Chilled tomato gnocchi stew
On a hot summer afternoon we sat to think about dinner and wanted something heartier than a cold salad, but not hot like our usual pasta standards. What other cold dishes could we find? Gazpacho, a cold tomato soup, is a classic thought, but it contains more vegetables and spices than we were interested in. Asian cuisines have cold soba salad, although we’re more at home with European cuisine. We had some Mamma Emma fresh gnocchi in the fridge, but how could we use that in a chilled dish?
Turns out the pre-cooked gnocchi is perfect because it doesn’t need the stove on to boil the gnocchi for a long period of time. Borrowing somewhat from the idea of shakshouka — a tomato stew with poached eggs laid in — we decided to do a basic tomato stew (sauté onions, garlic, add canned tomatoes & herbs) and add the gnocchi off the heat, allowing it to soften and soak the flavors while the stew cooled. Fresh basil and mozzarella added after it was chilled brought out the summer flavors without melting the mozzarella. Ensuring the tomato mixture didn’t boil kept it from losing that bright “fresh tomato” taste.
If you wanted more of a salad you could add things like blanched summer green beans. If your balsamic is pretty sweet, or you cooked the tomatoes too long, a fresh squeeze of lemon while serving would brighten it up. As always, taste along the way, so you can see how it is and adjust as you wish!
Recipe
This is a great stew for a hot day. One of the key items is to chill your serving bowl; the tactile experience of serving from a cold bowl cools your hands and puts a smile on your face.
We’ve fallen in love with pre-cooked fresh gnocchi, like Mamma Emma. But you can make gnocchi from dry, or from scratch, and just make sure to cook it al dente so it doesn’t fall apart in the stew. We prefer the miniature gnocchi to larger, so that it blends in with the mozzarella rounds and feels more like a tomato stew than a gnocchi dish with tomato sauce.
Sauté in a tablespoon of olive oil until soft and browned:
1 yellow onion, chopped
Add in and sauté very gently until aromatic:
half a head of garlic, diced
Using a balsamic on the sweeter side helps offset a bit of the acidity from the fresh tomatoes. If your balsamic is very acidic, you could even add a teaspoon of sugar if you wanted.
Deglaze the pan and scrape up any fond with:
2 tbps balsamic vinegar
Preventing the tomatoes from boiling or cooking too long retains the “fresh” tomato flavor that makes this dish great for summer evenings.
Add in and warm until hot but not boiling:
28oz can crushed tomatoes
small handful chopped fresh oregano leaves, or whatever you have in your garden
1 tbsp sea salt, or to taste
fresh ground black pepper
Add in and turn off the heat:
12oz package pre-cooked fresh miniature gnocchi,
or dried gnocchi cooked to roughly al dente
Fold the gnocchi into the tomato occasionally while it cools. Let cool to almost room temperature, then spread thinly on a baking sheet and place in the fridge (or freezer, if you’re low on time). At this time, place your serving bowl in the fridge as well.
Once cool and/or ready to serve, remove baking sheet and sprinkle on top (for ease of mixing):
large handful of chopped basil (reserving some for garnish)
8oz package miniature fresh mozzarella rounds, halved
Gently scoop the tomato & gnocchi with basil & mozzarella on top from the baking sheet into a serving bowl, making sure not to stir too much if the gnocchi is tender. Top with another quick grind of fresh black pepper and the remaining basil.
Serve chilled on a hot day with some rustic bread, olive oil & balsamic dipping, and an herbal juice diluted with sparkling water. Stores well in the fridge and scarfs great the next day with some grated cheddar on top.
