Serves: 8-10
Overall time: 1,5 - 2hs
Difficulty: medium
Autumn in London is beautiful but sometimes we all feel frustrated when the rain falls all day long and messes up with our weekend plans. So last weekend instead of fighting against London weather, Roman and I embraced it and spent the afternoon preparing a typical dish from the coast: Gnocchi alla Sorrentina. We made so much that we decided to invite our friends over for dinner. They all enjoyed this Italian comfort food. Of course outside was still raining, but at that point we didn’t care anymore, we had great food and amazing company.
Mamma Flora’s Tip: Try to use starchy potatoes (the ones you use for mash or chips) and cook them with the skin.
If you are 4, use half the portion. You can prepare gnocchi in advance and bake them at dinner time.
Ingredients:
Gnocchi:
- 2kg potatoes
- 700g Mozzarella
- 600gr flour
- Salt
- Basil
- Parmesan
Tomato sauce:
- 2,5l of passata
- 2 tbs oil
- Half onion
- Salt
Tools:
- 2 pots
- 2 baking trays
- 1 bowl
- A potato masher
- A skimmer
Method:
- Boil the potatoes until soft, it should take 30-40min
- At the same time, add the oil and the onion in a pot, gently heat it and when warm add the tomato passata with some salt. Leave it to cook for 20min
- Cut the mozzarella in cubes and place in the fridge
- Once the potato are ready, peeled them and mash them. Place the mashed potatoes on a flat surface. Add the flour and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix everything together gently but quickly
- The mixture should be smooth at touch, if you think it’s too soft add a little more flour. Once the mix is ready leave it to rest for 5min
- In the meanwhile boil some water in a pot and add some salt, we will use to cook the gnocchi
- Cut the dough in fist-sized portions, roll into a log about 1 1/2cm wide, then cut the log into 2cm long pieces
- Take a fork and turn it, roll the gnocchi on the fork to form the stripes
- Place the gnocchi that you formed on a kitchen cloth and as soon as you have few, start cooking them in the boiling water, as soon as they come on the surface they are ready. Drain them with a skimmer and place them in a bowl with some tomato sauce and mix together
- Keep doing the same until you cook the last portion of gnocchi
- Pre-heat the oven at 250°C on grill
- Once all the gnocchi are cooked and mixed with the sauce, place a first layer in a baking tray, add a layer of mozzarella, basil and grated parmesan. To finish add the last layer of gnocchi and some more mozzarella
- Place the trays in the oven for 5min, the top will become golden brown and bubbling. Serve immediately to your guests and enjoy your hard work!