potato gnocchi with mushroom leek cream sauce

fresh pasta is not all that difficult to make and once gotten the hang of sure to impress. i had some boiled potatoes left over from my pot pie the other night and decided to make gnocchi. they came out very well, perfect little pillow-like dumplings. i understand that authentic potato gnocchi contain no egg, but it sure makes them much easier to work with. maybe next time i'll be brave. i used for the gnocchi:

• 2 medium russet potatoes, boiled whole and peeled
• 1 chicken egg
• ~1 cup all purpose flour, plus or minus to feel

put the potatoes through a ricer or food mill to break them up without making them gummy. beat the egg and fold in. now add flour little by little and fold to incorporate. the way to handle this dough is more akin to biscuit or pie dough than fresh pasta, that is as little kneading as possible to bring all the ingredients together. the dough should be still fairly wet, tacky not sticky. i had about 1/4 cup of flour left over which i used for the rolling out. let rest 20 min. cut off a palm sized piece of the dough and roll with flat hands into dowels 3/4" thick. cut into 1/2" pieces and roll each one off the back of a fork, pressing down with a finger to create a concave on one side and ridges on the other.
boil in lots of salted water for ~3-4 minutes when floating vigorously or freeze for later use. sauce with whatever you'd put on pasta. i just sauteed leeks and button mushrooms in oil until browning then deglazed with port and added cream. garnish with plenty of cheese and parley.