Wild garlic gnocchi have a strict time window for us. Once the steamed-dry potatoes, the flour and the wild garlic land in the mixing bowl, they get exactly two minutes on kneading mode. Every extra half-minute turns soft, light gnocchi into rubbery lumps, because the flour develops gluten that compresses the broken-down potato.
We make wild garlic gnocchi every spring as soon as we find the first wild garlic leaves in the woods or at the weekly market. The wild garlic goes into the dough, not on top, and there is a reason for that: blended into the dough, the flavour spreads evenly through every gnocchi rather than just sitting as a topping. The green colour holds during cooking because the gnocchi only simmer for 5 to 7 minutes in the salted water. That is all they need, and longer would do the wild garlic no favours.
Wild Garlic Gnocchi with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 9 ✓
- 800 g water
- 1 tsp salt
- 600 g potatoes
- 50 g wild garlic leaves
- 120 g butter
- 1 egg
- 180 g flour
- 60 g fine semolina
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions 0 / 5
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1
Cook the potatoes.
Add water and salt to the mixing bowl. Peel the potatoes, cut into small pieces, place in the steamer basket and cook for 25 min / Varoma / speed 1. Remove the steamer basket and leave the potatoes to steam dry thoroughly. Empty the mixing bowl.
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2
Chop the wild garlic.
Wash the wild garlic, pat dry thoroughly, add in pieces to the mixing bowl, chop for 8 sec / speed 6 and scrape down with the spatula.
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3
Mix the dough.
Add the butter, blend for 10 sec / speed 6 and scrape down with the spatula. Add the potatoes, egg, flour, semolina and salt and knead for 2 min / kneading mode. Bring water to the boil in a large pot.
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4
Shape the gnocchi.
Divide the dough into 3 pieces on a lightly floured work surface, roll into 2 cm thick logs and cut into 2 cm thick slices. Shape each slice in your hand into a ball and press flat with a fork.
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5
Cook the gnocchi.
Add the gnocchi to the boiling salted water and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes until they float to the surface. Remove the gnocchi and serve immediately.
Tip: Serve your gnocchi with brown butter and Parmesan alongside a fresh salad, or as a side dish with asparagus or meat.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Floury potatoes, well steamed dry, pressed smooth
The variety is the most important ingredient. We use floury potatoes (Bintje, Maris Piper, King Edward), never waxy ones. Waxy potatoes hold too much water and the dough turns sticky, so you have to work in more flour, and that is exactly what makes gnocchi heavy.
We cook the 600 g peeled potatoes for 25 min / Varoma / speed 1 in the steamer basket over 800 g salted water. After that they must really steam dry. We tip them onto a clean board and leave them uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes. This waiting time is not optional. Hot, steaming potatoes bring residual moisture into the dough, and the dough then absorbs more water during mixing than the flour can bind.
If you have a potato ricer, press the potatoes through it before mixing. That is the Italian approach and gives the finest texture. In the Thermomix® we break the potatoes down gently during mixing anyway, but pressing them first prevents larger pieces and makes the dough more even.
Chop the wild garlic first, then blend with butter
We wash the 50 g wild garlic leaves and pat them really dry. Wet wild garlic dilutes the dough just as much as wet potatoes do. Into the mixing bowl, 8 sec / speed 6, then scrape down with the spatula. Next the 120 g butter goes in and the wild garlic is blended with the butter for 10 sec / speed 6.
This intermediate step with the butter has a practical effect: the essential oils of the wild garlic bind to the fat and distribute more evenly through the dough later on. The flavour becomes rounder, the sharpness of the garlic is softened and the herby quality remains. Anyone who adds the wild garlic directly to the flour and potatoes often ends up with small green patches in the dough rather than a uniformly green colour.
Two minutes on kneading mode, not a second more
Now comes the critical moment. The steamed-dry potatoes, the egg, the 180 g flour, the 60 g fine semolina and 1 1/2 tsp salt go into the mixing bowl with the wild garlic butter. We knead for 2 min / kneading mode and stop immediately.
The temptation is strong to add another minute because the dough looks soft and moist at first glance. That is precisely the most common mistake. With every extra kneading minute the flour develops more gluten strands and the starch from the potatoes gelatinises. Soft gnocchi become tough, rubbery dumplings that turn heavy and springy in the salted water.
The fine semolina is not a decorative element here but a structural one. It absorbs residual moisture without building gluten strands the way flour does, and it ensures the gnocchi hold their shape during cooking. Anyone who leaves the semolina out has to add more flour, and more flour means tougher gnocchi.
Roll, cut, press with a fork
We divide the dough on a lightly floured work surface into three equal pieces and roll each one into a 2 cm thick log. Cut into 2 cm slices, briefly roll each slice in your hand into a ball and press gently flat with a fork. The fork ridges are not just for looks, they serve a purpose: they hold the sauce later.
If the dough sticks while rolling, dust your hands with a little flour, not the dough. Flour on the dough simply gets worked in and makes the gnocchi heavier. If the dough is too soft and the logs will not hold their shape, the potatoes had too much residual water. In that case we work in 1 to 2 tbsp of fine semolina by hand, never back into the mixing bowl.
5 to 7 minutes simmering, float to the top, done
While we shape the gnocchi, we bring salted water to the boil in a large pot (or use the water from the mixing bowl if working in parallel). Important: the water should only simmer, not boil vigorously. A rolling boil tears the surface of the soft gnocchi.
We add the gnocchi in batches, never all at once. Too many gnocchi lower the water temperature, stick together and cook unevenly. 5 to 7 minutes is enough. Once they float to the surface, they are ready. Lift them out with a slotted spoon straight onto a warmed plate.
Brown butter, Parmesan and a few fresh wild garlic leaves
Our standard accompaniment is brown butter with shaved Parmesan and a few finely sliced fresh wild garlic leaves. The brown butter takes 3 minutes in the pan, foams up once, smells nutty and pairs beautifully with the herby wild garlic in the dough.
For a crispier result, fry the gnocchi briefly in a pan after cooking. That gives a golden crust and a soft centre. We often do this when we warm the gnocchi up the next day, more on that below.
With asparagus, chicken breast or tomato sauce
In the first half of May, wild garlic gnocchi are our side dish to Thermomix® asparagus with wild garlic hollandaise. The gnocchi carry the asparagus and the hollandaise ties everything together. For a lighter option, serve with just brown butter and a crisp salad.
The gnocchi also go well with briefly pan-fried chicken breast or salmon. We are cautious with tomato sauce because the wild garlic flavour gets lost against a bold tomato base. If you do use tomato sauce, keep it very mild with cherry tomatoes and a splash of double cream.
Prepare ahead, freeze, pan-fry the next day
Raw shaped gnocchi keep in the fridge for about 6 hours dusted with flour. For longer preparation, freeze them in a single layer on a tray first (15 minutes is enough to stop them sticking together), then transfer to a freezer bag and drop them straight from frozen into boiling salted water. The cooking time increases to 8 to 9 minutes.
Cooked gnocchi from the day before are best fried in a pan with a little butter until golden. Re-boiling does not work, they turn mushy. In the fridge, cooked gnocchi keep for 2 days in a sealed container, brushed with a little oil so they do not stick together.
Our full range of wild garlic season recipes is waiting for you in our Thermomix® wild garlic recipe collection. We particularly love combining these gnocchi with:
- Wild Garlic Hollandaise to serve with asparagus and gnocchi
- Thermomix® Wild Garlic Pesto as a sauce instead of brown butter
- Wild Garlic Salt sprinkled over the finished gnocchi
- Wild Garlic Soup as a starter with the gnocchi as a main course
- Wild Garlic Potato Rolls for a wild garlic evening with guests
