Fiery gnocchi with creamy gochujang
A vodka sauce where the vodka finally tastes of something.
At a Glance
Story
This is the Korean answer to a vodka sauce, and it improves on it. The vodka in the original is very nearly tasteless and is in there to do chemistry, loosening aromas locked in the tomato that water cannot reach on its own. Gochujang does that same job and then keeps going, arriving with fermented salt and a slow heat vodka was never going to bring, and turning the whole pan a deranged shade of pink on the way.
Ingredients
- 1 × 1 lb package potato gnocchi
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlicgrated
- 1 large shallotfinely chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup Parmesanfinely grated
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- chives or scallion topsfinely sliced, to finish
- salt
Method
No boiling, no second pot. The gnocchi crisp in the same pan they sauce in, so you get chewy pillows with lightly caught edges instead of the usual soft dumpling.
- Warm the olive oil and 1 tbsp of the butter in a wide skillet over medium high. Tip in the gnocchi straight from the package in a single layer and leave them be until the undersides catch, about 3 minutes. Add a splash of water, cover and steam 2 minutes until tender, then uncover and let them crisp again. Lift out to a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium. In the same pan melt the last of the butter and soften the shallot with a pinch of salt until translucent, then the garlic for 30 seconds more, fragrant but never browned.
- Stir in the gochujang and tomato paste and let them fry for a full minute so they lose their raw edge. This is the whole trick, cooking the paste before the cream turns a thin sauce into a deep one.
- Pour in the cream and a splash of water, scraping up anything stuck. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes until it coats a spoon, then off the heat stir through the Parmesan until glossy.
- Return the gnocchi, tossing until every one is slicked in pink. Loosen with a little more water if it tightens. Taste for salt, then again.
A shower of chives and serve at once, ideally to someone who thinks they don't like fusion.
Gnocchi series
Crisp the gnocchi hard, then pile a dinner you already know on top. It improves nearly everything.
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