Gnocchi with sauce

Method

Boil the potatoes in their skins in unsalted water (or steam them) for 30–40 minutes until a knife slides in without resistance. Drain and let them steam dry for a minute.
Peel the potatoes while still hot (hold them with a fork or cloth) and press them through a ricer onto a floured board. Spread them out and let the steam escape for 2–3 minutes.
Sprinkle most of the flour over the potatoes and work it in briefly by hand just until you have a smooth, soft, slightly sticky dough; do not knead for long, or the dough will toughen and the gnocchi turn hard. Keep the rest of the flour for dusting.
TipPotato dough: dumplings, noky, gnocchiPotato dough wants dry, cooled potatoes, just enough flour to hold, and quick hands: kneading and standing make it slack and sticky.Why and howShow less
Why
A cooked potato is a cluster of cells full of swollen starch (see the Mashed potatoes card); when long kneading or blending ruptures the cells, the released starch forms a sticky mass with the water from the potatoes, more flour then gets added, and the dumpling turns out tough and gummy. Floury potatoes of cooking type C, or B, have more starch and less water and give a supple dough with less flour, whereas watery waxy potatoes of type A thin the dough; that is why the potatoes are boiled in their skins or baked and left to steam off and cool before use. Finished dough softens and gets sticky as it stands, and the more flour then goes in, the tougher the dumpling, so it is worked quickly and cooked at once. In the water it keeps its shape when the water only simmers and the surface sets quickly, whereas a hard boil and long cooking wear the surface away and the dumpling or gnocchi falls apart. Green patches, eyes and sprouts of potatoes contain bitter, toxic glycoalkaloids (solanine), so the German BfR advises removing them generously.
How to do it
1. Choose floury potatoes of type C, or B; boil them in their skins or bake them, peel and let them steam off and cool, even a day ahead in the fridge.
2. Cut out green patches and eyes generously; do not use green, shrivelled or heavily sprouted potatoes, or potatoes that taste bitter.
3. Grate the potatoes finely or put them through a ricer, do not blend them; add egg, salt and flour and bring the dough together quickly, just until smooth and holding its shape.
4. Add the flour gradually: first cook one small test dumpling or gnocchi and add more flour only if it falls apart.
5. Cook shaped dumplings and gnocchi at once, in small batches, in salted, gently simmering water; lift gnocchi out shortly after they float.
6. Take a cooked dumpling out at once, pierce it and slice it with thread or a sharp knife; move gnocchi straight into the sauce or melted butter so they do not stick together.
If it goes wrong
Firm up sticky dough with only a small amount of flour or semolina and shape it at once, as more kneading makes it worse. If the test dumpling falls apart, add a little flour or egg; if a whole dumpling falls apart in the water, cook the rest of the dough as small gnocchi or fry it as pancakes. Tough, gummy dumplings will not soften again: slice and fry them in butter, perhaps with eggs or cabbage, and next time use less flour and knead less.
Full card
Divide the dough, roll each piece into a rope about 2 cm thick and cut it into 2–3 cm pieces. Roll each piece with your thumb over the back of a fork or the coarse side of a grater so it gets ridges and a dimple.
Bring 4 litres of water with 40 g of salt to the boil and cook the gnocchi in batches. As soon as they rise to the surface (after about 1–2 minutes), lift them out with a slotted spoon and toss them with the sauce at once.

Method

Finely dice the onion, slice the garlic and tear the basil.
Heat 1½ tbsp oil in a wide saucepan, soften onion for five minutes and add garlic for the final minute.
Add tomatoes and salt, then simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until thick. Stir in basil and serve as a sauce with a separately prepared side.
TipReducing a sauceReduction boils off the water but keeps the salt: a sauce that was just right can easily end up as brine.Why and howShow less
Why
When you reduce a sauce, simmering it uncovered, water evaporates while flavour compounds, sugars, gelatin from meat and bones and salt stay in the pan, so they become concentrated and the sauce thickens. If you salt it at the start and then reduce it by half, it will be roughly twice as salty – which is why seasoning is adjusted at the end. The brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan or roasting tin after searing or roasting (the fond) are among the tastiest parts of a sauce: poured over with stock, wine or water and scraped up, they dissolve into the sauce – this is called deglazing. A gentle simmer is enough; at a hard boil the sauce easily scorches at the edges and on the bottom, and if it contains a lot of sugar or gelatin it reduces into a sticky mass.
How to do it
1. Cook uncovered in a wider pan so the water evaporates faster.
2. Salt only at the end, once the sauce has the thickness you want.
3. Pour hot stock, wine or water over the fond and scrape it off the bottom with a wooden spoon; leave out black, burnt bits, they would make the sauce bitter.
4. Keep only a gentle simmer and stir now and then, especially at the bottom and the edges.
5. Test the thickness on a spoon: the sauce should coat it thinly; bear in mind it will thicken further as it cools.
If it goes wrong
An oversalted sauce can only be saved by diluting it: add unsalted stock, water or cream and bring the thickness back with a short simmer. Thin a sauce that is too thick or sticky with a little hot water. Pour a scorched sauce into a clean pan at once without scraping the bottom; if it already tastes burnt, it can't be saved.
Full card

Alternative: Bolognese ragù (ragù alla bolognese)

Ingredients

Display quantities

400 gBeef, ground, 85% lean meat / 15% fat, raw (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program)
150 gPork, cured, bacon, unprepared
60 gOnions, raw
60 gCarrots, raw
60 gCelery, raw
2 15 ml tablespoonOil, olive, salad or cooking
100 mlAlcoholic beverage, wine, table, red
20 gTomato products, canned, paste, without salt added (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program)
200 gTomato products, canned, puree, without salt added
100 mlMilk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D
300 mlSoup, stock, beef, home-prepared
3 gSalt, table
0.6 gSpices, pepper, black

Method

Chop the pancetta finely with a knife. Chop the onion, carrot and celery as finely as possible with a knife (not in a food processor, which would make the vegetables watery and mushy).
In a heavy-based pot (ideally cast iron or earthenware) heat the oil with the pancetta and let it melt over low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables and soften them slowly for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then; they must not brown.
Add the minced beef, raise the heat and cook, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes until the released juices have evaporated and the meat sizzles and browns lightly.
Pour in the wine and let it evaporate completely, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
TipReducing a sauceReduction boils off the water but keeps the salt: a sauce that was just right can easily end up as brine.Why and howShow less
Why
When you reduce a sauce, simmering it uncovered, water evaporates while flavour compounds, sugars, gelatin from meat and bones and salt stay in the pan, so they become concentrated and the sauce thickens. If you salt it at the start and then reduce it by half, it will be roughly twice as salty – which is why seasoning is adjusted at the end. The brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan or roasting tin after searing or roasting (the fond) are among the tastiest parts of a sauce: poured over with stock, wine or water and scraped up, they dissolve into the sauce – this is called deglazing. A gentle simmer is enough; at a hard boil the sauce easily scorches at the edges and on the bottom, and if it contains a lot of sugar or gelatin it reduces into a sticky mass.
How to do it
1. Cook uncovered in a wider pan so the water evaporates faster.
2. Salt only at the end, once the sauce has the thickness you want.
3. Pour hot stock, wine or water over the fond and scrape it off the bottom with a wooden spoon; leave out black, burnt bits, they would make the sauce bitter.
4. Keep only a gentle simmer and stir now and then, especially at the bottom and the edges.
5. Test the thickness on a spoon: the sauce should coat it thinly; bear in mind it will thicken further as it cools.
If it goes wrong
An oversalted sauce can only be saved by diluting it: add unsalted stock, water or cream and bring the thickness back with a short simmer. Thin a sauce that is too thick or sticky with a little hot water. Pour a scorched sauce into a clean pan at once without scraping the bottom; if it already tastes burnt, it can't be saved.
Full card
Stir in the tomato paste and the passata, cover with a lid and let the ragù barely bubble over very low heat for 2 hours (up to 3 hours if you like). Whenever it starts to dry out, add a ladleful of stock. After about an hour, stir in the milk and let it be absorbed and evaporate during the rest of the cooking. Finally season with salt and pepper. The finished ragù is thick and dark reddish brown, with fat on the surface.
TipTomatoes, tomato paste and acidityTomatoes have character: raw paste is sharp and sour, but a few minutes in fat give it a rounded flavour.Why and howShow less
Why
Tomato paste is concentrated tomato flesh with plenty of sugars and acids; briefly fried in fat, some of the sugars brown and the raw, sharply sour taste turns full and rounded, but it must be stirred, because it scorches easily on a dry pan base. Long simmering, fat, cream or a little sugar soften a sharp sauce; sugar doesn't neutralise the acid, though, it only balances it on the palate. Baking soda really does neutralise acid, but in tests it made the sauce taste flat, and larger amounts foam and taste soapy, so a pinch at most. Acid firms up the cell walls of vegetables and pulses, so beans, chickpeas and potatoes soften more slowly in tomato sauce. Acidic food doesn't belong in uncoated aluminium: the German BfR advises against cooking or storing acidic and salty food, such as tomato purée, in uncoated aluminium pots, because aluminium migrates into it; with cast iron, manufacturers say long cooking of acidic food strips the protective seasoning.
How to do it
1. Stir the paste into hot fat and fry it for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens and smells sweet; then add liquid at once.
2. Simmer a sour sauce for longer and round it off with fat or cream; add sugar little by little and taste.
3. Use baking soda only as an exception, a pinch per pot at most, and let it fizz out before tasting.
4. Cook beans, chickpeas and potatoes until tender first, or allow longer cooking in the sauce – see the Cooking pulses card.
5. Cook and store tomato sauces in stainless steel, enamel or glass, not in uncoated aluminium or new, lightly seasoned cast iron.
If it goes wrong
Paste that has scorched on the base won't lose that taste: pour the sauce into a clean pot without scraping and start again with a fresh batch. An overly sour sauce is saved by longer simmering, a knob of butter or a spoonful of cream. Dilute a sauce that tastes soapy after soda with canned tomatoes and leave the soda out next time.
Full card

Alternative: Genoese pesto (pesto alla genovese)

Method

Rinse the basil leaves quickly in cold water and dry them thoroughly on a cloth without crushing them. Grate the cheeses.
In a marble mortar, crush the garlic with a few grains of coarse salt to a paste with a wooden pestle, then add the pine nuts and crush them too.
Add the basil a handful at a time with the remaining grains of salt and grind it with a circular motion of the pestle against the sides of the mortar, rather than pounding, until bright green liquid runs from the leaves. Work quickly and at room temperature so the basil does not oxidise.
Work in the Parmigiano and pecorino and finally beat in the oil drop by drop with the pestle until a smooth sauce forms. Without a mortar, you can make pesto in a blender with a chilled jar, using short pulses at low speed so it does not warm up.
Do not heat the pesto; to serve, loosen it only with 1–2 tablespoons of pasta cooking water and toss it with the pasta off the heat. Traditionally trofie or trenette are cooked together with diced potatoes and green beans in the same water. One serving of pesto goes with one serving of pasta (about 80–100 g dried).

A dash means the value is unknown, not zero. Salt is calculated from sodium (g salt = mg sodium × 2.5 / 1000) and includes sodium from all ingredients.

Calculation limitations

Nutrition is a calculated estimate, not a laboratory measurement.
Some ingredient quantities use documented estimates or household-measure assumptions.
The number of servings is an editorial estimate (midpoint of the source range or based on the dish type and energy).
Fibre, saturated fat and sodium of cooked ingredients are estimated from the consumed ingredient amounts; for drained ingredients, sodium is included only where the retained amount is an explicit editorial estimate.
Some process effects could not be resolved in this calculation.
Menu nutrition is the sum of its component recipes, each scaled to one menu portion.

Gnocchi with sauce

Potato gnocchi (gnocchi di patate)

Ingredients

Method

Tomato sauce with basil traditional

Ingredients

Method

Bolognese ragù (ragù alla bolognese)

Ingredients

Method

Genoese pesto (pesto alla genovese)

Ingredients

Method

Allergens

Nutrition per menu portion

Per serving

Per 100 g