Homemade Potato Gnocchi

Making gnocchi seems like it should be hard but I've made it a few times and it just gets easier! It's a perfect side dish with anything saucy (like a hearty italian dish, creamed asparagus, or even a simple cheese sauce). I promise if you try this once, you won't go back to boring baked potatoes!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs large red potatoes, peeled
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2-2 cups all-purpose flour
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp butter

1. Peel the red potatoes and place in a pot of boiling water. Let them cook for 25-30 minutes until tender. Drain and cool. Use a ricer to press the potatoes into a large bowl. (If you don't have a ricer you can use a large fork or potato masher but be sure to get it as finely mashed as possible).

2. After the potatoes are cool, add the egg, 2/3 cup flour, parmesan, salt and pepper. Using a fork, mix everything together into a sticky ball and then transfer to a floured cutting board. Continue to add more flour (1/3 cup at a time) and knead until forms a dough ball and it's no longer sticky. Stop kneading as soon as it comes together.

3. Break off a piece of the dough and roll it out into a snake 1/2" thick. Use a knife to break up the snake into 1" pieces. Transfer the pieces to a floured plate and repeat with the next piece of dough. Continue to make snakes/pieces until the dough is used up.

4. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Also, heat another pan on the stove - melt 1 tbsp of butter over low heat. Add the gnocchi pieces 15-20 at a time to the boiling water, do not overcrowd the pot. Watch them closely - it only takes 90 seconds to 2 minutes for them to pop to the surface. As soon as a few are floating at the top, take them all out and transfer using a slotted spoon to the buttered pan. Repeat this step a few times until the gnocchi are cooked. The butter will help keep them warm and give a little more flavor.
5. If you're serving this with a saucy dish, add the gnocchi to the sauce before serving to allow it to pick up some of those flavors.

Serves: 6(ish) - more or less depending on what you're serving it as a first or second course
WW: 40 pts for the whole pot so 7 pts based on 6 servings

**Variations: You could add some herbs to the dough or try sweet potatoes instead of regular white potatoes. Have fun - be creative!