One of our favourite kitchen gadgets is a potato ricer (see illustration below). This isn’t essential to this recipe, but if you love mash you’ll want one of these. They give perfect smooth mash, which with a little butter and salt and pepper is heaven. If we are feeling decadent, then it’s double cream and a small amount of grated cheddar cheese. Anyway, the gnocchi. It can be served in two ways. Either cooked in boiling water, or if you fancy a change, boiled and then fried in oil or butter to create fantastic crispy potato bites. Serve with your favourite pasta sauce and some greens. This recipe makes quite a bit, but if there’s just two of you eating, freeze half of it, in separate pieces, on a plate so it doesn’t stick together, then get it out a few days later and cook straight from frozen. It goes very well indeed with Quick Sauce for Pasta or Gnocchi

1 kg large waxy potatoes

175g plain flour + extra for shaping

salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

100g ricotta cheese

Fresh herbs e.g. good handful of lemon thyme, curly parsley, tarragon, or winter savoury.

• Boil the potatoes until cooked. Dry them out as much as possible. (5 minutes in a low oven on a baking tray works well) Using a potato ricer or masher, mash until smooth. Mix the potato with the flour, salt and pepper, egg, ricotta cheese and herbs. The mixture should be like soft dough

• Shape the potato mixture into long cigar shapes about 1.5 cm thick

• Cut into 3 cm lengths

• Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the gnocchi pieces in batches. Cook until they float to the surface of the water, and scoop out with a slotted spoon

• They can either be served like this or be drained on kitchen paper and then fried in oil and/or butter until golden brown. We usually serve some boiled, and some boiled and fried