Spring has finally arrived and I should probably make something very light and fresh to welcome the sun properly, but pasta was all I could think about. The gnocchi are pillowy soft, fluffy and airy, so let´s forget about the fact that they´re made of starches only. Normally, I like to eat them plain - pan roasted with sage and pine nuts and drizzled with some olive oil, but tomato & veggie sauce is also a winner and surely would make every Italian mama proud. Buon Appetito!
Ingredients:
Gnocchi:
Sauce:
Instructions:
Gnocchi:
Sauce:
Gnocchi:
- 2 cups cooked potatoes
- ¾ all-purpose flour
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt
Sauce:
- 1 eggplant
- 1 zucchini
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (fresh would be even better)
- 1 medium onion
- 1 garlic glove
- ½ chili
- italian herbs to the taste (rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano)
- few spoons agave syrup
- salt, pepper
Instructions:
Gnocchi:
- Mash your potatoes. They should be fluffy with no lumps left.
- Add the nutmeg, salt and mix well.
- Now, add the flour and knead until the mixture forms a smooth dough. If it´s still to sticky, add a little more flour.
- Flour the surface, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Take 1 piece of the dough and roll with your hands to form a long “snake”.
- Chop the “snake” into short pieces with a sharp knife. Don´t worry about the shape. They´re homemade, so they should look like homemade, too.
- Bring a large pan with salted water to boil.
- Drop few pieces of the gnocchi into the water. Not too many to prevent from clumping. Take them out, when they rise to the surface. This only takes 2-3min.
- Toss them with a little oil, so they won´t stick to each other and set aside.
Sauce:
- Chop your onion, chili and the veggies.
- Heat a large pan with few drops of oil.
- Fry your onion and the chili until soft and glossy.
- Add minced garlic and fry a bit more.
- Now, add your sliced cherry tomatoes and cook until they´re heated through.
- Add the zucchini, eggplant and 2 cans tomatoes to the pan. Stir well, put a lid on and cook until the veggies are soft.
- Add herbs, salt & pepper and the agave syrup to balance out the sourness of the tomatoes.