times.
As soon as it has cooled a little, work it more vigorously with your hands until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough. Dust the surface with a little flour only if strictly necessary.
Divide the dough into pieces and roll into ropes about 1 inch thick, then cut them into pieces about 3/8 inch long (≈1 cm).
The gnocchi are fine like this, but to make them perfect you should add one more step: score them with a gnocchi board or a fork.
At this point you can cook the gnocchi immediately or freeze them and once firm put them in a food bag, cooking them as needed by immersing them directly into plenty of boiling water.
If you want to cook the gnocchi right after preparing them, which is ideal, bring a pot full of salted water to a boil and drop them in. In an instant they will rise to the surface: scoop them out with a slotted spoon and they will be ready to be dressed, perhaps like Sorrentina-style potato gnocchi.
Be careful when stirring them to avoid them falling apart.
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