This Everyday Kitchen Item Can Help Shape Gnocchi Into Perfect Pillows

Gnocchi is a very straightforward pasta to make by hand, often consisting of only three or four ingredients. There can be even fewer if you do a plant-based gnocchi without egg. When it comes to making gnocchi, without eggs or with them, you'll generally get a better end result if you use a fork. And no, not just for mixing the ingredients. A simple everyday dinner fork can be used to roll and shape the gnocchi with traditional ridges, and it only takes a little practice.

While the technique can feel awkward at first, getting used to it will give you the most well-shaped pillow with a very pleasant texture. After you mix, knead, roll out, and cut your dough, take the individual pieces and place them on a fork with the tines placed down on your work surface. With a finger, (the thumb is the easiest to use), press down on the dough and roll it across the tines, parallel with them. You want the dough to roll in upon itself, resulting in a bunch of defined ridges all the way around the outside. Boil them after resting or right away for only a few minutes, and you've got homemade pasta. If you do it right, you'll end up with soft, delicious gnocchi featuring rows of indents like you'd see in restaurants or on grocery store shelves. Once you get the hang of this simple pasta skill, you'll never have to boil store-bought gnocchi again.

Some may be wondering the point of forming gnocchi this way, especially when the ridges often become softer and fade during boiling or frying. There are several reasons for it, but it mostly comes down to a matter of taste and texture. The ridges create extra surface area, which means it ends up soft and pillowy when cooked. If you sauce your gnocchi, which is usually how it is served, the ridges help hold onto the sauce to bring extra flavor in every bite. Plus, it's aesthetically pleasing if you want to show off your kitchen skills at dinner parties.

More than that, ridged gnocchi is the most customary version. Gnocchi is an ancient and often misunderstood dish, as well as one of those foods everyone pronounces wrong. It wasn't originally even a potato-based pasta, and some early iterations were egg-free. So, one of the only things primitive gnocchi has in common with modern-day varieties is its rolled shape. 

Along that same vein, while using a fork to shape the grooves may seem like a modern hack, it's also actually a very traditional method. You can also use a gnocchi board, which has many furrows closer together, but even old Italian nonnas opt for the fork method sometimes. So, if you're looking to make authentic from-scratch gnocchi, this is a great way to get there without needing any specialized tools in your kitchen.