Potato Gnocchi

Wash potatoes if necessary. Place on a baking tray and bake in a 180-degree oven until you can pierce them with a small knife. This will take about an hour, but the time will vary depending on the size of the potato and any hot spots in the oven. Rotate as required until all the potatoes are tender.

Put the hot potatoes through a ricer or peel and mash. Start adding flour and bring the potato and flour together in a dough. Incorporate more flour as required to prevent the dough from being sticky. The idea is to use as little flour as possible and not overwork the dough, but you do not want it to be sticky or the gnocchi to fall apart when cooking.

Once together, you can wrap the gnocchi in cling film and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or continue making them.

Divide the dough into four and roll into 1 cm round logs. You can divide the dough further to make the rolling into logs more manageable. Once rolled, use a knife to cut at 1 cm lengths to form the gnocchi. You can leave these as is or roll them gently down the back of a fork, butter paddle, or gnocchi board to create ridges. Place the completed gnocchi on a lightly floured baking sheet until ready to cook.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Once boiling, add about twenty gnocchi. Leave for a minute, and if the gnocchi do not start to rise to the surface, stir gently with a spoon to prevent them from sticking to the bottom. Once the gnocchi floats to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in a colander. Once all the gnocchi are cooked, add them to the hot sauce and serve.