This is a cool neat trick to get those distinct ridges on gnocchi. It’s customary to give each little morsel their ridges by using a butter paddle or the tines of a fork. But you can achieve the same thing using a whisk. Line up the gnocchi pieces on a work surface, and then roll the whisk over them to create deep, even ridges.

And if you are making the sauce for those gnocchi’s or a yummy stew …

You are going to use a spoon to stir the pot. While you can place it in a spoon holder the juices of the sauce will be left behind – not a good thing. This is what I do. I take a slice of bread and use as my spoon holder. It catches bits of food and soaks up the juices, becoming a savory treat for the family dog (or the cook) in the process.

And if we are talking about sauces and strews…

Most start with browning the meat, which then must be removed from the pan so the other ingredients can be cooked. What do you normally do? Use a bowl, which means another dirty dish (and we know how much I hate dirty dishes!), so instead of that, invert the lid of the pan in which you are cooking over another bowl or pot (so that it won’t tip). The lid, which you need to wash anyway, now serves as the holder for the sauté food.