This recipe was inspired by a dish I had last summer at Farmer’s Apprentice, a great Vancouver restaurant. For my interpretation, I made rustic gnocchi by mixing in some buckwheat flour, and used mascarpone as a base for a creamy tomato sauce. The result speaks for itself! The dish is really easy to make, but it helps to prepare the gnocchi ahead of time, since they’re a bit time consuming. Enjoy!
Buckwheat Gnocchi with Mascarpone Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 9 oz (250 g) fresh gnocchi made following these instructions, but using a mix of wheat and buckwheat flour (in a 3:1 ratio)
- 5 oz (150 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 Tbsp mascarpone
- 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 6 grape tomatoes, yellow and orange
- 6 "cocktail" mozzarella bocconcini (1 inch in diameter), at room temperature
- a handful basil leaves, chopped
- salt
Preparation
- Roll the buckwheat gnocchi, set aside.
- Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil.
- Warm up the olive oil in a pan and cook the cherry tomatoes at medium heat for 5 minutes, covered with a lid.
- Squeeze the cherry tomatoes using a spatula to mash them, remove the skins.
- Add the mascarpone and the butter. Mix until they melt and you obtain a creamy sauce. Lower the heat.
- Adjust the salt.
- Add the grape tomatoes and cover with a lid for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi in boiling water, until they float.
- Drain the cooked gnocchi and add them to the sauce. Mix well and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes in the pan.
- Plate the gnocchi, adding the cocktail bocconcini and a few basil leaves to each plate.
© Paolo Rigiroli
This looks so wonderful and fresh, Paolo – yet with a hint of fall. Hard to believe summer is almost over! Hope all is well with you! And thank you again for your introduction to Domenica – I love her stuff, and the book is amazing.
Thanks David, it’s true what you say about the hint of fall… it must be the buckwheat flour and the mascarpone. In Vancouver feels like summer has actually just begun… although the days are of course getting shorter. I’m so glad I was able to connect you to Domenica, yes – lots of great recipes.
Looks yummy and so colourful!
Thanks Cristina 🙂
Ok, I’ll say it… september’s MTC challenge is about gnocchi … just a coincidence?
Have a nice stay in Italy!
Loved this sauce, Paolo! I put it on fresh pasta (linguine) and it worked well–not sure what you’d think of that, though. Love this use of mascarpone, and the basil of course goes so well with the fresh tomatoes. This will become a standard for me!
Hi Jason! Glad you made use of this sauce. I would think that it must perfect on fresh pasta. My “rules” relax quite a bit for non-traditional sauces 🙂 . As long as the pasta is cooked properly, that is!