Let me just open with this. Words cannot describe how good this is. This is home. It’s my belonging, it’s all the celebrations, my childhood, special moments helping my mom with making the gnocchi, funny counting of how many gnocchi who managed to eat this time, it is all the good things in a simple meal, on one plate. It is a little bit of work, but not complicated at all, and worth every single second.
The meat ragu is cooked low and slow until the meat is starting to fall apart, and each gnocchi is rolled and shaped lovingly so all that incredible sauce has a good place to go. All for that perfect bite, and every bite of this is perfect. If you’ve never made gnocchi home, please try it, it’s a completely different ball game than the store bought ones. So much more soft and flavorful, you’ll never want to go back. I still sometimes use the store bought ones if I really don’t have the time, and I need a quick 20 minute dinner, but I almost consider it a whole different ingredient and food. I hope you make this dish and feel all the love in it!
Gnocchi in Meat ragu
Ingredients
For the Meat Ragu:
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 3 large yellow onions or 4 smaller ones
- 3 lbs chick roast, cubed
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- salt and pepper
- water
For the Gnocchi
- 2 lbs Russet potatoes
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2-2 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
For the Meat Ragu:
- Thinly slice the onions and slice the beef in about 1" cubes. Put two tablespoons of canola oil in a large pot and saute the onions on low to medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. You don't want to brown the onions, just sweat them out. Add the beef and cook stirring occasionally until it releases its own juices and then most of the liquid evaporates. Season with salt and pepper, add nutmeg, ground cloves and the tomato paste.Add water to cover the meat and cook on low heat for about 2 and a half hours, periodically adding the water as it evaporates. When the meat is tender and starts to fall apart it is done. Check for seasoning in the end and add more salt and pepper if needed.
For the Gnocchi:
- Put The whole, unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water to about an inch over the potatoes. Boil the potatoes until a fork is inserted in and they are tender.Peel the potatoes, then using a potato ricer, rice the potatoes (or mash them with a fork) and make a well in the middle. Leave for about 5 minutes to cool slightly. Add the butter in the middle of the potatoes as well as the salt, half of the flour and an egg, and start combining with your hand. Keep adding flour until just combined and not too sticky and you are able to knead it into a ball. Make sure you are working on a well floured surface.Cutting smaller chunks at a time, roll pieces of the dough into about and inch thick log and then cut each log into smaller 1" pieces. Making sure your hands are well floured, roll each piece into a smooth ball then using back of a fork roll it down, gently pressing with your thumb when in downward motion so you create the pattern on the outside the gnocchi and a little indentation on the inside of the gnocchi. This is where all that yummy sauce will go so every bite is that much better.Arrange gnocchi on a floured baking sheet as you roll them as this will help speed along the cooking process.Boil a large pot of water and season with 2 generous tablespoons of salt. Cook the gnocchi in batches of about 20, gnocchi will first fall to the bottom and when they are almost done will start coming up to the surface. Cook them for one more minute after they've come up then take them out of the water and put directly into the sauce. Gently mix and serve with some grated Parmesan on top.
