Sauce my gnocchi

October 29, 2022 7:45 AM

We're having friends over tonight. Since it's the 29, we're serving gnocchi, of course. We bought a nice pesto, but I'd like to make one or two more sauces. Which?

We're also serving roast beef.
I have some nice panceta, plentiful garlic, and some big black olives, good olive oil, chunks of reggianito and grana padano. I'd be happy to get other ingredients.
Nobody's vegan, vegetarian, or has any significant food restrictions.

posted by signal to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

There was a very nice recipe for gnocchi with gorgonzola in The Guardian the other day.
As someone said in the comments, the picture seems wrong, it should be a much thicker sauce.
posted by mumimor at 7:54 AM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Why is gnocchi “of course” served on the 29th? I’d love a reason to make it!

To answer the q: sage and brown butter.
posted by mahorn at 7:59 AM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

I was curious about why the 29th too. Found this link: https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/the-story-behind-gnocchi-day-in-argentina/amp/
posted by wyzewoman at 8:01 AM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: mahorn: "Why is gnocchi “of course” served on the 29th? I’d love a reason to make it!"
Explanation. I learned the custom in Argentina, but apparently it's an Italian thing.
Thanks for the answers so far!
posted by signal at 8:02 AM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Jinx, you owe me a Pellegrino.
posted by signal at 8:02 AM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

Our first pandemic meal at home was scratch made gnocchi and vodka sauce. I can't vouch for any authenticity to the combination but both were simple and fun to make. I don't recall the specific sauce recipe but we definitely searched for the simplest and probably used the top handful of search results as general guidelines.
posted by token-ring at 8:38 AM on October 29, 2022

Brown butter sauce with fried sage leaves, topped with fresh grated parmesan. Just pop the leaves in riiiight as the butter starts to take on color. Once they crisp up to a dark green the butter should be nicely browned. I sometimes add a bit of garlic right at the end as well. It's so good!
posted by ananci at 8:48 AM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

I was going to echo ananci that brown butter and sage is the fancy default for gnocchi.
posted by mmascolino at 2:39 PM on October 29, 2022

Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce is easy and definitely more than the sum of it's parts. And don't throw out the onions at the end. They're great to chop up and throw into a pot of soup.
posted by burntflowers at 4:22 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

If you haven't tried pan frying instead of boiling gnocchi you should. Have done it with many of the sauces listed above and it's really good.
posted by sepviva at 5:20 PM on October 29, 2022

I think I missed the window for this, but if you need an idea for November 29, I like gnocchi in pumpkin sauce. Start with the same brown butter/sage/garlic base everyone is recommending, then add puréed pumpkin and a bit of whole milk. Cook till it thickens somewhat.
posted by aws17576 at 10:08 PM on October 29, 2022