Potato Gnocchi with beef & pork ragu

on in Carne (Meat Dishes), Pasta, Gnocchi & Polenta, Recipes

I would say I am my own worst critic. There have been a few times in my cooking life where I have made some serious boo boos. I usually get so devastated over them, especially when cooking for friends or family that I tend to not forgive myself, apologise over 100 times & go into hiding. I had one of those boo boos this Easter weekend. My first hand at potato gnocchi & it all went wrong. My dad even only gave me a 6/10, then he corrected and said ‘I mean a -6’. I mean this was bad for me, horrified. My dad is a very over honest person & I know his criticism comes from a good place. He obviously is trying to help me become the best future Italian wife & obviously making perfect gnocchi is high priority haha. After slaving over 100 hundred cook books, a day later I had my second attempt & I would say they came close to a 10/10

imageIngredients (serves 3-4) 

Gnocchi

1kg Potatoes

200g Pasta flour

1 egg, whisked

Pinch of Salt

Ragu

250g Beef, cubed

250g Pork Belly, cubed

1 garlic

1 onion

Mixed herbs

Red wine, large glass

500 ml Passata

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Grated parmesan

  • Cook potatoes in boiling salted water.
  • In the mean time, start the ragu. Fry the garlic & onion in olive oil in a deep wide pan.
  • Add the beef & pork mix; brown the meat for 5-8 minutes on a medium heat.
  • Pour in the wine, turn up the heat and wait for the wine to evaporate before adding the Passata.
  • Season with Salt & Pepper, turn down the heat to low and simmer cook for 40-50 minutes. If the sauce dries out add a little water.
  • Back to to the gnocchi. Potatoes cooked, peel and put the potato through a potato ricer.
  • Wait for 10-15 minutes for potato to cool down.
  • Then add the egg and fold into the potato; season with salt & pepper.
  • Next is binding the potato mix with the flour. Sieve the flour, and with your hands knead the mixture until it has become a dough. However don’t work it too much.  It needs to be soft, but not sticky dough.
  • Flour the surface, and roll up the dough into long sausages; chop the dough into little pillows approx 4cm long.
  • Bring salted water to the boil, drop in the gnocchi. The gnocchi are cooked when the float up to the surface. Drain.
  • Plate up the gnocchi with the ragu on top; sprinkle Parmesan on top.