Gnocchi

When we were with Anna and Marc in New Orleans one of the first things I asked her was to show me how to make gnocchi. I have tried before and it's very tricky. She was so sweet because on the same night that we were making gnocchi she also made pasta with the extra egg yolks!!! They were both incredible. With the pasta dough she had me dry and fold the pasta so as to cut it thinly- a trick that I found to be a stroke of brilliance!!!

For the gnocchi she takes 8 medium- small Idaho russet potatoes. They have to be from Idaho or this recipe will not work! She boils the potatoes until just fork-tender. She drains them and peels them and presses them through a food mill being sure not to over- work the potatoes. She gently works the eggs into the potatoes again being sure not to overwork the starch out of the potatoes. She pours in about 3-4 cups of flour and pulls the dough together, kneading all the while. She kneads the dough on a piece of plywood until the dough begins to stiffen a bit. She rolls small portions of the dough into a rope and then cuts the rope into 1/2" pieces. She then presses them onto a gnocchi board to form the ridges and finally she boils the gnocchi until soft. It's not an easy process but it works if you get the "feel" of the dough. I would recommend having Anna come to your house and show you....