Gnocchi all Sorrentina

Last August we spent two blissful – and very hot – weeks in Italy. For three nights we stayed in a tiny town called Seiano, outside of Sorrento, on the Gulf of Naples. Our somewhat remote 5-star hotel had a one-Michelin star restaurant, meaning when we got hungry we hiked it to the Trattoria “La Nave” up the road. One night we brought in a pizza and beers to enjoy the view of Mt. Vesuvius from our patio and had to march it through the lobby right past the restaurant’s  fancy lineup – Scusi!

The following day we went back for a late lunch. The potato “dumpings” on the menu had caught my eye and I wanted to experience gnocchi Sorrento-style.  They came swimming in a thick, spicy tomato sauce packed with big chunks of bufala mozzarella. Much to the owner’s disappointment, I was only able to put a small dent in the dish, following appetizers of prosciutto and melon and caprese salad. Nevertheless, it was divine.

Friday night I took my third and final piece of frozen gnocchi dough out of the freezer so that I could make it the next night.  Saturday morning, though, we made dinner plans with friends. There was only one thing to do with that thawed ball of dough. I dumped about a cup of flour onto the counter and immediately began rolling out gnocchi’s. We set a big pot of water to boil and got out our other ingredients: tomato sauce (leftover from pizza night) and fresh soft mozzarella (also leftover from pizza night).

As the gnocchi cooked (3 minutes per batch – I broke it into four batches to avoid sticking), I heated the tomato sauce on medium in a small saucepan. Once the sauce was very warm I transferred the gnocchi to it, and at the end added a large handful of the soft mozzarella, cut into small chunks.

Breakfast was served! Gnocchi all Sorrentina.

A note about tomato sauce:

For this recipe and for the pizza, I used Pomi marinara sauce. Generally we like to make our own tomato sauce – and I encourage you to do the same – but this Pomi marinara is delicious and particularly handy for times like when you’re making pasta for breakfast.