Gnocchi

Cecelia ( http://thekitchensgarden.com/ ) made gnocchi the other day and it reminded me that I had not made it in quite some time so I whipped some up.

 It is sooooo easy to make if you've never made it before.  You need about 2 cups of mashed potatoes.  Use leftovers or make some. Add 1 egg to the potatoes.

Add about 1 C. of flour.

Mix it until you have a nice ball of dough.  Don't add any more flour than this or your gnocchi will be heavy and doughy.

I like to saute my gnocchi to brown them a bit so I rendered about 2 tablespoons of smoked pork fat but you could just use a bit of butter or oil.

Break off pieces of the dough and roll them into a long rope.

Cut the rope into 1 inch pieces. Place each piece on a gnocchi board and press down in the middle.  You can also do this on the tines of a fork.

Push the top edge over to the bottom edge to form a cylinder. The grooves help to hold your sauce.

I forgot the photo but drop the gnocchi into boiling salted water.  They will float to the surface when they are done.  Let them boil for about 1 more minute and remove them with a strainer.

After you've boiled them, cook over medium heat in a heavy skillet with whichever oil you choose to use.  You need very little oil.  I like to add pepper and salt at this point too.

Slice a small onion, some zucchini and sage.

The gnocchi should look like this.

Quickly saute the zucchini, onion and sage and mix it in with the gnocchi. 

Serve it sprinkled with parmesan cheese.