Gnocchi, From Scratch

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wash and dry the potatoes thoroughly. Poke a few holes in their skin with a fork to release the heat while they're cooking (or they may burst in your oven - messy!), rub with some olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about an hour or until fork tender. Remove from the oven and let cool about 4 minutes.
3. While those are cooking, mix together 160g of flour, the nutmeg, and some salt and pepper to taste.
4. Now, grab an oven mitt and cut the little guys in half. Scoop out the hot potato into a bowl and discard skins (or save to stuff as a snack for later. Yum!...Ooooooh, blog post coming on....)....
5. Smash with a fork to eliminate lumps. Be gently though - you want these little guys to be fluffy, not pulverized. Work quickly, you want the potato to stay warm.
6. Add the egg yolk to the potatoes and work through.
7. Once incorporated, add the flour mixture and gently mix in with your hands.
8. Once it starts to hold together and look more like dough, lightly flour your work surface, remove from the bowl, and knead the entire bit for about 3 - 4 minutes.
9. * To knead, use your palms to push down on the mixture, spreading it on the counter, fold over toward you, and turn 1/4 of a turn. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
10. ** You may need to add more flour as you go because it gets sticky (true for the rest of the recipe as well) but try not to add too much or you will end up with heavy gnocchi.
11. Once your kneading is done, break off a big handful of the stuff and roll out like a rope on the floured counter to about 3/4" thick.
12. Slice all the way down the rope into 1 inch pieces.
13. Traditional gnocchi has little grooves in the top. You can do this with a fork but I didn't bother.
14. Place "pillows" on a floured piece of parchment paper, cover with a towel and set aside until ready to cook.
15. When you're ready to cook them, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in 10 to 12 gnocchi at a time and let cook for about 2 minutes. They will pop to the top of the water when they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them in a shallow glass bowl or plate until all the gnocchi are done.
16. At this point, heat a large non-stick skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter. When hot, toss in the gnocchi (gently!) and brown slightly.
17. Serve as you would pasta - I offered them as an accompaniment to the Lamb and drizzled the Bordelaise Sauce over top. It was absolute friggin Heaven!
18. Eat.