Nonna Olga's Gnocchi (potato dumplings) in Ceramics Vietri Dish - Neapolitan Traditional Recipe

One of the most loved and proposed Neapolitan plate are certainly the potatoes "Gnocchi alla Sorrentina". They are present in Neapolitan kitchen from XVI century so from the first imports of the potato from the Americas, in the centuries they have undergone different changes and they have taken different names, but from the 1800 the recipe and the names are those handed down to the present. 

The "Gnocchi alla Sorrentina" are flavor with fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, parmesan and, if it is possible, passed by again in the wood oven in pottery dish... but also your oven in your kitchen is good!

As every traditional recipeals this recipe is one of the plate that grandmothers teach their grandchild, from generation to generation, passing peculiarity and personalization... and this is for my Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, recipe of Grandma Olga!!

 

it is essential for the success ( and the taste) of the Gnocchi are certainly the potatoes. In Naples if you go to any greengrocer, he has surely his appropriate potatoes for the gnocchi. My advances is to use yellow potatoes (biologic is better), not fresh, but old of the preceding year (so it contains less water). 

 

To make "alla Sorrentina" it occur make a sauce of fresh tomatoes (as San Marzano). But also peeled tomatoes or tomatoes puree are good. 

 

But, Grandma Olga does not prepare the Gnocchi until he has prepared the a traditional Neapolitan ragù, with different slices of meat and let it cooking boiling slowly from the last day. 

 

With the ragù they will be more taste (... and also less digestible), but if you love fresher taste so choose a sauce of fresh tomatoes. 

 

In either case, you should abound with the basil!!!

 

300 gr of white flour 00 (biologic is better)

1 kg of yellow potatoes (biologic is better)

1 eggs 

salt 

 

Ingredients for the sauce of tomatoes 

1.5 kg of tomatoes San Marzano (or a tomatoe puree or peeled tomato) biologic if it is possible. 

1-2 pieces of garlic 

5-6 leafs of basil 

EVO Oil 

salt 

 

Ingredients for condiment 

250 gr of Fior di latte or Mozzarella cheese

100 gr of grated Parmesan cheese or Grana Padano DOP

Pepper 

Basil 

 

If you want flavor your gnocchi with the Traditional Neapolitan Ragù I send you to recipe on my website. 

 

If you pefer a sauce with fresh tomatoes so you must start to wash them under water. Put them in a pot with salt water that must boil. Let it cook for some minutes. After that, put the tomatoes in the vegetable mill picking up the pulp in a bowl. 

Now, take a pot and let cook garlic and EVO oil. Put away the garlic and add the tomatoes (be careful not burn yourself), the basil and salt. Let it cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, remebering to mix occasionally.

 

(If you haven't fresh tomatoes, or not is the season for fresh tomatoes, you can prepare the sauce with a tomatoes puree in a bottle or a peeled tomatoes passed in a mixer)

 

To prepare Gnocchi we start to wash the potatoes, put them in a pot and add cold water to cover them. Put the pot on the fire to boil them (it occur about 40 minutes).

Advice: to see if the potatoes are cooked, sting them with a fork and if it penetrate easily into the potatoes, the potatoes are cooked.

 

When the potatoes are cooked, dry them, peel them and, when they are still hot and being careful not to burn yourself, squash them into the potato masher and make a fountain form on a table.

Sift the flour over the potatoes. Make an hole in the middle and add the egg and salt. Now we start to mix all with your hands until to obtain a mixture.

 

Advice: The mixture must be smooth, homogeneous, without clots. If the mixture still be sticky, you can add very little flour at a time. Avoid adding too much flour because it would end up drying the mixture, and would make it too hard.

Another advice: work quickly the mixture, without pause and without it dries.... as the mixture for the fresh bread. 

 

Make a block and divided it in piece. 

From every piece you must obtain filament of mixture with a thickness of 2-3 cm;

Now cut the slice of filament of 2-3 cm then one for one with your fingers you must hollow them, to obtain a kind of curl (as photo). 

If there were to be difficult to do so, you can also give him the simple typical scoring, passing them on a fork.

 

Advice: pour a little EVO oil (it will serve not to attack gnocchi each other)

 

Pour Gnocchi in the hot water. After some minutes they start to surface: then you could dry them with a perforated spoon.

Put them in a bowl, add a part of sauce tomatoes (ragù or sauces of fresh tomatoes) and mix them with a part of Parmesan.

 

Simple: in the bowl add the mozzarella (slice in cube), the basil and turn all taking care. Put the gnocchi into the very colored soup dishes of Ceramica Vietrese adding a little of sauce, of parmesan and a leaf of basil. 

Traditional: put the gnocchi in small bowls of terracotta. Add mozzarella (slice in cube), another touch of sauce, parmesan and leafs of basil. Put the bowls in the oven (a wood oven is better) to cook au gratin for some minutes. Serve on the table the bowls, supported by the very colored dinner dishes of Ceramica Vietrese.