Who knew my daughter would try making gnocchi before I did. It has been on my to do list for a long time now. But she did, she made it the other night with potatoes from our garden as well as using up some of the last cherry tomatoes from the garden sitting on the counter.

She along with many others believed, including myself that making gnocchi was difficult. So much so that she was nervous that we would have to order out dinner just in case it tasted terrible. It did not, and we all loved this whole dish. It was much easier than she expected; which is why she was so nervous. The tomato broth has a whole lot of flavor and they complimented the soft and pillowy gnocchi wonderfully.

She found this recipe in a the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and since it made so many extra gnocchi we will be having this again very soon, we froze them individually and stored them in a ziploc bag for future use.

The broth has SO much flavor and is so light, I am surprised we have never made it before. When I make soups it is almost always with chicken broth. But I really liked this and might have to rethink using this in some fall soups, since it is almost soup season. OK technically I have already made soup. We have cold nights here in NH now.

Gnocchi in a Tomato Broth

dclarkabal

a light and flavorful dish

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Ingredients

  

tomato broth

• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium carrot chopped
• 1 medium stalk celery chopped
• 1 small yellow onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 28 ounce whole or chopped tomatoes with the juice
• small handful of fresh basil leaves plus more for garnish
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

gnocchi

• 2 pounds Russet potatoes roughly 3-4 potatoes
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1¼-1½ cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting surface
• freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano for serving

Instructions

 

Potatoes

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake potatoes for 45 minutes to 1 hour. depends on the size of your potatoes, until a thin knife can easily pierce though them.

tomato broth

• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Once hot add the carrot, celery, onion and cook together for 5 minutes. If they start to brown lower the heat to medium. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Pour the wine in to deglaze the pan; scrapping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cooking the wine until reduced by half. Stir in the tomatoes, mashing them a bit with a spoon if whole. add the basil and stock and simmer until the tomato broth thickens slightly, about 45 minutes. Strain out the vegetables in a fine-mesh colander, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

gnocchi

• Let the potatoes cool for 10 minutes after baking them. peel them and run the potatoes through a potato rice, or grate them on the large holes of a box grater. cool them to lukewarm, another 10 minutes. Add the egg and salt, mix to combine. Add ½ cup of the flour, and see if this is enough to form the dough, add another ½ cup of flour and mix again. Add ¼ cup flour and see if this is enough to form a dough that doesn't easily stick to your hands. If not add the last ¼ cup of flour, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is a good consistency - soft and a little sticky, but able to holds it shape enough to be rolled into a rope. Knead the dough together briefly on the counter - just for a minute.
• Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each piece into a long rope, about ¾ inch thick. Cut each rope into ¾-inch lengths. At this point you can use a floured fork or a gnocchi in a single layer on a parchment-lined tray. You can use this tray to freeze them individually and then transfer to a ziploc bag.

Cooking the gnocchi

• Place the gnocchi, a quarter-batch at a time, into a pot of boiling well-salted water. Cook until they float - about 2 minutes - allow to drain and then place into a wide rimmed bowl
• Reheat the tomato broth. Pour broth over the gnocchi. Garnish with small basil leaves or slivered basil. and or freshly grated Parmesan Cheese or even some fresh ricotta