Homemade Gnocchi.

An Italian calssic everyone loves.

My mouth watered as I carried the gnocchi up to the dining room. I'd tasted one dumpling in the kitchen, and I loved the earthy flavor as well as the way it resisted when I sank my teeth in. I liked the way it felt in my stomach, solid and nourishing, and I looked forward to learning how to make it. - Elle Newmark, Author

Luca always claimed that he doesn't like gnocchi for two reasons:

1. the portion sizes in the restaurants are always tiny. If you can count what's on your plate, it's not enough to get satiated (it's a matter of principle).

2. it is so to say pasta... but not quite. If it were up to Luca, Fusilli, Rigatoni, Linguine and Penne would always come before gnocchi.

Well, that changed when he first tasted my handmade gnocchi. It was love at first taste when the gnocchi melted on his tongue. I also served him a crazy amount of these little dumplings so he couldn't count them on his plate. The gnocchi have definitely moved up in rank... and probably so did I!

What you'll need for 4 people:

- 800g floury potatoes

- 200g flour

- 1 egg

Start by piercing the potatoes with a sharp knife on each side. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and put them in the oven at 200° Celsius for about an hour or until the potatoes are soft. Let the potatoes cool down a little.

Cut the baked potatoes into halves, spoon out the inner part and place in a bowl. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or food processor. Do not use a blender, otherwise the puree will become very sticky, and we don't want that! Mix the mashed potatoes with the flour and the egg and make sure that you get a homogeneous dough. The less flour you use, the more airy and light the gnocchi will be, but the dough will also become stickier. Divide the dough into several smaller pieces and roll them out into long and even rolls of about 2 centimetres in diameter. Divide these rolls again into 2 centimetre long pieces. Now you can start to bring the pieces into the traditional shape by rolling them one after the other over a fork or a torn noodle board (this is how I do it).

Boil the gnocchi in salted water for about 30 seconds to one minute or until the gnocchi float to the surface.

When preparing gnocchi, I always make a large batch and immediately freeze the part I don't use. To freeze the gnocchi, simply place them on a baking tray covered with a kitchen towel. Make sure that the gnocchi do not touch each other. Put the baking tray in the freezer for about an hour to freeze on the gnocchi. After that you can put the gnocchi in a freezer bag and back in the freezer. With this method you can make sure that you don't end up with a big lump of dough and you can easily grab a handful of gnocchi if you long for a light and hearty Italian dinner.

The frozen gnocchi need to cook a little longer. Just throw the frozen gnocchi into boiling salted water and wait until they float to the surface. Then you know that the gnocchi are ready. It will probably take about 3 to 5 minutes.

Buon appetito!

Love, Carmen