Little Italian Lady: Potato Gnocchi

Some people consider eating pasta cheating on their diets....I consider eating gnocchi cheating on having pasta. I love splurging with gnocchi - it is one of the best things in this world. I am bragging about gnocchi today because I made it from scratch. It was a coincidence though, very much not planned.... Bags of potatoes were on sale for $2.00 so I bought them just because. They sat in my kitchen for about a week until I felt guilty for not using them. Either I cooked a bunch of potato side dishes all week OR GNOCCHI!!! So that's how I came about making them today.

You can eat them with the sauce of your choice, but today I made my simple, basic tomato sauce and grated pecorino romano on top. Nothing is better than simplicity with Italian food. You can find the basic sauce recipe here, which is included in my meatball blog: http://little-italian-lady.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-perfect-little-meatballs.html

Making the dumplings from scratch takes a lot of time, so make sure you do this when you have nothing else to do for a couple hours - like me today. So here is how it goes...

Scrub the potatoes and boil in their skins. Remove the skin while the potatoes are still hot - prick the potatoes with a fork to make it easier. Mash the potatoes - I actually grated them through the thick holes of a cheese grater (the better tool is a potato ricer).

Grate so there are no chunks

Mash together the potatoes directly on your clean counter top. Add the flour, but not all - you may not need to use all of it. You can always add some later. Add a little salt. Add the beaten egg, again not all since you may not need it. Work into a smooth dough and add flour/egg as needed.

If you are making a lot of dough like me, you may want to divide it into two parts so it is easier to kneed.

It should look like this once ready!

Roll dough into a fat rope and divide into equal parts. Roll these sections out into smaller "sausages". Cut these sausages into small cushions using a plastic cutting tool (so you don't scratch your counter top). Roll over a gnocchi board or fork if desired - the fancy people do this, but I have no patience.

Save the gnocchi under a dish towel until used - sprinkle flour on the bottom before laying them down, or cook immediately in boiling, salted water. When they float to the surface, they are ready.