Frogs! Fun! And four letter words

Son #2. the 3 year old, discovers a taste for raw flour

My 5yo has always had a strong interest in swearing. He used to request bollocksnese frequently and I never knew if it was an innocent mispronounciation or something more sinister. Now, after a year spent at school, his knowledge of expletives has increased. Well, I blame school, but if I'm honest I have to accept that my own language is less than pure and some of the more colourful words he may have learnt from me. Now he wanders around saying "the f-word" and when I remonstrate, he explains the f-word is actually frog. Or he spells it out: "F - U - N!".
He is taunting me, of course. He is well aware of what the f-word actually is (I found it mispellt in pink glitter pen on Friday, he had assumed a 'kicking K' was enough and left out the C) and he uses it as well, just so I'm on tenterhooks when we go out as to whether he will shout out "Frog!" or "F**k!"
This meant a family blogger event on Saturday was fraught with possibilities. Not only that, but it was an Italian cookery course and after the penchant for bolognese I wondered what other challenges the Italian language would throw up.
Luckily he behaved. In fact he loved it. He made gnocci alongside a team of other kids, under the watchful tutelage of Italian chef, Francesco Mazzei. It was part of a Slow Food event, where the importance of cooking with your children and introducing them to different flavours was discussed. It was sponsored by Grana Padano cheese, something I buy a lot of, as it's a bit cheaper than parmesan but just as nice. I now know it is basically the same thing, but from a different region.
I made gnocci in the summer and swore (probably venomously and in front of the children) I never would again. The hard graft of working in flour to potato took a long time and the resulting glutinous mush wasn't worth the effort. The stuff we had on Saturday, on the other hand, was a revelation. Light, fluffy and seemingly easy to put together (the kids did it, not me, but they're not known for their focus or ability to graft), I'm going to try it at home.

Pumpkin and sage gnocci

Serves: 4

Start to finish: hmm, if you've already got the mash, I reckon 20 minutes.
100g potatoes (use 2 large potatoes)

100g pumpkin

100g Grana Padano 21 Months

100g 00 flour

Pinch of nutmeg

1egg yolk

50g butter

1 teaspoon shallots

4 sage leaves

Cook the potatoes and pumpkin in boiling water for 20-25 minutes, or until soft, then drain.

Mash well and place in a large bowl.

Make a well in the centre and add the egg, salt and freshly ground nutmeg, ¾ of the grated Grana Padano and flour.

Mix by hand to form dough, and then knead for a few minutes.

Cut the dough into smaller pieces.

 Roll each piece into a cylinder and cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces.

Cook the gnocchi in boiling salted water.

When they rise to the top, remove from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and refresh in iced water. Drain, drizzle with olive oil and keep warm.

 In the meantime fry the sage leaves in a pan with very hot oil.

Serve with extra Grana Padano and crispy fried sage leaf.