Left-over potatoes? Gnocchi!

Oh joy of joys, I actually made enough mashed potatoes the other night (with lots of fresh milk, butter and salt) to have left-overs (not easy when you've a house with 4 boys with ever-developing hollow legs).

Thus yesterday evening a my 5 litre mixing bowl not quite half full of potatoes was enhanced with 3 fresh eggs and a few cups of flour. Oh dear, you'd like exact proportions? Well, let's say my hands did the talking? I mushed and mashed with my fingers, adding flour a cup at a time till I got to a nice soft play dough texture. Think extremely fresh, super soft.

I then poured some flour on my work surface, took out a handful of gnocchi dough and rolled it with the palms of my hands to make a boudin, aka a rope of dough about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I got out a knife and cut my way down the rope, at half inch intervals. I placed these gnocchi on a baking sheet (in anticipation of a nice bath of salted boiling water) and continued the process till all my dough was rolled, cut and prepped.

I was making a lot, two large bowls' full if you will, as we were seven at the table, five being hungry boys, and one being myself, an incorrigible gourmande.

Once the water was at a roaring boil, in went my gnocchi -- in batches which didn't crowd the water too much. I covered the pot for a moment, checked two minutes later. Saw they were floating on the surface and ladled them out into my serving dish. A drizzle of olive oil on top, and on to the next batch.

I put cream, cheese, nutmeg, salt, tomato sauce and such on the table. The kids served themselves as they pleased and we all went to bed with nice round tummies.

Tonight, I'll reheat the left-overs in a frying pan with olive oil. Once they've browned a tad, I'll add a touch of cream and some tomato sauce, perhaps some fried bacon, and an option of fresh goat cheese???

The sky's the limit.