Help please- I am looking for a good sauce to go with gnocchi.?

Well as a former chef and having worked in Hotels with both Northern and Southern Italian dining rooms, there are 2 sauce that come to mind, a nice fresh tomato sauce with fresh basil is nice or a bechemel or bechemela in Italian, with any number of cheeses in it, and baked like a lasagna or ziti, I like a strong cheese like gorgonzola, but parmesan, romano or asiago is fine to.

You can add sauted veg like mushrooms, zuccihini and even green peas, ham is nice or even cooked chicken for a cassarole like dish, alot has to do with the type of gnocchi, whether it is the potatos or other types made, the heavier the gnocchi the lighter the sauce.

I would go very simple and toss the gnocchi with pancetta and sage leaves fried in butter, or just butter and sage...season with fresh cracked pepper.

Seared gnocchi is also good, after you boil them, toss them in a hot nonstick pan with some olive oil, or the butter,sage and pancetta mixture, and let them get a bit of a crust on them.

You'll get a result that is slightly crispy on the outside and fluffy like a pillow inside.

I live in Italy, and this is a fantastic way to serve gnocchi, (I hope you are making the gnocchi fresh by hand), or its also used as a simple sauce for pasta.

Enjoy

Gorgonzola Sauce Pesto Sauce Butter, Cream and Sage Sauce Tomato Cream Sauce Butter and Onion Sauce Fresh Herbed Tomato Sauce

Gnocchi is a delicate pasta and works well with lighter sauces and a good number of cheese based sauces.

* A light tomato sauce with some basil

* A bechamel sauce

* Brown butter sauce

You can add some vegetables to it or even some meat to make it heartier too--peas, prosciutto, mushrooms, etc...

My family loves homemade gnocci (made with potatoes and we swirl them with a fork).

I sometimes get the Barilla ones or frozen ones.

I used to make them in a tomato sauce but found that the dumplings are pretty heavy and my clan prefers a lighter sauce.

I do a basic butter/oil sauce....I put some minced garlic in olive oil to saute...you can add shallots or anything else you like. I then add equal parts butter and olive oil, salt and pepper and some fresh oregano. Also a nice squeeze of fresh lemon juice really gives it a light flavor.

Just a real easy quick sauce. I had some leftover diced tomatoes one time and added that. It was good as well but again they wanted just the butter sauce.

My house is keen on the old simple, cook some onion, garlic add1 or 2 cans of diced Italian/Roma/plum tomatoes, half teaspoon of sugar, salt & pepper, bit of chilli and a whole heap of fresh basil, then mix thru gnocchi and grate some hard cheese of your liking on the top, simple, quick and if you want you can add finely sliced salami or cook some bacon in with the onion. Maybe some green peas for freshness.

I've made gnocci with a sundried tomato pesto sauce. It goes really good with it.

***Sundried Tomato Pesto***

1 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (about 6 ounces)

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese or Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried

2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

3 garlic cloves

3/4 cup olive oil

Combine sun-dried tomatoes, Romano cheese, basil, pine nuts and garlic in food processor. With machine running, gradually add olive oil and process until smooth paste forms. (Can be made prepared 2 weeks ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Had gnochi last night as a side dish to brazed beef ribs. I cooked it, drained well and tossed with butter, salt & pepper. Served the tomato sauce from the beef and parmesan cheese over top.

Actually my fav. is melted butter with fresh sage leaves and lots of pepper and parm. cheese.

Any sauce can go with it - Mushroom or cheese sauce is nice, but I know most people go for a tomato base type of sauce like bolonaise sauce.

marinara sauce is all you need

ghocchi are delecate so you dont need to weigh them down with a heavy cream sauce

just chop some garlic and onion and add to some oil, cook 5 minutes and add a can of chopped tomatoes salt & pepper and some basil...cook for 1/2 hour