I am always trying to come up with new ways to serve bolognese. It’s something I make a lot, and have my recipe memorized in my head. The only thing that I usually change in my recipe is the meat.

Sometimes it’s beef/pork, or beef/veal or beef/pork/veal. Today it was all ground beef, because it’s what I had on hand, but it was very high quality ground beef and suited the gnocchi perfectly.

Gnocchi with Bolognese is Italian Meat and Potatoes

Over the last decade or so the idea meat and potatoes has gotten a bad rap. The “thin” generation of the 1950-70’s ate meat and potatoes several dinners a week. It’s all in portion control, healthy ingredients.

It’s not typical to serve bolognese with gnocchi. I usually serve it with a paparadelle pasta, but I thought it would be fun to make a serious comfort food dish as a play on meat and potatoes. Everyone loved it and I actually made it twice in one week with no complaints.

You can make your own gnocchi with the recipe below or buy they store bought. The big advantage of using gnocchi is that they cook in about a minute.

I’ve made no egg version here, but this version uses egg yolks, and they come out perfectly soft. The other thing I did differently from my other recipe is changing the flour to an Italian flour.

Gnocchi Ingredients

1 pound potatoes
1 cup unbleached flour, more as needed
2 egg yolks

I baked the potatoes and while still warm put through a ricer, which also makes the best mashed potatoes.

When you rice the potatoes warm with the skins, they come right off. Don’t use more flour than necessary or the gnocchi will be tough.

Bolognese Sauce

I have made no less than six bolognese recipes here. The basic technique is always the same, but the variations come with the meat chosen and sometimes a fun addition for the fall season. Whatever you choose from the very classical recipe or a recipe with a twist, you will find them hearty, delicious, and perfect for gnocchi.

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Gnocchi with Bolognese

An Italian meat and potatoes comfort meal, Potato gnocchi with Bolognese.

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Total Time1 5

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Author: Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Gnocchi Ingredients

2 pounds potatoes
2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 egg yolks

Instructions

Gnocchi Instructions

Bake potatoes in 375 degrees oven, until tender in middle. This is better than boiling the potatoes, because it will dry them out. If you rice the potatoes, you will not need to peel. The peel comes right off.
Do not add all the flour at one time. Start by adding a half cup and then keep adding, just until you have a dough you can work with.
Add in egg yolks. Don’t overwork. If the mixture seems too wet, add a little flour a tablespoon at a time. Too much flour will make gnocchi tough.
Roll into cylinder, cut in 3/4” pieces and taking it lengthwise across a fork, depress center. The center should be thinner than the edges, which helps to keep the gnocchi tender.
The ridges serve to hold the sauce.
Use 4 quarts of water in sauce pan to boil. Add salt. In the beginning, add 3 gnocchi and cook only FOR TEN SECONDS. Taste and if too floury, add only 2 or 3 seconds. If you are tempted to cook your gnocchi behind this point, they will become the dreaded piece of rubber.
Time your gnocchi to be ready when your sauce is done, cooking the gnocchi in the last stretch of those 45 minutes. When gnocchi is ready, add grated cheese, and then the sauce.
Serve immediately. Season to taste.