Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

What to Put on the Table With Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

• A Campanian red or a rosato
• A sharp green salad
• Bread for the dish

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Ciabatta, Citrus Fennel Salad, Fave e Cicoria.

Making Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, Step by Step

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1. Bake the potatoes whole at 200°C / 390°F for 60 minutes until completely soft. Halve them and scoop the flesh out while still hot.

   Mark done Start 60 min timer

2. Pass the flesh through a ricer onto a work surface and spread it out to steam dry for 5 minutes.

   Mark done Start 5 min timer

3. Scatter over the flour, salt and a grating of nutmeg, add the yolk, and bring it together with light hands. Stop the moment it coheres — kneading develops gluten and toughens gnocchi.

   Mark done

4. Roll into ropes 2 cm thick, cut into 2 cm pillows, and roll each down the back of a fork if you want ridges.

   Mark done

5. For the sauce, fry the garlic in the olive oil for 1 minute, add the passata, salt and sugar, and simmer 20 minutes. Tear in most of the basil.

   Mark done Start 1 min timer

6. Boil the gnocchi in well-salted water in batches. They are done about 30 seconds after they float.

   Mark done Start 30 sec timer

7. Lift them straight into the sauce with a slotted spoon and fold gently.

   Mark done

8. Divide between individual baking dishes, scatter with mozzarella and Parmesan, and bake at 220°C / 430°F for 12 to 15 minutes until blistered.

   Mark done Start 12 min timer

9. Rest 5 minutes and finish with the remaining basil.

   Mark done

Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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A Few Notes

Bake the potatoes, never boil them. It is the single biggest factor in light gnocchi.

Use as little flour as will hold the dough together. More flour is more certainty and less pleasure.

Test one gnocco before rolling the rest — if it disintegrates, work in another spoonful of flour.

Changing the Recipe

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Storing and Reheating

Uncooked gnocchi freeze 2 months on a tray, then bagged; boil from frozen. Assembled, it keeps 2 days.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: an ingredient listed without an amount is not counted, so the figures run low. How the figures are worked out.

Vegetarian when made with a hard cheese made without animal rennet in place of the parmesan.

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