Community recipe: Gnocchi in summer tomato sauce
Sarah shares one her favourite go-to summer meals, a deliciously hearty gnocchi.
By Sarah Glover, Mentemia contributing writer
I’m not one for following recipes exactly, although I love to cook. Ingredients can be substituted, methods are a guide rather than rules. Measuring ingredients is not something I like doing – and I don’t own kitchen scales.
So, my favourite recipes aren’t recipes, but negotiable ingredient lists with a very basic method.
For some, that’s a kitchen nightmare.
However, if you like a little flexibility in your cooking, this one’s for you.
It’s perfect in summer when there is an abundance of delicious, ripe tomatoes around.
Tomatoes do well in our garden, and by February they taste like sunshine. So, I started making a very simple sauce to use them up and highlight the delicious summer flavour.
Gnocchi in summer tomato sauce
For the gnocchi:
1 cup of mashed potato or kumara (or sweet potato), cooled
2 cups of flour
1 egg
Mix these together until they form a softish dough.
Take a handful at a time and roll it out into a long snake about two centimetres in diameter.
Run a fork down each side of the snake, squashing it slightly flat and adding ridges to soak up sauce.
Then, cut your gnocchi snake into inch-long pieces. The size of your gnocchi can vary according to preference!
Dust them with flour and store them in the fridge with baking paper between each layer (to prevent sticking) until it’s time to cook.
Then, put them in boiling water with some oil and salt, wait until they float to the top, fish them out with a slotted spoon and add to the sauce.
For the sauce:
Big bowl of ripe tomatoes, or 2 tins of crushed tomatoes
Salt
Oregano/other Italian herbs
Chopped onion and garlic
Mushrooms/capsicum/any other vegetables you like, chopped
Some meat if you want it – sliced sausages are an easy option.
Saute the onions and garlic with some oil in a large, deep frypan.
First, add any meat you are including, then any vegetables.
Once these are mostly cooked through (they will continue to cook a little in the sauce), add the tins of tomatoes or your pile of fresh tomatoes chopped into small pieces.
Season it with salt and oregano or your chosen herbs as it cooks together into a simple but delicious tomato pasta sauce. If you have basil, some torn leaves are a fantastic addition.
Try to cook the gnocchi and sauce simultaneously, so you can add the cooked gnocchi straight into the cooked sauce.
Let them simmer together for a bit longer, and serve with grated parmesan or your preferred cheese on top.