That’s what these homemade gnocchi reminded me of. And who doesn’t love tater tots?
Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is my gold standard for new recipes. He says that gnocchi ought to be “ethereal,” not heavy and gummy. I wouldn’t say these reached empyrean status, but they were much lighter than frozen gnocchi from the grocery store.
The recipe is simple but labor-intensive. You take a pound of floury potatoes (I used two really big baking potatoes) and boil them until very tender but not falling apart. Then you mash and add a half-cup of flour. Knead this a few times, divide into six pieces, roll into ropes and snip off the individual lumplets.
Bittman says that the key is adding the smallest amount of flour that will still allow the gnocchi to hold together when dropped in boiling water. He recommends cooking a test gnoccho to see if it disintegrates.

Dumplings ready for the pot. I noticed that the dough gets stickier as time passes, so it’s best to work quickly.
The gnocchi are finished one minute after they rise to the top of the boiling water.
I decided to panfry the gnocchi in butter, and garnish them with fried sage leaves from the garden. Panfrying gives them a nice crispy outer surface that mimics the tater tot. The Long-Suffering Husband heartily approved.
According to Ore-Ida, a serving of 9 tater tots contains 160 calories and 8 grams of fat. I’m not sure how these compare, but they were delicious!
Love gnocchi with sage and butter, these look scrumptious. Haven’t yet eaten a Tater Tot but the name cracks me up.
🙂 Yes, I love the name too! Someone’s stroke of marketing genius.
Ohhhh, I love them…! We’ve got a bigger variant of this in Germany, usually served with roast meat and gravy.
I thought you preferred pasta!
Hey, I’m not that picky 🙂
Tots! I, too, love gnocchi–will need to give these a shot….
Thanks–they’re worth a try. A fair amount of work, but mixing them up is very quick.
You should have written this post on Tuesday. 😉 In Italy Tuesday is the day in which restaurants traditionally serve gnocchi (martedi: gnocchi)
Ah, I didn’t know that certain days were attached to certain foods. Is there a porcini day? I would love that 😉
Fortunately everyday is a porcino’s day! 😉 I just ADORE them. 😀
The best mushrooms I’ve ever had in my life were from a restaurant in Lazio. I think it was Il Cacciatore, near Terracina. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. We don’t have anything like that here 😦
Kudos. I love gnocchi, but I’m just too lazy to make my own! Makes it a popular dining out choice for me…
Well, you can make them for a few pennies 🙂
They look delicious and as you said, labour intensive too. So all the more thanks for sharing this with us! 😉
Thanks to you for stopping by!
Licking the screen when displaying scrumptious food is an activity I never seem to tire from and never seem to learn from. It’s both shocking and hugely disappointing.
Your recipe, on the other hand, is intoxicating and must be attempted. The results will no doubt be substantially better than my previous attempts to taste the tots. 😛
And what better accompaniment than a tot or two of whisky?
Maybe three?