Gnocchi with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Gnocchi is an odd creature. It never feels like a pasta to me, but it also isn't exactly not-a-pasta either (my double negatives, let me show you them!). If you go online looking for gnocchi recipes, you find a dozen conflicting reports of the One True Gnocchi Way. All of these One True Ways come with dire little warnings about what will happen if you deviate even one step from their secret and sacred teachings. All of which is very confusing to the gnocchi beginner.

So when I decided to make gnocchi, I went at it with a great deal of enthusiasm and not much idea of what I was doing. But hey, people have been successfully making gnocchi for centuries, I figured. It couldn't be that hard. So I cobbled together bits and pieces of half a dozen recipes, and added some twists of my own. Surprise! The result was a whole herd of soft, pillowy little pasta-bits that floated in their boiling water like ducklings. I was terribly pleased with myself. There wasn't a dense or rubbery gnocchi among them.

To top these little pieces of pasta heaven, I had settled on a creamy tomato sauce. A lot of gnocchi gets served with butter sauce (and I bet a light lemon-butter-white wine-parsley sauce would be great here), but I wanted something more substantial. It was winter, and lemon butter seemed awfully summery for such a grey day. So tomatoes it was (I know, they're summery too, but I've always associated jarred tomatoes more with winter than summer). This sauce was just the right thing. I topped the whole deal with a combination of bacon bits and almonds, which turned out to be inspired. Their crunch gave variety to the soft pasta, and the nutty flavour really brought out an earthiness to the potatoes in the gnocchi that I loved. I sort of treasure this recipe now. So here it is, in all it's One True Gnocchi Way glory. Take it, and adapt it as you will to make your own strangely tasty little pasta pillows.

Potato Gnocchi

Note: ALL the quantities here are flexible. I make these by feel and texture, so I'll try to describe that to you so you'll have an idea of the goal. If you're someone who rigidly follows recipes, though, you may have trouble here.

2 1/4 lbs red potatoes (I used Russets, I think, but I'm not sure it matters)
1 egg
Approx. 11 oz Flour (The flour amount will vary with every recipe. Just have a good amount of it on hand.)
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Place the potatoes in a large pot with enough water to cover them. Salt the water fairly generously - the salt will have to work its way through the skins, so don't be shy. Boil for 20 or 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Drain the potatoes.

Peel the warm potatoes with a knife, using a towel to protect your hands from the heat. Mash the hot potatoes as thoroughly as possible. Salt and pepper the mashed potatoes to taste. Crack the egg into a small container, and mix in a little of the hot mashed potatoes. Then pour the egg-potato mixture back into the main batch of potatoes, and mix it in thoroughly before the hot potatoes cook the egg.

Add two large-ish handfuls of flour to the potatoes, and mix until absorbed. Form a dough by turning the potatoes out onto a flat surface and kneading in the remainder of the flour one handful at a time. The goal here is a very very light dough mixture that is pliable and just this side of sticky. The proper dough consistency has been reached when the dough doesn't stick to the surface immediately upon contact, but if allowed to stand unmoving sticks within about two minutes. Err on the side of less flour at first.

When your dough is the proper consistency, flour the surface and slice a fist-sized chunk off the dough. Roll the chunk into a snake about an inch in diameter. Slice into 2 inch long chunks.

Fill a large pot with water, salt the water lightly, and bring to a boil. Add the gnocchi, ten or so at a time. Cook each piece 2-3 minutes, or until it floats. When it floats, it's done. This may be sooner than you think. If your gnocchi dissolves upon contact with the water, more flour is needed, and you may need to knead the dough a little more to develop it. It's not a bad idea to boil a few test pieces to make sure that you've got enough flour before you roll out the remainder of the dough. If your gnocchi holds together well, go ahead and continue the snake-chunk-boil process until all the dough has been used.

When the gnocchi are finished boiling, scoop out them out of the pot with a slotted spoon and into a serving bowl. Drizzle with just a hint of olive oil to prevent sticking, and serve with the sauce of your choice. This recipe makes a lot of pasta at once, so if you're like me you won't be eating all of it in one swoop. That's okay, gnocchi freezes really well. To freeze them, go ahead and boil them as you would normally, but instead of serving, place them on a baking sheet and allow them to cool and dry out. When they're no longer hot, pack them into ziploc bags and stick them in the freezer. To revive them, just pour the frozen gnocchi into a pot of boiling water and wait until they float again, then serve.


Creamy Tomato Sauce and other Gnocchi toppings

14 oz jar of pasta sauce
1/2 cup whipping or heavy cream
1-2 cloves garlic, diced
Salt
Black Pepper
Nutmeg
1/2 tbsp basil (fresh is best, but use dried if you don't have fresh)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Slivered almonds
3 slices bacon, fried crispy and crumbled (DO NOT substitute fake bacon bits here. It is not the same.)

Combine all ingredients except the cheese, almonds, and bacon in a saucepan over low heat. Simmer 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toast the almonds in a saucepan briefly, until they turn golden (be careful not to burn them). To serve, spoon the sauce over the gnocchi, then sprinkle generously with grated cheese, toasted almonds, and bacon bits.