Gnocchi

I love making pasta. Kneading the dough, throwing the flour around, making a mess - it's all great.

Whenever I have just 1 potato lying around, either already cooked, or waiting to be cooked, it means gnocchi. It's easy and takes me back to my days in preschool, rolling out play-doh into long snakes, the same way gnocchi is made. Here is my recipe.

Gnocchi Dough-ki:

1 Average size russet potato, baked in it's skin until cooked through.

55-60g Flour, depending on if the potato is a little small or a little large

2 Pinches of salt

1 Whisper of nutmeg

1/2 Egg, whisked

Discard the skin from the cooked potato and pass the flesh either through a sieve or potato ricer. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine until a dough is formed. Split the dough in two, and roll it out into long snakes between your palms and the countertop , about 1/2" to 2/3" in diameter. Use a little extra flour if it gets sticky.

With a bench scraper or knife, cut 1/4" to 1/2" rounds of dough. Once all of the dough is cut, decide if you want to roll grooves into your gnocchi, or leave them as pillows. For the grooves, use your thumb to roll the pillows over on the backside of a fork using a little pressure to push grooves into the pasta, while concaving the underside. I'm sure there are youtube videos for extra help.

Cook the gnocchi is boiling salted water until they float, then remove them and sauce as you like. Tomato, Bolognese, pesto....all good choices. Enjoy.