Chef David Brunelli shares one of his favorite family recipes!

Being a Chef of a restaurant that you actually own comes with great responsibility! However, it certainly provides you brief moments of joy and fulfilling escapes through divine food indulgences in your own kitchen!

Thrilling experiences through food experiments and exploration; one could get easily used to this life style! Having lived this life style for more than 20 years now, Chef David Brunelli finds great pleasure in sharing one of his favorite family recipes for Gnnochi Napolitano with us!

Gnochhi refers to various thick, small and soft dough dumplings in Italian and these dumplings can usually be made from wheat flour, eggs, cornmeal, potato, cheese or similar ingredients. You can always make preferential choice of adding flavours of herbs to the dish. Similarly, Napolitano or Napoli sauce basically covers all kinds of tomato- based sauces derived from Italian cuisines.

Chef David however, loves his family recipe for potato Gnochhi which is actually the most famous one that are known and loved world-wide. It dates back to the sixteenth or, more likely, the seventeenth century. They generally say it all started after the Spanish explorers brought potatoes from South America and introduced them to Italian kitchens. David shares with us today, this recipe for potato dumplings and fresh Sougo fresco Napoletana;  a sauce based on tomato, garlic, olive oil and basil. It is a very popular dish and he has been making it for years now with his family and has also included this dish in his Italian restaurant’s menu. He adds that this dish is very easy to make even at your home. He recalls those memories when he along with his father, mother and sister would gather around to make this dish sharing conversations, talking about their life, work and where they were in life at that moment. You can follow why this recipe is so close to his heart!

Now, lets take a look at the ingredients that one needs to have to make Gnocchi Napolitano (egg free)

For making Gnochhi

• 100 grams Flour + extra for dusting
• 1kg potato cooked

For making Napolitano Sauce

• 1kg ripe cherry tomatoes ( the smaller the sweeter, if you are using larger tomatoes you need to cut it)
• 4-6 cloves whole garlic
• 1-2 whole fresh chilies for some zing (*preferential)
• 250 ml dry white wine for deglazing
• 100 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (E.V.O.) for the Italian flavor and taste
• 4-5 fresh basil leaves for fragrance
• 4-5 fresh parsley leaves for aroma (*preferential)
• A pinch of black pepper or white pepper (*preferential)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Once you have all these ingredients ready you are set to follow these methods for cooking Gnocchi and Napolitano sauce

Method that you need to follow for Gnocchi

• Boil potato whole in skin until soft, drain, cool and remove skin while warm.
• Mash potato as fine as possible, crush against board/bench, use potato ricer or mouli.
• Level crushed potato on bench and sieve flour over potato. Combine creating dough.
• Flour the bench (working table) surface lightly to prevent dough sticking and for rolling purposes.
• Make a ball and divide into 4 and roll into cylinder shape approx. 1cm diameter.
• Pinch dough lightly at approx. 2cm intervals and cut at intervals. Prepare water for cooking.
• Bring adequate salted water to boil and drop gnocchi into water, do not overcrowd the pot.
• Gnocchi are ready when they float to surface of water, then strain and put it on a plate.

Method that you need to follow for Napolitano Sauce

• Heat oil to medium heat, add peeled whole garlic and chili, brown lightly and remove the garlic and chilly from oil.
• Heat oil to high heat and add whole tomatoes and blister and sauté until collapsed.
• Deglaze with white wine so that it imparts little bit of sweetness and takes away the acidity of the tomato and reduce liquid by ¼.
• Lower heat to simmer and cook for approx. 5-10 minutes according to taste.
• Add freshly cut parsley and stir
• Add a pinch of black or white pepper
• Bruise fresh basil between hands and add to sauce.
• Add a little sauce to cooked gnocchi to prevent sticking.

Finally,

• Plate gnocchi and finish with a little Napolitano sauce and garnish with grated parmesan cheese and basil sprig.

You are now all set to indulge in Gnocchi Napolitano! Stay updated with our posts, we will soon be sharing a Vlog for the recipe.