Warm Potatoes, Gentle Hands

Gnocchi asks for restraint. The temptation is to add more flour, knead harder and force the dough to behave. Nonna’s wisdom runs the other direction.

Start with dry, starchy potatoes. Rice them while warm, add only enough flour to form a workable dough and handle it as little as possible.

“Warm potatoes, gentle hands—that’s the secret.”

Boil a test piece before shaping the entire batch. If it holds and floats, continue. That one-minute test can save the texture of the whole meal.