Serves: 6
Total Calories: 223

2 pounds (about 8) medium russet potatoes (not idaho or new potatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
2-2 1/2 cups flour

Boil the potatoes, unpeeled, in a large pot of salted water. (Do not test them too often while cooking by puncturing them with a fork or they will become waterlogged) Cook until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Drain. Peel as soon as you can handle them. While potatoes are still hot, mash through a ricer or food mill. Add salt and most of the flour to the mashed potatoes (some potatoes take more flour than others so do not add the flour all at once) and knead into a smooth mixture. When the dough is light to the touch and no longer moist or sticky it is ready to be rolled. Do not over work the dough or gnocchi will be heavy.
The next step is harder to explain than it is to do. It will be easier if you can remember to dust repeatedly with flour the gnocchi, your hands, and the surface you are working on.
Divide the dough into 4 parts. On a lightly floured board form each part into a roll (like a snake about as thick as your thumb) about 3/4 inch in diameter. Cut the rolls crosswise into pieces about 3/4 inches long. Hold an ordinary table fork with its tines resting on a work surface at a 45 degree angle and the inside curve toward you. Take a dumpling roll and press it with your index finger against the outside curve of the fork at the tip end. Quickly slide dumpling up and along the length of the tines, pressing with index finger. Remove finger and let dumpling fall back onto work surface. Grooves made by fork and finger indentation will absorb any sauce served with dumplings. Repeat with remaining dumplings. This is not just a capricious decorative exercise. It serves to thin out the middle section of the dumpling so that it will cook more evenly.
Drop the gnocchi, about 2 dozen at a time, into 5 quarts or more of boiling salted water. In a very short time they will float to the surface, let them cook just 8 to 10 seconds more, then lift them out with a slotted spoon and transfer to a platter. Serve hot with butter and Parmesan cheese or with your favorite sauce. Gnocchi can be served with almost any sauce.

Nutritional Facts:

Serves: 6
Total Calories: 223
Calories from Fat: 0

More Recipes from the Cook'n Italian Cookbook:
Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic and Tomato Sauce
Angel Hair Patties
Baked Pasta with Eggplant
Basic Polenta
Capellini with Cilantro Pesto
Cheese Stuffed Manicotti
Fettucine Alfredo
Fried Mozzarella
Fried Polenta
Linguine with Pesto Sauce
Mostaccoli
Olio e Aglio
Pasta Primavera
Pasta with Almonds & Cream
Polenta with Butter and Cheese
Polenta with Mushrooms
Potato Gnocchi
Risi E Bisi
Sage Potatoes
Spaghetti alla Carrettiera
Spaghetti with Bacon and Onion
Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil
Spinach Manicotti
Tagliatelle with Ham