Gnocchi with Cherry Tomato Sauce

This cherry tomato sauce was my favorite out of all the recipes from last night. It was super flavorful, and the combination of the naturally sweet tomatoes with the distinctive saltiness of the olives was pure perfection. Again, the recipe comes from allrecipes.com; the one change we made was substituting half of the cherry tomatoes required with chopped Roma tomatoes since Mike's cherry tomato plants couldn't give us more. :-) I always thought gnocchi would be hard to make, but what do you know - they sell them premade at the supermarket. We just cooked them like regular pasta. This sauce will go well with other pasta, too, so you should give it a try even if you can't find gnocchi. The below recipe serves four.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 minced red chile pepper
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2/3 cup kalamata olives, sliced
• 1 (16 ounce) package fresh gnocchi
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, and chile pepper; cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, and stir in the cherry tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes have lost their form and are beginning to make a sauce, about 5 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes.
2. While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the fresh gnocchi, and cook until the gnocchi float to the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Gently strain out the gnocchi and place into a serving dish.
3. Stir the basil and olives into the simmering sauce, and cook for one minute. Pour the sauce over the drained gnocchi and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.