This gnocchi with buffalo mozzarella and whole cherry tomato sauce is the ultimate family dish, comfort food, delicious, simple and so easy to make. Ready in a jiffy.
I would never replace a good old buffalo mozzarella cheese with any other mozzarella and pretend that it's as nice because nothing really compares to a proper buffalo mozzarella cheese. Do you agree? I am sure you do.
How to make gnocchi from scratch?
If you choose to make your gnocchi from scratch, here is what you need:
- 500g floury potatoes – cooked in salted water and well-drained
- 110g OO plain flour
- 1 egg – lightly beaten
Here's hot to make gnocchi:
- Mash your potato and place this into a bowl
- Add the flour
- Add the beaten egg. Flick some of the dry ingredients over the egg and start to work the dough together until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated. If the dough feels too wet and is really sticking to your hands, you may need to add a little more flour.
- Divide the dough and roll each one out into a roll of about 3 cm thick. Cut this into gnocchi-sized pieces (about 1 inch or 2.5 cm) and roll each one in your hand to make a small oval shape. For authenticity more than anything you can then roll each gnocchi down the tines of a fork to create the classic ridges.
- Set the gnocchi to one side onto a floured baking sheet -they should not stick together until ready to cook them. Resting them before cooking will also help the gluten relax a little, making them less heavy. This is it. I know, you may have thought gnocchi are harder to make but, no, they are not!
If you do not want to make the gnocchi from scratch, feel free to buy some nice ready-made fresh gnocchi.
Gnocchi and buffalo mozzarella dish
This gnocchi pasta dish is absolutely divine. The taste and the outcome of this combination is probably one of the best you could get and that's exactly what the beauty of this dish is. Maybe it's just me but this almost the same as if I was to go for a pizza. I don’t really enjoy anything more than a simple tomato and buffalo cheese pizza.
Simple = nicest. You can taste all three flavours pretty clearly and its simplicity just does the trick. It’s good, it’s very good indeed! It’s simple and brilliant!
I sometimes use ready-made tomato sauce like a Sacla whole cherry tomato and basil which is really nice but most of the times I make my own sauce which you can find it in this recipe. All easy peasy stuff.
Other recipes you may like :
- Swiss chard, salmon, turmeric and fresh lovage warm salad with acini de Pepe pasta
- Pasta shells filled with spinach and ricotta cheese
- Gnocchi recipe with asparagus, peppers and mascarpone cheese sauce
- Creamy Genovese homemade pesto sauce
- Quinoa pasta with courgette and pesto sauce
Here's the recipe...
Gnocchi with buffalo mozzarella and whole cherry tomatoes sauce
Equipment
- chopping board
- pan
- knife
Ingredients
- 600 g gnocchi pasta
- 200 g buffalo mozzarella cheese
- 2-3 springs basil (fresh)
- ⅓ teaspoon italian herbs (mixed)
- 1 pinch red chili flakes
- 4 tablespoon cherry tomato and basil sauce (whole) *
- 200 g tomato sauce (like pasatta)
- ½ onion (finely chopped, or grated)
- 2 cloves garlic crushed and finely chopped
- ⅓ teaspoon Worcester sauce
- ¼ teaspoon oregano (dry)
- ¼ teaspoon basil (dry)
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar (unrefined) (or 1 tablespoon of honey)
- 6-7 cherry tomato (tiny little ones)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- basil (fresh) (to garnish)
Instructions
- If you want to make your own tomato sauce, start by putting a pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil, crushed garlic, onion and salt. Cook for 10 min. Add fa ew drops of water from time to time until onion is quite nice and soft. After the 10 min or so of cooking the onion add the tomato sauce, the Worcester sauce, the sugar or honey and the herbs. Cook on low heat for 10-12 min until it reduces down quite well. It really depends on how thick or watery this is. In the last 3-4 min of cooking, add the cherry tomatoes.
- While sauce simmers down, place a pan over medium heat with water and a bit of salt. Cook the gnocchi according to the package instructions but they need no longer than 3 min.
- Flake the buffalo mozzarella cheese and set aside on a plate.
- Place the boiled gnocchi in a frying pan over medium heat with a tiny knob of butter. Cook for 2 min tossing regularly so that they don't stick.
- Remove the gnocchi pasta from the pan and place on the serving dish.
- If you wish to eat this hot sprinkle the mozzarella cheese all over followed by the tomato sauce. Sprinkle some chilli flakes and the Italian mixed herbs over.
- Garnish with some fresh basil leaves and serve. Simple and beautiful. The taste..oh!!... coming straight from heaven.
Emma says
This was perfect. My kids keep on asking me to make it again and again. I make my own gnocchi too which does make a difference taste wise. Thanks soo much Ramona for this wonderful recipe and all your lovely recipes - I made quite a few and always turn out great which is why I keep coming back to your site and I am always exited to see what comes next xoxo
Aleka Shunk says
I agree!! The fresher the better! I had THE BEST mozzarella in Italy hands down. Ever since, everything else is just bleh! This sounds so perfect and fresh!! Yumm!!
Ramona says
Hi Aleka,
Thank you so much for stopping by. Oh yes, nothing compares to a good fresh bufallo mozarella, and Italy has got the best mozarella by far - I so agree with you 😉
Brian Jones says
O man I could not agree more, I see folk using shredded mozzarella cheese in recipes and immediately think 'what, why, but' before hitting the not for me, close this page button 😉 This sounds like a lovely meal, bright and vibrant with great flavour combinations.
Ramona says
Thank you Brian, I am 150% with you - I am really glad you liked the recipe 😉
Amanda says
This sounds like the PERFECT comfort food recipe. I have worcestershire sauce on hand that I've been meaning to find a use for. Thanks for sharing, Ramona!
Ramona says
Thank you so much Amanda, do let me know how you have found it 😉