I’ll never understand people who are willing to pay $15 for a plate of gnocchi in an Italian restaurant. I don’t care if they sauced them with liquid gold, it’s still not worth the money. They’re potato dumplings. If you’re gonna pay $15 for something at an Italian restaurant, get the calamari.
Gnocchi is as peasant as peasant food gets, yet you’ll find lots of recipes that try to gussy up the little peasants, smothering them with rich butter and cream sauces and/or a trinity of melted cheeses. When the restaurants do it they call it gourmet, then overcharge you for it and laugh all the way to the bank.
Here in the stew we think the simple density of the gnocchi ought to be respected. In this recipe we boiled some potato gnocchi and fixed them up with a couple of cans of Hunt’s diced tomatoes, some fresh parsley, garlic and a few thin shavings of Pecorino Romano cheese.
The really great thing about this recipe is that it comes together super fast. Make it up for a quick light lunch or supper when you’re between adventures and don’t have a lot of time to cook.
Need This
2 bags of frozen potato gnocchi (15 – 16 ounces each).
2 – 15 ounce cans of Hunt’s diced tomatoes (any flavor variety)*
2 cloves of garlic – peeled and finely sliced
Olive oil
Fresh parsley
Small block of Pecorino Romano cheese
Salt & ground black pepper
Do This
Put a large pot of water on high heat and bring to a rolling boil.
While the water is heating up put a glug of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the sliced garlic to the oil and set a medium heat under it. Fry the garlic for about two minutes until it starts to brown. When the garlic is browned add the two cans of diced tomatoes. Stir it up nice and reduce the heat to low.
When your pot of water comes to a hard boil dump the two bags of frozen gnocchi in there – leave the heat on high. Boil the gnocchi, stirring occasionally, until they all bob up to the surface (about 5 to 6 minutes). Stir the gnocchi one more time then dunk a ladle in the pot and scoop out one ladle full of the starch water. Add the starch water to the heated tomatoes.
Drain the gnocchi in a colander then immediately return them the pot. Dump the simmered tomatoes onto the gnocchi and mix it all up thoroughly. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Snip a few parsley leaves over it. Serve warm with a couple of thin shavings of the Pecorino Romano cheese on top (use a vegetable peeler).
Serves 4. My Cost approx. $ 8.50 total – about $ 2.13 per serving.
*Hunt’s has several different varieties of canned diced tomatoes available. We used the basil, garlic and oregano one for this recipe – but they’re all good. GMN
