Flavorful, sparkling, very tasty. I am homemade gnocchi alla sorrentina, a very simple dish to prepare but with a final result that never disappoints. Gnocchi alla sorrentina, as the name suggests, come from Campania and are born precisely on the Sorrento peninsula, in an old inn overlooking Piazza Tasso. It seems that the cook of the time thought of mashing the boiled potatoes and mixing them with eggs and flour but, realizing the softness of the mixture which could not be used for other preparations, he decided to cut it into chunks and cook it in boiling water, then seasoning the gnocchi with the most typical ingredients of the area: tomato, mozzarella and basil. Today the gnocchi alla sorrentina are among the most popular dishes in the worldsymbol of Italy all over the globe.

Preparation

1

Rinse the potatoes under running water to remove soil and dust. Place them in a large pot and cover them with water. Light the fire and let them cook until you can pierce them with a fork. When they are cooked, drain them and let them cool. Mash them in a bowl with a potato masher without removing the peel.

2

Mash them inside a bowl with a potato masher without removing the peel, add the eggs and mix with a fork.

3

Add the flour and start kneading first with a fork, then transferring the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

4

Work the dough quickly until it forms a loaf.

5

Cut a piece of dough and give it the shape of a stick with a diameter of about 1 cm

6

Cut the dumplings into the size of 1.5 cm in length. Pass them on the special tool to scratch them, or use the prongs of a fork.

7

When you have scratched all the gnocchi, arrange them on a floured tray.

8

Now prepare the tomato sauce. In a pan add 1 clove of peeled garlic and the extra virgin olive oil, brown the garlic over low heat. After 2 minutes add the tomato puree, salt and cook for 15 minutes.

9

Place a large saucepan ¾ full of water on the stove. When it starts to boil, add the salt and the gnocchi, draining them with a slotted spoon when they come to the surface.

10

Place the gnocchi in a bowl and season them with the tomato sauce, setting aside 3 ladles. Oil a baking dish and pour the rest of the tomato sauce on the bottom.

11

Add the gnocchi, the diced mozzarella and the Parmesan.

12

Bake in the oven, with grill mode, at 250° for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Advice and tips

If you don’t have the time or ability to make homemade gnocchi, you can use purchased ones, making sure they are of good quality. You will need them about 800 g for 4 people.

The cooking time for potatoes varies according to the size of the tubers. The bigger they are, the longer it will take to boil them. For this reason we do not give you a precise indication, but we advise you to pierce each potato with a fork to test doneness. On average, the time required for cooking is around 40 minutes.

You can season the gnocchi with plenty of fresh or dry basil if you don’t have fresh basil available.

You can make tomato sauce following the original traditional recipe, using fresh ripe tomatoes. Cook them quickly in a pan with a drizzle of oil, then pass them through a vegetable mill and cook as per the recipe. The best potatoes for gnocchi alla sorrentina they are the ones with the red skinbut you can also use yellow-skinned potatoes and follow the basic gnocchi recipe.