Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Ingredients

• 1 kg potato, a floury variety such as Maris Piper
• 250 g wheat flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic, lightly crushed
• 700 g passata
• 1 pinch white sugar
• 4 tbsp fresh basil, leaves torn
• 250 g mozzarella, torn and left to drain
• 60 g Parmesan, finely grated
• ½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. 1.

   Boil the potatoes in their skins — Boil the potatoes whole and unpeeled in salted water for 35-40 minutes, until a knife slides in without resistance. Cooking them in their skins keeps them from taking on water, which is the difference between light gnocchi and heavy ones.

2. 2.

   Simmer the tomato sauce — Meanwhile make the sauce. Warm the olive oil with the crushed garlic until it perfumes the oil, then lift the garlic out. Add the passata, sugar and a few basil leaves and simmer gently for 20 minutes until thick and darkened.

3. 3.

   Rice the potatoes while hot — Peel the potatoes while they are still too hot to hold comfortably and push them through a ricer onto a clean work surface. Spread the crumbs out and let the steam escape for 10 minutes so the mixture dries a little.

4. 4.

   Bring the dough together — Scatter over the flour, salt and nutmeg, add the beaten egg and bring everything together with your hands into a soft, barely tacky dough. Work it as briefly as you can — every extra minute of kneading develops gluten and makes the gnocchi chewy.

5. 5.

   Shape and ridge the gnocchi — Cut the dough into pieces and roll each into a rope about 2 cm thick on a floured surface. Cut into 2 cm lengths and roll each one down the back of a fork to press in the ridges that hold the sauce. Keep them apart on a floured tray.

6. 6.

   Boil and coat in sauce — Cook the gnocchi in batches in a large pan of well-salted boiling water. They are ready about 30 seconds after they bob to the surface. Lift them straight into the pan of sauce with a slotted spoon and turn them gently to coat.

7. 7.

   Bake under the cheeses — Tip everything into a baking dish, dot the mozzarella over the surface and cover with the Parmesan and black pepper. Bake at 220°C for 15 minutes, until the cheese blisters and browns in patches. Rest 5 minutes and finish with the remaining basil.