Gnocchi - how to "sauce" it?

[AMSeccia]

Hi Michele, thank you for your authentic suggestion. A question for you ... how much tomato sauce do you add to the ragout? Are you saying a completed tomato sauce or are you starting a sauce here and finishing with the sausage and wine reduction?

 

[LadyCook61]

Can make a spinach/ basil pesto too. Instead of all basil just use a 50/50 basil spinach mix. And as mentioned above, add a little cream to it to give a a saucy feel and a litle more ' stick' to the gnocchi

sounds good, I had bought fresh spinach and fresh basil the other day.

I can't believe no one has mentioned pesto, what with the extensive pesto thread we've had going for a few days! The pesto on its own might not stand up to the dumplings, but whisk it into some cream sauce and we're in business! Maybe a little pesto cream with prosciutto? eh?

And the Sage/butter sauce is one of my faves. I like Sage with a nutty brown butter rather than buerre blanc, usually, but I'll have to give that a try. Made the sage & brown butter for butternut ravs once, I bet it would be great on sweet potato gnocchi!

sounds good , Jill. thanks for the suggestions.

I like them with nothing more then some sage and browned butter. Or, some toasted onion, a little rosemary, and e.v.o.o., halved cherry/grape tomatoes, then toss in some cubed fresh mozz, toss to warm cheese through and serve.

A heavy sauce and the heavy gnochhi can be a little more of a belly buster to me, I try to keep it light, and accent the dumpling.

thanks for the suggestions , they sound pretty good.

What about using them as a lite soup? I have heard of that, kinda like a dumpling soup, but they didn't mention a specific recipe.

that's an idea, thanks.

mmmmm, ragu and garlic powder. Or just the red gravy.
Never liked the way they came out with butter or something lighter. Probably because I like heavy foods.

thanks for the suggestions .

Quattro formaggio! Basically a cream sauce with 4 cheeses melted into it. OMG...I'm drooling.

sounds good, I like cream and I like cheeses. thanks for the suggestions.

Personally, since gnochhi is a bit heavy, I like them with a light marinara sauce with fresh basil. But anway, gnochhi rocks!

just plain fresh basil sounds good, thanks .

I had them in a restaurant once with an Alfredo-like cheese sauce that had crabmeat in it. OMG, to die for ...

hmm sounds good, thanks.

Mmmm, brown some butter, toss with gnocchi and grate your favorite hard cheese over it. Yum! I like to add some onion or garlic, but my family prefers it without. They're equally wonderful floating in a good chicken or ham stock with more of that grated cheese. Talk about pure comfort food!!

sounds tasty, thanks for the suggestions.

Funny this came up... I have never had them before and I was eye-ballin these things at the market yesterday. When looking at them, I wondered what you would put on them. You folks just may have inspired me to buy them and try them!

I hope your gnocchi tasted better than mine did.

Beurre Blanc and some fresh sage leaves?

thanks for the suggestion.

I agree ~ a creamy basil sauce with lots of Parmesan cheese is my favorite. At the Fior d'Italia in San Francisco (oldest Italian restaurant in the USA), gnocchi are served with a light creamy tomato sauce with lots of Parm. The sauce is meatless and almost a pinky color -- rich, delicious and very popular! YUM!!!!!!

yummy. thanks for the suggestions.

Hi to all. From my point of view, the best gnocchi sauce is a "sausage ragout". Fry a well-broken onion in EVO, and put some sausage of the best quality in the pot. When they colored, put some white wine, let the wine evaporate, put tomato sauce, salt (not so much!), cover, reduce the fire to the very minimum, and then wait (a good ragout is ready after at least 3 hours cooking).

To avoid gnocchi reduce to a mush, use this tecnique: take a pot, put in it a cookware of ragout, a cookware of gnocchi and parmesan cheese (original!), and repeat.

Bye from Pisa (Tuscany)!
(... and sorry from my very bad english, but i love too much cooking!)

thank you for the suggestion, sounds good.

 

[MicheleFromPisa]

Hi Michele, thank you for your authentic suggestion. A question for you ... how much tomato sauce do you add to the ragout? Are you saying a completed tomato sauce or are you starting a sauce here and finishing with the sausage and wine reduction?

Hi AMSeccia, thanks for the interesting!

For the added tomato sauce, I mean something very simple, for example what we call "pomodori pelati" (bald tomatoes) or "passata di pomodoro" (sifted out tomatoes, maybe...). However, in summer I just use mature tomatoes, just skinned off and breaked up...

For the quantity, depends for how much people the ragout will be... here are the quantity for 4 persons:
- 3 souspoon of EVOO;
- 1 medium-size red onion;
- 2 sausages (or about 200 gr of)
- 400 gr of sauce tomatoes or 600 gr of mature tomatoes.

Hope this help!
Bye, M

 

[ChefJune]

I agree ~ a creamy basil sauce with lots of Parmesan cheese is my favorite. At the Fior d'Italia in San Francisco (oldest Italian restaurant in the USA), gnocchi are served with a light creamy tomato sauce with lots of Parm. The sauce is meatless and almost a pinky color -- rich, delicious and very popular! YUM!!!!!!

sorry, AuntieShelly, but the Italian Village in Chicago predates Fior d'Italia by at least three years. It was established in 1927!

Oh my, Michele.... that sounds amazing. I usually do gnocchi in a browned butter sauce with some fresh herbs.... sage, or maybe oregano. Your tomato with sausage sounds so wonderful, especially for cold weather! My mouth is watering!

 

[Jeekinz]

sorry, AuntieShelly, but the Italian Village in Chicago predates Fior d'Italia by at least three years. It was established in 1927!

Last I heard 1886 was older than 1927.

Fior d'Italia, San Francisco - America's Oldest Italian Restaurant

 

[auntieshelly]

Thanks, Jeekinz, for posting the information about The Fior in San Francisco. You beat me to it. Yes, ChefJune, the Fior d'Italia holds the distinction of being the oldest Italian restaurant in the country -- since 1886! If you ever come to San Francisco, it is a must to dine there!!

 

[PastaKing]

I bought some gnocchi , intending to use Marinara sauce or EVOO or butter.
Any other ideas what to put on these?

I never use red sauce for my gnocchis. Nor do I for my Perogies. Any sort of potatoe pasta, I always use butter and garlic with fresh parsley, and a hint of basil.