So, I made gnocchi from scratch...

Home-made gnocchi somehow reminded me of eating marshmallows. They are much softer than the store bought ones, and not as rubbery. They are not a sticky texture either, just soft to the bite..they have a huge air of comfort about them, like you just want to smother them in some kind of cheese or a buttery sauce that just about coats them.





Before I made them, I watched, via the internet, an Italian man enthusiastically demonstrate how to make authentic Italian Gnocchi. It was quite amusing (as well as informative), watching him talk about, salt for example, like it was the highest miracle- rubbing it together in his hands while (almost) yelling 'Look! Look! It's beautiful!'. (watch it here -->Gennaro's Gnocchi )

I must agree, indeed, the salt was beautiful. Unfortunately, I forgot to season mine, which did impair the flavour, but I can imagine how delicately lovely they would be with the seasoning included in the mix.

The making of Gnocchi requires a light hand- you mustn't work the mix too much, but just enough so that it holds together. I think I used a metal plate with too large holes in my potato ricer, as a finer ricing, I think, would have given a smoother texture.

You can either use cold baked potato, or boiled potatoes to make the Gnocchi, just make sure that the potato has let out all of it's steam before you include it in the mix: you don't want a wet potato.

Ingredients:

• 75g flour
• one egg yolk
• two potatoes, cooked in a method of your choice.
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

• Put a pan of water on to boil.
• Rice the potatoes on to a clean work surface.
• Make a pit in the center of your pile of riced potatoes and rest the egg yolk there.
• Add the flour to the pile, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and gently mix it all together, making sure everything is incorporated.
• Gently roll out sections of the mix in to manageable sausage shapes. Repeat with the rest of the mix until everything is used up.
• Grab a sharp knife, and cut the sausage shaped dough up in to about 1cm dumplings.
• Carefully place the Gnocchi in to the pan of boiling water. They will take no more than 2 minutes to cook. They are ready when they have floated to the surface of the water.
• Enjoy with a sauce of your choice.