The first step in the preparation of the gnocchi is the cooking of the potato. There are also many variations on this theme, just like the egg. You can boil, bake or steam the potato, with or without the skin on.
I chose to bake mine, since I had other stuff to do. So I stuck these in the oven on 375 and left them there until I could stab them with a fork without too much effort. I beleive the proper cooking term for this is "soft fork stabby". Oh wait, no, it's fork tender. There ya go. This took about 45 minutes.
According to some old italian grandmothers (or nonna's, as they prefer to be called (apparently)) it is best to bake the potato, because that keeps the moisture level low. Less moisture means less flour is needed later. Less flour means less doughy, and less doughy means more light and airy.
