This post is dedicated to my Zia Angela.  Every time I go back to Calabria, (no matter how many years have passed by) my Zia Angela always invites me to come over to her house and eat her handmade GNOCCHI.

This time I decided to ask her for her recipe and document it with photos.  She makes the best gnocchi from scratch and she keeps it real traditional by using a special basket to create lines on the gnocchi.  In Italian the basket is called “cestino” and in our dialect “criviaddru “.  No forks are used to make lines in this recipe!

A little back story on my Aunt.  She was married to my father’s brother, Celestino.  My Uncle Celestino was stabbed and killed in the ’70s leaving my Aunt to fend for herself and raise 4 young girls. Today all 4 of my cousins have grown to become wonderful, generous, beautiful women. Thanks to Facebook we keep in touch on a regular basis.

I look forward to my next visit and of course Zia Angela’s delicious food.  I’m not the best writer therefore I will let the photos below do the talking.  Andiamo al tavolo!

Begin with Boiled Potatoes with egg in bowl

Add a little flour

Moosh it all Together in Bowl

Knead

Knead until its tough

My attempt to knead the dough

Gnocchi Dough

Start to slice gnocchi dough

Roll dough into long skinny snake pieces

Slice roll into little square-like shapes

Gnocchi squares before lines

Place gnocchi squares into basket to make lines on the gnocchi

My turn to flick gnocchi into the lines of basket - Not that easy! My Aunt does it faster and with more precision

I did it! My first handmade gnocchi

Gnocchi ready for boil

The gnocchi is about to boil

Add sauce & some fresh basil

Ready for the hungry tummies