Well, here I am in Indonesia! I’m spending six weeks living with my aunt and uncle, doing an internship with Standard Chartered Bank and experiencing the rich culture of this country! I’ve been here just over a week and have had a phenomenal time thus far – but that explains my absence from posting recipes: I’ve been too busy trying indonesian food, working long days and playing golf in some pretty intense heat and humidity.

But, tonight – Uncle Tom and I made quite a feast and I’ll have plenty to post over the next couple of days. First, the main dish – gnocchi in tomato vegetable sauce.

I’ve never made gnocchi before but have enjoyed it when I have ordered it at restaurants. We found the recipe in the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, which I brought with me to give to my aunt and uncle because I enjoy the book so much! The recipe was is bit time consuming but not too difficult, didn’t require any special tools and turned out FANTASTIC!

We made a couple changes to the original recipe, the most significant being that we did not strain out the vegetables from the tomato broth but rather, left them in to make the broth more of a pasta sauce. That was definitely a key decision and took this dish to the next level.

It was fantastic and will definitely be made again soon!

Gnocchi in Tomato Vegetable Broth
Serves 4-5
Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Ingredients:

Tomato sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 medium carrots, halved and diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white wine
One 28oz can of stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped plus more for garnish
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Parmesan, shredded for garnish

Gnocchi:
2 lbs russet potatoes, about three
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 to 2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Bake potatoes: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, scrub, and pierce each potato several times. Bake for about one hour – until a thin knife can slide through potato easily. Meanwhile, prepare tomato sauce.

2. Tomato sauce: heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and onions and cook for five minutes, reducing heat if they begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Next, add the wine and cook until it has reduced by half – about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, basil and stock and let simmer for about 45 minutes, to reduce and thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Gnocchi: let potatoes cool for 30 minutes or so, after baking. Then, peel and grate them over the large holes of a grater. Let cool to lukewarm then add the egg and salt, mixing to combine. Next, add the flour, a half cup at a time, until the dough comes together and does not stick easily to your hands. (We had to add quite a bit of flour, but we also had used four potatoes – which could have made the difference) Knead the dough briefly for about a minute then divide into quarters.

4. On a floured surface, take one quarter of the dough and begin to roll it into a long rope. The rope got quite long, so it was easier for us to use two sets of hands to roll it out – see if someone can help you here! Roll it to about 3/4 inches thick and then cut into 3/4 inch pieces, little pillows 🙂 Place the pillows onto a cookie sheet and repeat the rolling and cutting until all the dough is prepared. If you have time, place the cookie sheet with the pillows in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up. You can also freeze them at this point.

5. To cook: bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, begin reheating the tomato sauce at a low temperature on the stove. Place about 20 gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for 2-4 minutes, supposedly until they float but ours never did (and turned out fine – I don’t think you can over cook them so letting them cook an extra minute is fine). Drain the gnocchi in a strainer.

6. Assemble: using a ladle, pour one to one and a half cups of tomato sauce into a wide, individual bowls. Place 10-15 gnocchi on top and garnish with basil and shredded parmesan. Serve immediately.