Gnocchi ai funghi (Potato Gnocchi with Mushroom Cream Sauce) Recipe

The Romans out there will know that Thursdays in Rome (and perhaps in the rest of Italy) is gnocchi day. After ten years in Rome, I've gotten into the habit and in our house we still often eat gnocchi on Thursdays. In the Fall and Winter, I particularly like gnocchi dresses with the mushroom cream sauce that I enjoyed so much during my days in Vienna. There the sauce is usually made with a kind of wild mushroom called Erswamerel (which I think is a kind of morel) and eaten with Knödeln, a bread dumpling known to Italians as canederli. (I actually had the best Knödln /canederli in my life in Alto Adige, not in Vienna, but that's a story for another day.) This sauce is wonderfully versatile. It is also wonderful with fresh egg pasta and, if you've been following this blog, you will have even seen it paired with boiled ox tongue.