Stealth Gnocchi of Betrayal

 Curse you, Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings.

I know you've been a joy since I snagged you (thank you again, Paula, I'm so glad you were offloading cookbooks). But you have BETRAYED ME this week. 

I thought I was following the week's formula. Veg (frozen spinach), carbs (potatoes), dairy (cream, since I've got some left from the tomato gratin, and, well, an egg yolk and some parmesan). No herbs, we're going even simpler.

And then it turned out I've accidentally scheduled myself to make gnocchi. "Little potato dumplings with spinach" says the book, but nope. Actual gnocchi, that you have to cook *two ways*. I'd have scheduled them on a day when I don't start making dinner at 8.15 if I'd known. 

And yet. They were happy making things.

First, take your cooked potatoes [okay, I had sorted these beforehand. Wfh = time to bung some potatoes on to boil before a meeting, at least, so they had cooled well before needed]. Mash them. Or rice them like a fancy person, but my 1.5 kitchen cupboards of equipment do not include space for a ricer. Mix with egg yolk, flour, salt [300g potatoes, 1 yolk, 3 tbpsps of flour in my case, the latter meant to be about 75g, who even knows; this is for 2 servings ish]. Mix and squish into a soft dough.

Roll the mix into sausages on a floured board/plate/whatever, allegedly 1cm diameter but probably more like 2. Then cut the lengths into chunks, which suddenly went imperial in my approximating head, and were about an inch long. Gawbless 1980s primary schools, leading to terminal confusion in measurements. They look unpromising.

Hurl them (carefully) into salted boiling water until they float, 2-3 mins. Drain well. 

Then, they need frying. I mean, what? But yes. Unpromising beige lumps, given a good frizzle, suddenly become golden and joyful. If substantially less basic and healthy, given it's butter frying in the recipe - thank you, Germany. Your recipe books may be a snare but your fat choices are immense.

Sauce with frozen spinach warmed in some leftover cream and any parmesan you've got to hand, plus pepper and nutmeg. Consider it upholstery against the winter to come.