Vodka Sauce with Fresh Gnocchi

Vodka Sauce with Fresh Gnocchi

A tomato-vodka sauce with backbone, tossed with pillowy fresh gnocchi and too much parmesan.

Ingredients

• 500 g fresh gnocchi
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 400 g crushed tomatoes
• 60 ml vodka
• 120 ml double cream
• 30 g butter
• 40 g parmesan, finely grated, plus more at the table
• 8 leaves basil, torn

Instructions

1. 1 Build the sauce base: the 3 cloves garlic and ½ tsp chilli flakes in the 2 tbsp olive oil until fragrant, then the 3 tbsp tomato paste. Cook the paste until it darkens a shade — this is where the backbone comes from.
2. 2 The 60 ml vodka in; let it bubble hard for a minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and simmer 12–15 minutes until the sauce thickens and turns brick-red.
3. 3 Stir in the 120 ml cream and 30 g butter and keep it at the gentlest simmer. Salt it properly — tomato sauces hide under-seasoning until it's too late.
4. 4 Boil the gnocchi in well-salted water. They float when they're done; give them 30 seconds after that, no more.
5. 5 Gnocchi straight into the sauce with a mug of their cooking water. Toss over the heat for a minute until glossy, then parmesan and basil.