I have been socially distancing and in quarantine now for around 25 days, and in that time I have cooked about 25 times. When everything around me seems ever-changing and uncertain, I find immense comfort in food. Trying new recipes provides challenges that relax me and give my life structure. And I have found community in reading blogs, searching the Internet, and sharing in baking successes.
However, despite all of the good that cooking has done for me in the last couple of weeks, I have also been met with challenges I have never faced before: primarily, a lack of access to ingredients. Attempting to avoid grocery stores as much as possible during social distancing, I often found enticing recipes but was unable to execute them because I did not have enough eggs, potatoes, flour, chocolate or more in my home.
So, with a love of food and quarantine struggles in mind, I have decided to start a new “Cooking in Quarantine” food blog. Every week, I will be embarking on a new recipe that brings me comfort but utilizes basic ingredients that I have in my house.
This week, it was gnocchi. These delicious Italian potato pockets are simple in ingredients but take hours and can be a bit tedious-perfect for quarantine! Below you will find ingredients, instructions and a video of me making the gnocchi. But, keep in mind that you can always adjust the recipe to fit what you have in your home. Have more potatoes and flour? Make more gnocchi! Don’t have three or four potatoes? Use less and adjust the other ingredients! Don’t have kosher salt? That’s ok, I didn’t either – use a different type of salt!
Good luck in your recipe adventures, stay safe, and cook on!
Video Link: 

Ingredients:
2 lbs Russet Potatoes (I used 3)
1 ¼ cups Flour (plus more for kneading and dusting)
2 tsp Kosher salt
1 egg beaten
Time to cook!

1. Rinse and scrub potatoes
2. Boil large pot of water and place potatoes in
3. Boil on medium/high heat for 35-45 minutes
   1. Be sure to check the potatoes throughout because this time might differ based on the size of your potatoes
4. When you can puncture the potatoes with the tip of a knife, take out and put on a cutting board. Let cool slightly so you are able to touch them, but do not cool fully!
   1. Allowing them to cool too much before grating makes the potatoes rubbery in texture-not what we want in final gnocchi!
5. When you are able to touch the potatoes, peel them with your hands or a paring knife
   Grate the potatoes with a small cheese grater.
   1. You can also use a potato ricer, but I did not have one and found a cheese grater works just as well
6. Lay the grated potatoes on your cutting board to cool to the point that you could poor the egg on without it scrambling
7. Once the potatoes are cool, scatter flour and salt on top, make a well for the egg and poor the beaten egg in
8. Mix carefully with hands or a wooden spoon
9. When all the ingredients are fully incorporated, knead on a floured surface for two minutes.
   1. Be careful not to overwork here! The dough should be smooth but not elastic
10. Divide dough into eight equal pieces
11. Roll each piece into a long snake like log and cut into small ½-1 in. pieces
12. Roll each piece down the back side of a fork to add patterns. Alternatively, you can push a finger into each small piece.
    1. Doing this both looks nice and allows your sauce to stick better when cooked.
13. Toss each piece into a bit of flour to reduce sticking
14. When all pieces are rolled, place a few at a time into boiling water. They are done when they have floated to the top of the water.
15. At this point they are good to eat! Or, you can crisp them up a bit and toss with sauce. You will see that I do this in the video below. If you want to do this, when the gnocchi have floated to the top just transfer with a slotted spoon into a pan with hot olive oil and garlic.
16. At the end toss with vodka sauce, season to taste and add Parmesan
17. Enjoy!