Ingredients
- For the gnocchi
- 450g potatoes, unpeeled
- 1 egg, beaten
- 200g plain flour, extra for rolling
- 1/2 tsp salt
- For the tomato sauce
- 20 ripe, soft plum tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 small hot dried chilli
- Salt to taste
- 1 large handful of basil
- To serve
- Grated cheese
1. Either boil or steam the potatoes in their skins until soft. When the potatoes are cooked through remove them to cool and dry out.
2. When cool enough to handle, peel and mash them making sure no lumps remain.
3. In the meantime, make the tomato sauce. Firstly, bring a pot of water to the boil to skin the tomatoes. Before starting, have a bowl of cold water ready to cool them down. Slit the skin at the bottom of each tomato with a sharp knife. Once the water has come to a rolling boil add in 5 tomatoes at a time. Once the skin starts to loosen (about 15 seconds, depending on their ripeness), remove them to the bowl of cold water and allow to cool down before removing the skin.
3. Continue this process until all the tomatoes are peeled. Roughly chop them removing the hard tip saving as much juice as possible.
4. Heat a frying pan and add the olive oil followed by the tomatoes and the dried chilli and the garlic. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and allow to simmer for an hour while you make the gnocchi.
5. When the potato mixture is cold, make a well in the middle and drop in the egg and sift over the flour with the salt. Now gently bring everything together using your hands and knead to a soft dough. At this stage you may need a little more flour, both on the surface and in the mixture.
6. Roll the dough into long sausage shapes about 2.5cm in diameter, and cut into 2cm pieces. Dust lightly with flour and put on a tray. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. Roll the potato segments into balls and then taking a floured fork, push it into the dough to make a ridged surface. Return to the floured tray.
8. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop in about a third of the gnocchi. Simmer until they float to the surface, then give them a further 20-30 seconds. Lift out with a slotted spoon, drain well and place in a heated dish, along with a knob of butter. Keep warm, cooking the remaining gnocchi in 2 further batches.
9. Add a few handfuls of basil to the tomato sauce and mix well.
10. Divide the sauce between 4 deep plates, place the gnocchi on top and sprinkle with the cheese.
