One of our most favorite restaurant, Vue de Monde, does fantastic gnocchi. Inspired by their delicious rendition, I tried making my own, albeit more traditional, potato gnocchi.

The trick to a good potato gnocchi is to use considerably minimal amount of flour. Too much and the gnocchi will be too dense. Another trick is to use older potatoes. Have the potatoes baked  nicely before it is mashed rather than have them boiled or steamed. What you want to have is a nice dry mixture which you can then easily shape.

Ingredients

• 3 potatoes
• 2 beaten egg yolks
• around 1 – 1.5 cups flour
• a pinch of salt

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 240 Celcius. Spear the potatoes with fork tines in several places around each potato to vent moisture as the potatoes cook. Bake the potatoes in their skins until tender, about an hour. Separate the skin from the meat of the potatoes. 
2. Put the potatoes into a big bowl. Use potato masher to mash the potatoes until well mashed.
3. Add the flour, egg, and a pinch of salt. Mix by hand until you have a nice pliable ball of dough.
4. Prepare a work area and dust with flour. Take the dough, a piece at a time, and roll it gently with your hand until you have rolls about 2cm in diameter. It is very important to keep a light touch while you are rolling the dough.
5. Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about 1cm long.Using your fingertip, press against a piece of the dough and roll it slightly to form an indentation.
6. Once all the dough are done, you can cook the gnocchi.
7. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add a pinch of salt. Gently drop the gnocchi, a few at a time, into the water. As soon they rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon, draining well. Continue cooking the gnocchi in the same manner.
8. As soon as all the gnocchi are ready, pour heated pasta sauce over them. Serve immediately.

There has been much written on the best way to make mashed potatoes. It really depends on your personal taste preferences. I have discovered that the real trick to creamy, buttery, heavenly potatoes is to use milk and butter. We usually served mashed potato with steak.

Ingredients

• 3 potatoes
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 2 tbs butter
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of pepper

Steps

1. Put the potatoes in a large pot. Add a pinch of salt. Add water until potatoes are covered. Bring to boil, covered, for at least 30 minutes until it’s done – a fork can easily be poked through them.
2. Drain water from the potatoes and separate the skin from the meat of the potatoes. At this point, it should be easy to do so.
3. Put the potatoes back into the pot and set the stove to low heat. Use potato masher to mash the potatoes until well mashed.
4. Add milk, butter, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve as side dish.