Gnocchi, Lofty Fare Or Peasant's Delight?

Basic gnocchi, as pictured, are comprised of a handful of kitchen staples.  As daunting as they may seem, gnocchi can be whipped up in virtually no time  and require no special equipment to make.  As I was rolling them out last night, I was musing to myself how inexpensive and relatively easy they were to make.  If you have eggs, flour and a couple baking potatoes on hand you're 99% there.  Below, please find my basic gnocchi recipe.  I like to serve these with red sauce, buerre blanc or even pesto.  They're very versatile!




Rachel's Basic Gnocchi

Two large russet potatoes (approximately two pounds total)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh cracked pepper to taste

Bake the potatoes.  Pierce the potatoes with a sharp knife all over and bake for 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  Alternatively, you can put them in a microwave safe baking dish with 1/4 cup of water and microwave on high for about 10-15 minutes until soft and cooked throughout.  Let the potatoes cool until they can be handled and peel off the skins.  If you have a potato ricer, food mill or even a colander with large holes, push the warm potatoes through the holes in to a medium size mixing bowl.  If you do not have one of these tools, no worries.  You can skip this step and use a spoon to gently mash the potatoes.  The key here is to eliminate as many lumps as possible without over-processing the potatoes.  Mix the egg yolks, salt and pepper in to the potatoes.  Add the cup of flour and knead.  The dough should come together but be soft but not sticky. Add up to another 1/4 cup of flour until it is not sticky.  Start a large pot of salted water to boil.   
 
On a floured surface roll the dough in to a single rope about 3" in diameter.  Cut the dough in to six even sections.  Roll each section in to it's own rope about an 1" in diameter and cut at 1" intervals.  Gently roll each of these pieces off the back of a fork and allow to dry on a floured surface for 20 minutes. Have your sauce ready.  Begin to cook the gnocchi in three batches.  The gnocchi will sink to the bottom of the pot of boiling water and then rise to the top.  After about 2 minutes they're done.  With a slotted spoon, remove to the serving bowl.  Once all the gnocchi are finished, sauce them in the serving bowl.  Serves 4.