While the potatoes are boiling, getting the sauce started would be a good idea. Turn your stove burner to medium heat and add the olive oil to a saucepan to heat it up. While it is heating up, chop your onion very fine and crush your two garlic cloves. When the oil has heated up, add the black pepper to the oil and then the onions. Stir constantly for one minute and then add the garlic. Continue to stir constantly until the onions become clear. Don’t worry if things stick to the bottom of the pan – we’ll take care of that in a minute.

When the onions become clear, add your white wine. I’m not the wine expert Alys is, so I can’t tell you what white wine would be best here, but I usually add chardonnay because it is usually in the refrigerator. Stir the onions and garlic and deglaze the bottom of the pan by scraping off anything (likely the garlic) that cooked to the bottom of it. Once you’ve gotten everything off the bottom, reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the wine to cook off.



Fun Fact:Potatoes come from the Andes Mountains in South America and have been an importance source of food for the Incas for almost 10,000 years. less

While the potatoes are boiling, getting the sauce started would be a good idea. Turn your stove burner to medium heat and add the olive oil to a saucepan to heat it up. While it is heating up, chop your onion very fine and crush your two garlic cloves. When the oil has heated up, add the black pepper to the oil and then the onions. Stir constantly for one minute and then add the garlic. Continue to stir constantly until the onions become clear. Don’t worry if things stick to the bottom of the pan – we’ll take care of that in a minute.

When the onions become clear, add your white wine. I’m not the wine expert Alys is, so I can’t tell you what white wine would be best here, but I usually add chardonnay because it is usually in the refrigerator. Stir the onions and garlic and deglaze the bottom of the pan by scraping off anything (likely the garlic) that cooked to the bottom of it. Once you’ve gotten everything off the bottom, reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the wine to cook off.



Fun Fact:Potatoes come from the Andes Mountains in South America and have been an importance source of food for the Incas for almost 10,000 years. less

As resident wine nerd: always use wine that you would drink, you don't want to put bad wine into your food and then make THAT taste bad! For this I'd recommend any white wine that isn't sweet (stay away from the White Zin) but a Chardonnay or a Pinot Grigiot or a Sauvignon Blanc, to name some of the more well known varietals. less

As resident wine nerd: always use wine that you would drink, you don't want to put bad wine into your food and then make THAT taste bad! For this I'd recommend any white wine that isn't sweet (stay away from the White Zin) but a Chardonnay or a Pinot Grigiot or a Sauvignon Blanc, to name some of the more well known varietals. less

Once the wine has cooked off, shake the carton or bottle of cream vigorously for 10 seconds or so, and then dump the contents into the saucepan. Next add the oregano and tomato paste and stir the sauce until the tomato paste is thoroughly incorporated into the cream. This is tedious and will take a little while, so you may need to come back to it after your potatoes are done boiling.

Once your tomato paste is mixed in, you just need to stir it occasionally as you prepare the gnocchi. Make certain that sauce doesn’t boil vigorously, or else the cream will separate and the sauce will have a pretty unappealing consistency. Low heat should allow you to leave it pretty well alone to thicken, with only the occasional stirring. Honestly, at this point it is probably thick enough, but a little more thickening won’t hurt and it will keep the sauce warm. Some people also add basil to the sauce, but I find basil loses almost all its flavor when dried, so if I add basil, it is only julienned on top when the meal is served. Also, many people add parmesan cheese to the saucepan in addition to the cream. This will add another layer of complexity to your sauce, but isn’t strictly necessary. If you choose to do this, consider using about ½ cup (120 ml) of fresh parmesan.

By the way, any sauce will work. I’ve used marinara, other cream-based sauces, and simple olive oil and chopped herbs. Parma rosa is the best received by people, which is why I am suggesting it here. The better the ingredients, the more simple the sauce should be, though.



Fun Fact:Potatoes are part of the nightshade family (Solonaceae) which includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tobacco. less