Recipe for potato gnocchi

11/13/2002

POTATO GNOCCHI

2 pounds baking potatoes, scrubbed

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more if needed

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 extra-large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roast the potatoes for 40 to 50 minutes. They should be just done. If they cook too long, they won't rice properly.

Let the potatoes cook for 5 minutes, no longer. Using a kitchen towel to hold them, cut each one in half, scoop out the potato flesh and rice into a large bowl. Add the flour and salt and mix well. Add the egg and quickly knead everything together into a sticky dough; work the dough no longer than 3 minutes. If it's too wet, add a small amount of additional flour. If you add too much flour or knead the dough for too long, the gnocchi will be gluey.

Roll the dough under your palms into half-inch thick logs. There whould be enough dough to make between 4 and 5 logs about 18 inches long. Cut the logs diagonally into 1-inch lengths. You should get 65 to 70 gnocchi. Give them a final shaping either by making a depression in the center of each piece with your finger or rolling them off the back of the tines of a fork.

Fill a large pot with water and season with salt and bring to a boil. Add gnocchi. After it cooks for a minute, they will bob to the surface. Cook one more minute. Drain and rinse with water to remove the starch.

To freeze raw gnocchi, lay them out on a tray dusted with flour and put them in the freezer. As soon as they've frozen solid, transfer them to a plastic freezer bag or freezer-safe container. To cook, drop frozen gnocchi into lots of boiling salted water and and cook for one minute after they bob back to the surface.

Adapted from In the Hands of a Chef by Jody Adams and Ken Rivard.