Fiery gnocchi with creamy gochujang
Vodka sauce went to Seoul and came back a great deal more interesting.
At a Glance
Story
This is the Korean answer to a vodka sauce, and a better one. Gochujang is a fermented chili paste, so where vodka merely carries the tomato it brings its own savory, faintly sweet depth. Fry it with the tomato paste before any liquid goes in, the way you would bloom a spice, to cook off the raw ferment and turn the whole pan a deranged shade of pink.
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.
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