Method

• You can either prick your washed potatoes all over and microwave until tender or you can place the whole unpeeled potatoes into a suitable size pot and cover generously with water and cook until tender (about 30-40 minutes)
• In a small bowl mix together the parmesan, nutmeg, pepper and egg yolks, set aside
• Meanwhile place a large frypan onto heat, add the butter and bacon and allow to sizzle and lightly colour
• Add the leeks, garlic and thyme and cook gently for 5 minutes or until the leeks are tender and the bacon is golden
• Set aside
• Place a large pot of water on to the boil and season generously with salt
• When the potatoes are cooked carefully remove their skins and place into a bowl
• To get the best results push them through a ricer or mouli -if you don’t have either push them through a sieve
• Place the potato directly onto your work surface and sprinkle over half teaspoon salt and lightly mix
• Add the egg and cheese mixture and mix through
• At this stage your mixture will be quite sticky so don’t worry
• Sprinkle over ½ cup flour and knead through, check the mixture by rolling a little ball in your hands
• If the mixture is still very sticky add ¼ to ½ cup of flour and knead once again until you get a smooth, moist dough that can easily be handled
• Divide the dough into four and begin with one part
• Roll this out into a thick rope shape length about 3cm in diameter
• Now cut this into 2-3 cm lengths all the way to the end
• Sprinkle a little flour on the bench and, holding a fork with the prongs resting on the surface and the base turned upwards, roll each gnocchi down the fork
• This gives the gnocchi little indents that will allow the sauce to stick
• When you have finished one batch carefully place into your pot of boiling water and wait for them to rise to the surface, this only takes a few minutes
• Scoop out with a sieve or something similar and drain well
• At this stage they can be added directly to your pan with the leeks and bacon
• Continue with the remaining dough until finished
• Toss through the leeks and bacon, season with salt and pepper and plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Serve immediately
• Note – if you find you have too much gnocchi, cook it in the boiling water and drain well, toss lightly through olive oil and cool
• This can simply be reheated by plunging it into boiling water once again and it freezes well