Gnocchi alla Sorrentino

I enjoyed teaching an Online Cooking Class to make these yummy little Italian potato dumplings! The class had participants from Connecticut and three different locations in California: North, Central and South! All participants were successful in creating their own Gnocchi alla Sorrentino! I really enjoyed cooking with these beautiful ladies and a gentleman!

Gnocchi alla Sorrentino is a recipe from the iconic Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy. In the beginning of the Amalfi Coast is the city of Sorrento, it is the gateway of the scenic highway that curves around the cliffs that plummet into the Mediterranean Sea. This area was made famous by the little towns that cling to these cliffs with houses that seems to be stacked on top of each other painted in pastel colors that perfectly complement the turquoise waters. This recipe comes from Sorrento and will have you dreaming of the beautiful Amalfi Coast.

Dough Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of flour (plus extra flour for dusting the board)
• 2 pounds yellow or red potatoes (about 7 medium sized)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg

Dough Instructions:

• Start cooking your WHOLE, UNPEALED potatoes one hour before you are ready for them. The potatoes should be placed in the pot when the water is still cold from the tap. Depending on the size it may take 30-45 minutes to cook them whole. They should be tender when poked with a fork. Remove them from the boiling water and allow to cool. Do not over cook them or allow them to stay in the hot water after they are finished or they will turn gummy
• While you are cooking your potatoes, make your Sorrentino Sauce (recipe below)
• Make a “volcano” with the flour on your work surface. A wooden board or solid surface countertops work best.
• Remove the thin skin from the cooked potatoes with your fingers, it should peak off easily.
• ”Rice” the cooked potatoes using a fork to scrape the surface of the pealed potato (See illustrations below) You can also use a potato “ricer”.
• Add the potato crumbles to the flour, tossing them together to coat the potatoes with the flour. There will be more potato than flour, add the salt.
• Add the egg and work together to form a soft dough, don’t over work the dough or it will become tough when cooked.
• Cut the dough into 8 sections and roll each section out like a “snake”, the width should be between your pinky finger and a pencil. Don’t make it too thick because it gets larger when it is cooked.
• Cut the “snake” into sections about 3/4 inch long, they look like little pillows.
• Roll each gnocchi off the back of a fork, this will make ridges into the gnocchi.
• When you have worked about half of the dough, get your hot water boiling to cook the gnocchi. Add 1 Tablespoon salt to the water
• When you have finished rolling out the gnocchi, add the chopped fresh mozzarella to the Sorrentino sauce and turn up the heat to melt the cheese, do this at the same time as you add the gnocchi to the boiling water. You don’t want the cheese to melt so much that it is no longer visible, you want it to melt but be stringy, lovely stringy mozzerella in the sauce when you lift the spoon from the sauce.
• Add the gnocchi to the boiling water, at first they will settle on the bottom of the pan, give them a little stir. When they have floated to the top you can remove them from the boiling water and spoon them into your Sorrentino sauce.
• Serve and enjoy!

Sorrentino Sauce:

• 1 can diced tomatoes (12 ounce cans each) or 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce (12 ounces or 2 cups)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic smashed
• 1 onion chopped finely
• Several basil leaves torn (or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 (6 ounce) balls fresh mozzerella ( must be the soft fresh mozzarella, not the firm aged.)

Sorrentino Instructions:

• Sauté the whole smashed garlic in the olive oil until a hint of color, remove the garlic clove. 
• Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent 
• Add the fresh or canned diced tomatoes with torn basil leaves or dried basil and cook with onions about 5 minutes
• Chop your cooked garlic and add it back into the sauce
• Add the tomato sauce and salt and continue cooking another 10 minutes 
• Remove from heat and set aside