• 2 cups potatoes, riced
• 1 head garlic, roasted
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper

Roast garlic head for an hour. Cool.

Bake potatoes. Cool for 20 minutes. Rice potatoes and garlic together onto a sheet pan and cool to room temperature.

Mix potatoes/garlic, flour, cheese, and egg, along with salt and pepper, to taste. Only work until everything comes together. Don’t over mix – they’ll get tough.

Cover the dough and let relax for about 30 minutes. Longer is okay, but not all day okay.

Cut off a piece of dough and roll into a rope. Cut into 1″ or so pieces and roll off the times of a fork – or, better yet, a gnocchi board – to form.

Cook in batches in boiling – but not heavily boiling – salted water for just a minute or two. There are a lot of variables, so test one after a minute and a half.

Top with your favorite sauce.

Pesto alla Genovese

• 6 cups loosely packed basil leaves
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, preferably Italian
• 1/3 small garlic clove
• 1/2 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
• 2/3 cup pecorino romano cheese

Place blender jar in freezer to chill. Soak basil in a large bowl of cold water; let stand 5 minutes. Lift leaves from water. Repeat two more times using a rinsed bowl and fresh water each time. Rinse bowl again and fill with cold water. Soak the cleaned leaves in the water, 15 minutes or quickly blanch and immediately plunge into ice water.

Combine nuts and garlic in chilled blender jar and add the olive oil. Purée until nuts are very finely chopped and mixture is creamy. Add salt.

Lift a handful of basil from water, shaking off excess water from leaves and add to blender. In four additions, Use 3 or 4 short pulses and purée just to combine (do not overblend). Add cheese, then, using 2 or 3 very short pulses, purée just to combine.

Place in bowl and cover with a thin film of oil.