Mamie Jacotte was in town. She usually cooks up a storm for us and it was no different this time around.

I leaped at the idea when she mentioned that we could make gnocci with the leftover mash potatoes. We love gnocci and had never made them from scratch. On top of that, Mila was home so what better idea than to spend the afternoon with her Mamie Jacotte learning how to make gnocci.

The kids are lucky to have grandparents with healthy appetites or rather in this case a grandparent who loves to cook. Needless to say, Mamie Jacotte spends a lot of time in the kitchen. She's a wonderful hostess who adores entertaining too and you can usually find her with a glass of bubbles in her hand.

One nice thing is coming home from a long day, stepping off the elevator and being enveloped by the warmth and aroma of her cuisine. The best part is opening the door to the apartment to be greeted by her and to feel so thankful all that warmth and aroma is coming from my own home.

Homemade Gnocci

INGREDIENTS//Serves 5-6

• 650 grams mashed potatoes
• 2 eggs (1 whole egg, 1 egg yellow)
• 1/4 tspn nutmeg
• 200 grams flour

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large mixing bowl with your mash potatoes, stir in the nutmeg and the eggs.

Slowly add some flour, a tablespoon or two at a time to combine with the mash potatoes.

Keep adding the flour and gently knead with your hands until you get a dough-like consistency and until the dough does not glue to your finger or the sides of the bowl. You still want the dough to be slightly sticky but firm enough to hold its shape.

Once you have a ball of dough, you can quarter it, take a piece and roll it into a thin, long log.

On a floured surface, place the log shaped dough in front of you and cut it into 1-1 1/2 inch size pieces.

With the back of the fork, gently press into each piece to create the ridges.

Sprinkle the dough with a litte flour.

In a large pot of boiling water, add a bit of salt.

Add a batch of gnocci in the boiling water for about 2-3 minutes or until they rise to the top and use a slotted spoon to scoop it out. Continue to cook in batchfuls.

Season with some salt and pepper, sprinkle with your favorite cheese and drizzle on some olive oil.

NOTE

I used our left over mashed potatoes in this recipe which was already seasoned with dallops of crème fraîche, olive oil, nutmeg, and salt. It brought out more flavors in the gnocci.