We’re having beautiful days and cooler nights in Melbourne at the moment and this is the kind of food I’m craving. I’ve been making my own gnocchi and I’ll include the recipe for that below. But you can easily use store bought or your favourite recipe. Pasta would also be delicious with this sauce.

I have a fabulous butcher close to home and I use his free range pork and fennel sausages in this recipe. Most butchers in Australia will do this flavour, if not anything labeled ‘Italian’ will also work really well. This probably sounds annoying and particular, but buying meat from a butcher rather than the supermarket is fab idea if you have the option. My butcher is usually cheaper for the good quality stuff, it allows you to cut down on packaging and you’re supporting a small business. It also means you can usually talk to someone who is super knowledgeable about the product they’re selling. That said we all have to work within the constraints of our own lives! I know my sister in California has a plethora of different amazing supermarkets to choose from but there’s not local butcher.

A little note on the term quick: this dish is quick if you used premade gnocchi. if you make the gnocchi the way I do it’s not quick. The quick part refers to the ragu, not making the gnocchi!

I’ve included my recipe for making gnocchi at the end of this post, it’s by no means the most authentic because I’m not Italian. But it’s easy and delicious. It does take some time though, not active time, just waiting time. I’m a big fan of baking the potatoes on a bed of rock salt, it helps dry them out and make them fluffy and light. That’s what you want! There are other quicker methods if this sounds too time consuming for you. I’ve never used them though. Sticking to what I know over here. Choosing the right potato is also key, you don’t want anything with a high water content, you want something floury. I love using Royal Blues but Desiree are more available and King Edwards work too. If you’re not from Australia I’d suggest googling what the best type of potatoes are for gnocchi in your area.

I also don’t like to mash them, I think it makes the gnocchi gluey as you’re working the potatoes starch so much more. Stick to using a potato ricer or pushing the potatoes through a mesh sieve.

Back to the sauce, I’ve specified San Marzano canned tomatoes in the recipe, they’re sweeter than other canned tomatoes but you can easily use a can of roma or cherry tomatoes. If you use something more acidic you may need to balance the acid by adding a couple of pinches of sugar. You’re not cooking them down for ages so they won’t sweeten by themselves. The sauce has a freshness to it because of this and that’s exactly what I want from it. Adding olive oil at the end gives it a lusciousness that’s so nice. I’m obsessed with extra virgin olive oil and use a lot of it.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

2 pork and fennel or Italian sausages.

200g mushrooms (cup, button or brown), roughly chopped into .5cm pieces.

2 tsps fresh thyme

1 shallot or 1/4 cup spring onion

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 x 400g can of San Marzano (or roma) tomatoes

500g gnocchi (if using store bought otherwise  just follow the recipe below or your own that makes enough for 4)

Parmesan to serve

Black pepper and Salt to taste

Directions

Put a large pot  of salted water on the heat, while it comes to the boil start the sauce:

Place a high sided heavy based fry pan on medium high heat. Add 1 Tbs olive oil and once hot add the sausage by squeezing it out of its casing in to the pan. Use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage meat. Cook, stirring frequently, until it has just started to brown.

Add the mushrooms, thyme, onion and garlic to the sausage and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened and beginning to caramelise. Add the tomatoes and use the wooden spoon to break them out. Simmer for ten minutes before you begin cooking the gnocchi. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper at this point. Depending on your sausage the amount of salt you’ll need will vary.

Cook the gnocchi in the boiling salted water until it floats to the to. Scoop it out and immediately add to the sauce. Once all the gnocchi is in the pan, drizzle over remaining olive all and gently stir to coat the gnocchi, if the sauce is too thick add a little of the gnocchi cooking water.

Serve with parmesan grated over the top

How I make Gnocchi

1kg Royal Blue, Desiree or King Edward Potatoes, clean.

1.5 cups of rock salt

1 egg

100g of flavour per 500g of cooked riced potato

Preheat oven to  200 degrees celsius. Spread the rock salt over a baking tray that will snuggly git the potatoes. Use the tip of a sharp knife to pierce the potatoes all over. Place on the tray and bake in your oven for at least an hour and a half. The skin should be wrinkly and the potato tender when done, but time will depend on the size of the potatoes you are using. You can always cut one in half to check. They should be fluffy in the centre.

Once potatoes are cooked slice in half and leave to cool for half an hour, this will help the steam evaporate. Use a potato ricer to rice them, or alternatively use the skin to push them through a sieve. You want to avoid mashing because you don’t want gluey gnocchi.

Weigh the cooked, riced potato and then in a bowl make a well in the mound of potato and add the required four and an egg. Use a fork to mix the egg and flour into the potato using a whisking motion and then switch to your hands to lightly knead until it comes together into a a dough. Do not over knead it, be gently and stop as soon as it’s come together.

Place on a clean floured surface. Divide the dough into 4 parts and take one part, using floured hands, roll it into a long log with a 1.5cm diameter. Use a sharp knife to cut the gnocchi  into 2cm long pieces and place on a floured tray. Size is really up to you though so make them as big or small as you prefer. You can create ridges with a fork or just squeeze each piece lightly to create a little indent.

Repeat with remaining dough. Freeze or use straight away. If you freeze it cook from frozen. To cook, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi and then scoop out as soon as it pop to the surface.

HH. x