Dining in Asti

Passport & Plate - Gnocchi with tomato and pesto sauce

Italy | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Recipe

Gnocchi with tomato and pesto sauce

Ingredients

Pesto : 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp of pine kernels (toasted), 20g of fresh basil, 2 generous tbps of shaved parmesan cheese, salt, olive oil

Tomato Sauce: 12 cherry tomatoes blanched and skinned, 2 garlic cloves, tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, pepper

Gnocchi: I kg of starchy potatoes (use potatoes of similar size to ensure they will be cooked and ready at the same time), 2 medium eggs, approx 300g of flour ( may need more of less depending on the consistency, salt

 

How to prepare this recipe
1: Put the potatoes (with their skin) in cold water and bring to boil, then turn down to simmer for 45mins (depending on potato size, I used 5 very large ones)
2: while the potatoes are boiling prepare the pesto; toast the pine kernels, meanwhile with a mortar and pestle smash the garlic cloves with a pinch of salt , when the the pine nuts have coloured add them to the mix and crush.
3: Gradually add the basil leaves and work them in.
4: Add the shaved parmesan cheese and olive oil and keep working until you have a green paste of your desired consistency.
5: Bring a pot of water to boil and add your cherry tomatoes, each of which have been scored, boil them in the water 3 mins or so, you should see the skin beginning to peel. Quickly drain and refill the pot with cold water to stop the tomatoes from over cooking.
6: Peel the tomatoes and set a side.
Keep checking on your potatoes so that the skin hasn't broken or they are over cooked
7: Heat some olive oil on a sauté pan and add 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, cook until they begin to colour, then add the tin of chopped tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and cook for approx 15mins.
8: When the potatoes are ready, drain from the pot, and peel off their skin, then in a large bowl mash until a fine consistency
9: Add the eggs, salt & pepper and flour to the bowl and work the ingredients together to until you've a dough.
10: Dust a work surface with flour and take a handful of the dough and roll it into a long cigar shape. Repeat with all the dough adding flour if needed
11: With a knife cut the gnocchi into 1-1.5c pieces, then roll and gently press each piece off the back of a fork.
12: Bring a pot of water to boil and add in some of the gnocchi, once it raises to the surface it’s ready. Drain, and repeat with all the gnocchi.
13: Once ready add to the tomato sauce and stir, then serve with a spoon of pesto and shavings of parmesan on top.

 

The story behind this recipe
While I was a student in Dublin, I had the pleasure of living with an Italian man called Andrea who then and since then became a great friend of mine. In summer of 2012 he invited me, and some of our Irish friends, to come visit him in his hometown for the Asti wine festival. Unsurprisingly, it took very little persuasion to come and sample some of the best wine Italy has to offer; in fact we practically hopped at the opportunity.
Living with Andrea, I had finally met an Italian who made authentic Italian food, especially when his girlfriend came over to visit. I would watch while they cooked in our kitchen and learned from their techniques (I don’t think they realise how much I was taking in), they would share their dishes and I would learn more of Italian culture, especially when their Italian friends came over, I think food was always was the topic of conversation.
Andrea and his girlfriend Chiara hosted us for a week during the festival, during the day we would bounce off the contagious energy in the air and introduce our palettes to wine we would never find in Ireland, while during the evenings we would all gather to prepare our dinner together. One evening to my delight we made gnocchi.
I had never tasted gnocchi until I came to Asti and preparing a meal of it with some of my closest friends is a really wonderful memory for me. Every evening in Asti we cooked food together at Andrea’s family home. It was always hands on and a combined effort but making gnocchi really got everyone involved from peeling the skins off the tomatoes to smashing the garlic for pesto to rolling the potato dough into long cigars. We were all gathered around a generously flour dusted table, laughing, sipping wine and getting our fingers stuck in dough and figuring out what to do with the fork.
This combined effort to make our meal was our time together which was even more important than eating but through food we were connecting, sharing and learning and spending that valuable time.