Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi are noodles made with potato or cornmeal. I serve them in a creamy blue cheese sauce, and they are an instant hit with family and friends. You can buy ready made gnocchi in any supermarket and serve them with the blue cheese sauce. I find that home made ones are best.
They do however need 1 hour to prepare.

Ingredients for 4

• 500gr floury potatoes
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 150g plain flour or less, depending on the texture of the potatoes

Peel the potatoes and boil in a pan of salted boiling water. Drain and mash them into a bowl

Make a hollow in the potato mash, then pour in the egg and sprinkle over some of the flour. Blend everything with your hands, adding more flour but as little as you can get away with (you want the flavour of the potato to come through, rather than that of the flour). Work carefully and quickly, as the more you handle the dough, the harder and bouncier it will become.

You should now have a soft dough that holds together.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll a piece at a time into long, thumb-nail thick cylinders on a lightly floured surface, again working lightly and quickly. Keep the surface well floured as you don't want the gnocchi to stick.


Cut the dough into thumb-nail long lengths. I don't bother to shape and pattern them, but just cook them as they are. Life is too short! However, the shaping and patterning gives a hollow on one side and a pattern on the other that enables the sauce to cling better, and also makes each piece recognisable as a gnocco (a single gnocchi).

To shape them into traditional gnocchi: roll the gnocchi in a little flour. Holding them very lightly, form each into a small concave gnocchi shape: hold them against the prongs of the back of a fork, pressing only firmly enough to get the imprint (not so firmly that they go through the prongs), then guide each one so it tumbles away from the fork. Use your thumb as a guide and your fingers to pick and curl the gnocchi up. Spread them on a large board until required.

Bring a large, deep pot of salted water to the boil. Drop in the gnocchi a few at a time. Let them cook 2 minutes more or less, until they bob back up to the surface, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon and arrange them in an ovenproof dish, spoon over some blue cheese sauce (see blue cheese sauce) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until bubbling. Serve hot, with a green salad.