serves 6
The other night I took delivery of two huge, fragrant garbage bags full of basil thanks to Julia of Mariquita Farms. I gave half of it away at my book signing, the other half we plucked and pureed into a grassy, green pesto. Earlier this year a friend came to visit from Genoa Italy, her mom taught us her homemade gnocchi recipe. I posted about the pesto we made to go with it earlier in the year, and as promised this post is the gnocchi how-to followup. The basil delivery was exactly the inspiration I was waiting for....

Gnocchi recipes aren't for the faint of heart. Many, many things can go awry. I'm not trying to scare you off or dissuade you, I just want you to know what you are in for. Gnocchi-making takes practice, patience, and persistance. At their best potato gnocchi can be light and delicate. At their worst, dense, rubbery, and/or soggy. The very worst are the gnocchi that come apart in the boiling water before they even reach your plate.

The platter of petite, potato pillows coated with glistening flecks of basil pesto that Francesca's mother made was beautiful. The gnocchi recipe she taught us had just three ingredients - boiled, starchy russet potatoes combined with a minimal amount of flour (too much flour and your gnocchi are going to be heavy), and a bit of salt - no eggs. I've tweaked her version to be a little more user-friendly here, because to be honest, eggless gnocchi are very tricky to get the hang of, very delicate to handle. I speak from experience at this point. I'm afraid if I post the eggless version here, there will be a number of you who will try it, get frustrated, and curse me.

So in the version below, I incorporate just enough egg to act as a bit of a binder. We still aren't using an excessive amount of flour, and the resulting gnocchi are deliciously light. They can also stand up to a toss with your favorite sauce.

If you are committed to trying the eggless version, try this version first. the next time around use half the egg, and the time after that go for no egg. By that time, you should have all the other steps figured out and you'll have a better vantage point and level of experience from which to work You'll also have a better sense of how to handle and work with the dough.