Gnocchi Pomodoro - Joanne's Savory Summary

First off let me start with a summary.  Complete and utter success on the perceived most difficult part of this recipe.  Total fail on the seemingly easy portion.  In short, this recipe did the old bait and switch.  I decided to start bright and early Sunday morning so my gnocchi would have plenty of time to freeze for easy handling.  Nothing like the smell of baking potatoes at 7:30 in the morning.  It was...errr...interesting to say the least.  I baked my potatoes at 350 for about an hour and a half.  However, I think this temperature was a little low because they still weren't done after a full 90 minutes.  I figured I had done the best I could and to avoid wasting more time I microwaved them the rest of the way.

Just roll with it...

Next, I sustained third degree burns on my finger tips handling the super hot potatoes and scooping out the potato from the skin.  Mario Batali must have a high pain threshold and seriously callused fingers.  After systematically adding the ingredients I ended up with a smooth dough.  I mixed it with my hands to make sure I got out any leftover lumps.  Rolling out and cutting the dough was super easy.  In fact, I ended up with far more dough than I needed.  If I'd had more time I would have definitely made more gnocchi for later use but unfortunately a good amount went to waste. 

After we ran our errands and came home, it was around 4:30 and David was ready to eat.  This is where my arrogance about making a seemingly simple pasta sauce got in my way.  Instead of a robust tomato based sauce with a hint of cream, I ended up with a runny, greasy mess.  It was bad.  Real bad.  In fact even after I served the meal to David he made a quick beeline to the kitchen for more salt and more Parmesan cheese.  The gnocchis though he raved about and I even sensed a bit of surprise at how well they turned out!

This picture is a lie

I will definitely be making these again.  However, I will pay more attention to the sauce or (Italian mothers everywhere - earmuffs) opt for something out a jar.

Mangi!
Joanne