CSA Veggies: Potato Gnocchi

Doing a winter CSA, you're basically guaranteed several pounds of potatoes each week, and perhaps a few other vegetables. To be completely honest, I don't remember the last time I bought potatoes before we signed up for this CSA, so the abundance has been a challenge to use up!

so many potatoes.

I should also mention that I had Yukon Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, and Red Japanese Sweet Potatoes (what?!)

After making mashed potatoes (coming soon) and several soups, I tried to think of any other meals that were primarily made of potato. Finally it hit me - gnocchi.

My first thought was how unhealthy they were. My second thought was how terribly long they would take to make! Not to mention I was hungry RIGHT THEN, and didn't want to wait hours to eat. Once i checked out a few recipes, I combined them to make my own. I ate a handful of almonds to tide me over, and got to work.

Homemade Potato Gnocchi
45-60 min prep time, 5 min cook time
Will make 10-12 servings of gnocchi

4-5 Medium sized potatoes. or 10-12 small ones (if using the baby gold ones) - we used the Japanese Red Sweet Potatoes (they were delicious for this)
1 cup flour; additional for dusting surfaces
2 beaten eggs
salt
optional: 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 - Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Put into a large sauce pan and boil until soft. Potatoes should easily be poked by a fork. About 20 minutes.
2 - Drain potatoes and return to pan. Use potato masher (or ricer if you have one!) until very smooth.
3 - Add flour, eggs, and pinch of salt. Use hands to mix everything until you have a big bowl of very sticky dough. Add parmesan if desired (after initially mixed). Do not use electric mixer.
4 - Put another pot of salted water on so it will be ready for you in a few minutes (if cooking now - if not, skip this step)
5 - Cover flat surface with flour, and begin to make long, skinny tubes of dough. These should be about the size of a nickel around.
6 - Cut the tubes into 1" chunks and set aside until all dough is finished.

If freezing, place on a flour covered cookie sheet or wax paper, and place in freezer overnight. Transfer to freezer bags after 12 hours.

If cooking, place the desired amount of gnocchi in the boiling water. Once the gnocchi float to the top, allow to boil 1-2 more minutes, the remove from heat.

all ready to be frozen

We ate ours with vodka sauce and really enjoyed it. I will say, they are UGLY. I didn't take any photos of them in sauce because they just looked awful (seriously, see above). I will have to work on making mine look like something edible, but they really were tasty.

I'm also really into the idea of these, because it was super short on ingredients, didn't take that long, and made us extra meals for a while! Now we can have 'home made dinner' in 5 minutes on a busy weekday night. YES!

I'd like to experiment with these, see if I can come up with a wheat-free option, perhaps a vegan one as well.

Have you ever made gnocchi before? Any other tips for making them look nicer?