Gnocchi

"Here's the cushion. I'm putting it on the sofa. Now, watch me! I'm sitting down, and what do I do on my final approach? I... oop! Move the cushion! You see? It's not involved! It's not part of the whole sitting process! It just lies there! It's fat litter! It's a sofa parasite!" -- Steven Moffat, from Coupling

It's been cold and dreary in New York City these past few weeks. The skies are grey, the wind is howly, the streets are covered with dirty ice from last month's snowstorm. It's the sort of weather that encourages you to do nothing except wrap yourself in a Snuggie and curl up on the couch with a stack of DVDs. Every good hibernation requires a good meal, though -- and in my estimation, there's nothing more filling or satisfying on a cold winter's day than a big steaming bowl of potato gnocchi drenched in delicious sauce. Supermarket gnocchi are too heavy for my stomach to appreciate, so I use a few simple ingredients and a little intuitive technique to make them from scratch. The trick to making light, pillowy gnocchi is twofold: remove as much water from the potatoes as possible, then use only enough flour to hold them together.

Here's my recipe for homemade potato gnocchi, followed by a recipe for the easy bolognese sauce I made to accompany them last weekend. If you don't have time to make fresh tomato sauce, use Mario Batali's brown butter and sage sauce on the gnocchi instead -- it's super-quick and insanely delicious.

Gnocchi di Patate

(NYO-kee dee pa-TAHD)

1 lb (2 large or 3 medium) russet potatoes

1/4 cup coarse salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup flour, plus a little more for dusting and rolling

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub your potatoes, then repeatedly jab at each potato with a fork so the skin is covered in holes. Spread the salt in a thick layer on the bottom of a baking pan, place the potatoes on top of the salt, and bake for once hour, turning occasionally. Your goal here is to remove as much moisture from the potatoes as possible -- the holes aid in evaporation and the salt acts as an absorbant.

When the potatoes are just cool enough to handle, slice them in half and run the halves through a potato ricer. (The ricer will press the flesh clean off the skin -- no peeling necessary! If you don't have a potato ricer, you can use a lot of upper-body strength to press the potatoes through a mesh strainer or sieve.) Dump the salt off your baking sheet, spread the riced potatoes on it, and let them stand for 20 minutes so they can cool (and so more moisture can evaporate).

Sprinkle the parmesan cheese, half the beaten egg, and half the flour over the potatoes. Flour your hands and gently mix the ingredients, adding more flour until the dough is workable, pillowy, and not sticky.

Divide the dough in half. Flour a work surface -- I use the baking sheet again for this -- and roll out each half into a long log 1" in diameter. Cut each log into 1" segments, then sprinkle flour over each segment and gently roll it across the tines of a fork to make ridges. Arrange finished gnocchi on a plate and refrigerate until your sauce is cooked.

No-Time Bolognese

1/2 white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup wine -- I used white, though any wine works

1 12-oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 lb -- a good-sized hamburger's worth -- of chop meat

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil or 4 large shredded basil leaves

Pinch of salt and pepper

Brown chop meat in a large skillet, then add garlic and onion and cook, stirring often, until onion is transparent. Add wine, tomatoes, and spices, cover, and cook on medium-low heat for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop gnocchi into the water a few at a time -- they'll sink to the bottom, then bob near the surface, then float to the surface and stay there. Scoop them out of the water with a slotted spoon when they float to the surface and stay there for at least ten seconds. Toss the cooked gnocchi into the sauce as you make them.

When all of your gnocchi are cooked and transferred to the sauce, give it a good stir and cook it on low heat for another ten minutes. Serves four as a first course -- double the recipe if you're making a meal out of it.