2 1/2 cups sieved potatoes
1 1/2 cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese



For the sauce:

Parmesan cheese, butter, cream and flour.

Boil the potatoes, sieve them, and then measure the required amount needed. Let the sieved potatoes cool before adding the other ingredients.

Prepare the flour. Add all the ingredients to the flour, including the beaten egg yolks. Mix well. If the resulting dough is too soft, add more flour.

With a rolling pin roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut the dough in long strips (about 3/4 inch wide, and 12 inch long each).

Cut the resulting strips of dough diagonally, making smaller strips of about 1 inch long, 3/4 inch wide.

Make dents on the gnocchi with a fork or use a store-bought wooden gnocchi board .

Alternatively, if one prefers a rounded-shape gnocchi one can divide the dough into portions and turn them into logs and then cut strips etc.

Meanwhile boil water in a large pot. Add the gnocchi in batches to the boiling water and let them cook until they rise to the surface (Can wait a bit longer to make sure they are cooked).

Toss the gnocchi in a favorite pasta sauce.

Gnocchi are made throughout Italy. Generally in the South they are tossed with red sauce and in the North, with white sauce. Well, at least, such was the case prior to World War II. Recipes for potato gnocchi don't vary all that much -- the amount of flour, eggs and potatoes might be a little different but not that much. My late aunt's gnocchi were quite wonderful, unfortunately I did not watch her do them, so now I have to study various cookbooks and find a recipe I can actually do. Potato gnocchi are not that easy to make; they can easily break up when they are boiled. Thankfully when they do work, they're much better than the ones that are sold in grocery stores. Photo: Mary Melfi

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