Potato gnocchi with tomato sauce
This recipe from Mario's Restaurant in the Bronx appeared in a Craig Claiborne article in the New York Times on 9/15/1976. I was in NYC at the time and first made it in a small Manhattan apartment kitchen. The lack of space caused some difficulties, but the result was fabulous, and I've made it many times in the ensuing decades. I always use russets, I've not experimented with other potatoes.
The tomato sauce is simple, easily made while the potatoes boil. It's important not to overwork the dough or add too much flour, otherwise the gnocchi will be dense and heavy rather than light puffy clouds of delicousness. I use a food processor to grate the potatoes, but I've not been happy with the results when I've tried to use the processor to knead and incorporate the flour, so I just knead by hand. I've never had a gnocchi machine to form the gnocchi, I just run the tines of a fork over each one.
Buon appetito!
Filetti di pomodoro
Ingredients:
- 1 large can Italian tomatoes
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto or ham [optional]
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
Preparation:
- Saute onions in olive oil/butter until brown (ca. 20').
- Add prosciutto, cook ca. 5'.
- Add crushed tomatos and basil
- Simmer ca. 1 hour over low heat, stirring often.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Gnocchi di patate
Ingredients:
- 5 large potatoes
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 pound unsalted butter
- Parmesan, grated
- Tomato sauce (see above)
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees, bring large pot of salted water to boil.
- Place potatoes in pot of salted cold water, bring to boil, then simmer until soft but not mushy.
- Drain potatoes, then peel and grate.
- Mix egg yolks into grated potatoes.
- On a floured workspace, gradually add flour while kneading. Knead just enough to be firm, but soft and delicate.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces.
- Roll each piece by hand into a long tube and cut into 20 gnocchi. Run tines of a fork over each to make little ridges.
- Drop a few gnocchi at a time into large pot of boiling salted water. When they rise to the surface, remove with strainer, run under cold water very briefly, set aside.
- Repeat previous step: boil and rinse again. Rinse well
- Layer cooked gnocchi, butter, tomato sauce, cheese in casserole.
- Keep casserole warm in 250 degree oven until ready to serve.
- Sprinkle more parmesan on top when serving.
