GNOCCHI

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pierce the potatoes several times so that the moisture can escape during baking. Bake for 1 hour until fork tender. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh, while they are still hot, and press them through a potato ricer. (Save the skins and top with cheese and bacon for a yummy app – don’t forget the sour cream and chives after baking!!)

Put riced potatoes in a large bowl with salt, baking powder, and egg. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix gently with a fork, folding, until the mixture begins to come together. Dust your hands with flour and turn the dough onto a floured counter.  Sprinkle another ¼ cup of dough over the top and gently knead, slowly adding the remaining ¼ cup as needed until the dough forms a ball.  Do not over work the dough.

Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a log and roll back and forth into a rope, about 14-15″ long. Cut each rope into 1” pieces.

Gently roll each 1″ piece, pressing down lightly, with a fork creating indentations that will hold the sauce. Have fun with this, they don’t have to be perfect but, once you get the hang of it, they will start looking more uniform.

Spread the gnocchi out on a cookie sheet, dusted with flour and separated. If you are cooking later put the tray in the freezer and then when frozen place frozen gnocchi in a plastic bag to store.

Cook in rapidly boiling salted water for about 2 or 3 minutes. They will float to the top when done. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain and place on a serving platter. Serve with your favorite tomato sauce and grated Pecorino Romano cheese.  I also love these with brown sage butter sauce!

If the gnocchi fall apart when cooking, you need more flour. If they don’t float or are hard then you used too much flour. Many recipes for gnocchi don’t call for baking powder but this is the secret to light and fluffy rather than heavy gnocchi.