Homemade Gnocchi & Cherry Tomato Sauce
Making homemade sourdough, gnocchi, pasta and cheese have always been right up there, along with ‘working out how to navigate a responsible adult life’, on the list of Things That Stress Me Out And Seem Impossible. Happily, I can now knock making homemade gnocchi off that list because that shit is TOTALLY doable!!! It’s MUCH easier than sorting out your taxes, infinitely less stressful than feeding a sourdough starter and fortunately it seems that everyone else still thinks it’s much harder than it actually is. So, make a batch of this gnocchi and everyone will think you’re incredibly clever and definitely very on top of Life, and no one will know you’ve actually been in your pyjamas all day, sitting on a sofa covered with dog hair, listening to Louis Theroux podcasts and eating cereal out of a teacup… Unless you create a cooking blog and explicitly tell them.
The key to making reallllll good gnocchi is to mix everything up as little and as gently as possible. The more you knead, mix and mash, the clumpier and more stodgy your gnocchi will be. Give it a light, gentle touch and you will end up with beautiful potato clouds that melt on your tongue and float across your plate like a delightful cumulonimbus culinary dream. I used to think that there was some kind of chef-only magic trick that resulted in fluffy, light gnocchi, but no, it’s just a gentle hand! I also thought that making gnocchi would be a whole Big Thing. Something that took ages, made way more than you needed and wasn’t remotely appropriate for a mid-week dinner. This recipe took me maybe 30 minutes to put together, the sauce is basically entirely hands off and is the perfect rich accompaniment to the fluffy gnocchi balls, and it will feed four fairly hungry folk or two intensely ravenous individuals. I hope you like it!
Homemade Gnocchi & Cherry Tomato Sauce
Serves 4
Note: To make really beautifully light gnocchi you need a potato ricer. These look a bit like giant garlic crushers and you get get one for about $30 online or at most cookware stores. They make the gnocchi so light because, while a potato masher would squish and flatten the potatoes, the ricer just pushes them out into fluffy little potato noodles, keeping them really aerated. As someone who does not like having many super-specific kitchen appliances, I can confirm that it is absolutely worth grabbing one and making delicious, light-as-a-cloud gnocchi for the rest of your days!
Ingredients
For the gnocchi
600g potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
100g plain flour
50g pecorino cheese, very finely grated (plus extra, to serve)
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
2 egg yolks
For the sauce
5 cups cherry tomatoes
4 Tbsp olive oil
20 garlic cloves
A squeeze of lemon juice
A pinch of caster sugar
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fresh chilli or chilli flakes (optional)
Method
First, start your sauce. Put the cherry tomatoes, olive oil and garlic cloves in a frying pan set on low heat. Add a couple of pinches of salt and leave to cook on a very low simmer. Cooking long and slow like this will make the garlic beautifully mild and sweet. If the pan starts to dry out, add a little water.
While the pasta sauce is cooking, boil the potatoes in well salted water (add a heaped teaspoon of salt to the water before you throw the potatoes in). Boil until they are very soft, then drain.
While your potatoes are cooking, mix together the plain flour, pecorino cheese and black pepper until well combined. Separate the egg yolks and have them ready in another bowl too.
You want to do the next steps while the potatoes are still hot, so as soon as you’re able to handle the hot boiled potatoes, put them in your potato ricer, on its finest setting, and push the skinny little potato-noodles out into a large bowl. Tip in the cheese and flour mixture and the egg yolks. Mix everything together as gently as you can, until you a soft dough has formed. Take care not to squish or flatten the dough while you’re mixing it - you want to keep it as light and airy as possible.
Cut your dough into 4-6 pieces. Take each piece and, on a lightly floured surface, kind of roll and pull it out into a long sausage (again, trying to be as light and gentle as you can). Cut the sausage into little gnocchi pieces. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Once your gnocchi is ready, throw it (in 2-3 batches) into a pot of boiling water. The gnocchi is ready when it rises to the surface of the water. Remove it with a slotted spoon.
Your tomato sauce should be a beautiful rich red colour by now. Add a squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper, fresh chilli and a pinch of caster sugar, to taste. Throw some fresh thyme on top too. Gently add the cooked gnocchi to the frying pan and toss until everything is combined.
Serve at once, with a little extra pecorino cheese on top.
