I love a kitchen project. I have been making a ritual of Sundays lately, batch cooking several things that will make feeding myself throughout the week easy, but in a way that gives me time to sink into a process that also delights me. One of the things that has inspired this intentional shift is closing up precisely at 3pm on Sundays (rather than staying late in the studio), and listening to Milk Street Radio on NPR on the ride back to Somerville. Inevitably, after hearing Ina Garten talk about carrot cake or Yotem Ottolenghi wax poetic about Urfa chiles, I start getting the itch to break out my good olive oil, turn up the tunes, and follow my senses.
This week, they were talking about how to take your potato pasta game to the next level. Now, I am the only one in my house who likes gnocchi, so I almost never make them just for myself, but after listening to all the tips and tricks Milk Street garnered from their lab work, I was moved to make a big batch to freeze into multiple meals. With just five ingredients, making perfectly pillowy dumplings comes down to technique, so I will direct you to their instructions, and the only substitution I made was using GF flour, and giving the finished pasta a light sear after boiling.
Additionally, I like to use a really big, but really low bowl to mix my dough in, rather than doing it on the counter, so clean up is easy.
Here's the recipe I used for perfect POTATO GNOCCHI
SERVING
I was in a specialty store earlier in the week, and found this can of baby San Marzano tomatoes and some Greek oregano, and I knew that with a little butter and salt, that those two things would cook up into a super fast, super tasty sauce, and I am so glad I had them in the pantry for this dish. If you're ever at Dave's Fresh Pasta in Somerville, that is where I found them. Concentrated tomato flavor, low acid, not watery at all. While your finished, freshly boiled dumplings are resting, heat a little butter in a skillet. Add the pasta, let it brown lightly, throw in 1/3 of the can of tomatoes, add a sprinkle of oregano, and a dash of salt. For about a minute, let the sauce simmer, then transfer it to a bowl, where you can garnish it with some nice pecorino or Parmesan (if you are into that sort of thing). Mangia!
