Potato Gnocchi in a Marinara Sauce

This is another perfect dish for when you have to use up a few things before going shopping, or when you are waiting for payday. It’s filling and it’s simple, using basic ingredients that should already be in the pantry. It will feed 4-6 people, depending on how hungry they are.

Ingredients for gnocchi:

• 4-6 russet potatoes
• 1 ½ cups of flour
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• (Optional) 1 tablespoon fresh parsley and 1 tablespoon fresh basil

How to make gnocchi:
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, about 20 minutes.
Run cool water over the potatoes, then slip the peels off.
Mash the potatoes with a masher.
Stir in the flour, butter, salt, egg, and herbs if you are using them.
Stir with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients pull together.
Place the dough on a floured surface, and knead ten times.
Pull handfuls of the dough off the main ball and roll into snakes.
Slice into pieces about 1 inch thick and 1 inch long.
When the marinara sauce is ready, drop the gnocchi into boiling salted water and cook just until they float to the top.
Drain the gnocchi and stir them into the marinara sauce.

Ingredients for quick marinara sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed, or 1 tablespoon crushed organic garlic from a jar
2 cans (13 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
(Optional) 2 tablespoons red wine (The red wine adds body to the sauce.)

How to make the marinara sauce:
Stir the ingredients together in a saucepan.
Allow to simmer over low heat while making the gnocchi.

Serve the gnocchi and marinara sauce Parmesan cheese on top and with a fresh green salad and plenty of crunchy croutons.

Photo/RDPeyton on Flickr

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