Labor intensive but highly rewarding. Perhaps not on the first try, but by your second or third, you will be making the best gnocchi you have ever eaten. (On the first try, you should probably use too much flour to make them a little firmer, but as you get used to the odd dough you will eventually make them lighter.) These make a great first course or side dish, served with Fast, Fresh Tomato Sauce (page 606) or simply melted butter and freshly grated Parmesan. And be sure to take a look at Potato Dumplings (recipe follows).

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　1 pound baking potatoes

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　About 1 cup flour

　　

Step 1

Put the potatoes in a pot with water to cover and add salt; adjust the heat so the water simmers and cook until the potatoes are quite tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and peel (use a pot holder or towel to hold the potatoes and peel with a small knife; it will be easy). Rinse the pot and once again fill it with salted water and bring to a boil.

　　

Step 2

Use a fork, potato masher, or ricer to mash or rice the potatoes in a bowl, along with some salt and pepper. Add about 1/2 cup of the flour and stir; add more flour until the mixture forms a dough you can handle. Knead for a minute or so on a lightly floured surface. Pinch off a piece of the dough and boil it to make sure it will hold its shape; if it does not, knead in a bit more flour.

　　

Step 3

Roll a piece of the dough into a rope about 1/2 inch thick, then cut the rope into 1-inch lengths; traditionally, you would spin each of these pieces off the tines of a fork to score it lightly. As each gnoccho is ready, place it on a sheet of wax paper; do not allow them to touch.

　　

Step 4

A few at a time, add the gnocchi to the boiling water and stir. A minute after they rise to the surface, the gnocchi are done; remove with a slotted spoon. Put in a bowl and add sauce or reheat in butter within a few minutes; these do not keep well at all.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.