Gnocchi in Vodka Cream Sauce

As part of Daring Cooks group for the onth of september we were challenged to prepare potato gnocchi in a sauce of our choice. I made gnocchi in vodka cream sauce for this challenge.

Todd,who is the Daring Kitchen's AWESOME webmaster and an amazing cook,is ur September Daring Cook's host! Todd challenged us to make light and and fluffy potato Gnocchi and encouraged us to flavor the lil pillows of godness and go wild with a sauce to top them with

My inspiration for this dish was penne in vodka cream sauce I had at spaghetti kitchen couple of moths ago. It was their in house speciality and I just fell in love with that sauce. I had to recreate it and daring cooks gave me the perfect challenge for that!
It was my first time preparing gnocchi and they turned out to be so soft and pillowy, perfectly complementing the creaminess of the sauce.

Ingredients

For the gnocchi

3 medium sized potatoes (approx. 300 grams)
1/2 to 3/4 cup refined flour
salt to taste

For the vodka cream sauce

1 spoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion,chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 cup vodka
200 gram tomato purée (1 small pack)
1/2 cup cream
2 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
salt and pepper to taste

How to make Gnocchi

• Boil potatoes till cooked.Peel and grate them.

• Add 1/2 cup flour and salt to taste.Keep adding more flour in small batches till the dough does not stick to your hands.Knead well and keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

• divide dough into 4 portion. Roll out each portion into 1/2 inch thick rope. Cut small one inch long pieces from it. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Boil water in a large pan,add salt. When water starts boiling lower the heat to medium and drop 7 to 8 gnocchi in it at a time. Gnocchi will first sink at bottom and then rise to top in about 1-2 minutes. 
  
  
  
• Take them out with a slotted spoon and keep aside on greased surface as we prepare sauce.
  
  
  

How to make Vodka Cream sauce

• Finely chop onion,mince garlic and keep aside. Also grate parmesan cheese.

I

• In a pan heat olive oil and butter together,add chopped onion and garlic to it.Cook on slow flame for 3-5 minutes till onion softens. Do not brown the onion.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Take pan off the flame and add vodka to it.Put pan on heat again and reduce vodka to about half of its volume.

• Add tomato purée,1 cup water,chilli flakes,salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

• Keeping flame low, add cream, parmesan cheese and sugar to sauce. Toss prepared gnocchi in sauce and switch flame.

• Serve hot garnished with shredded basil leaves.