Tiny Potato Dumplings with Tomato, Onion, and Guanciale Sauce

Ingredients

• 28 oz canned tomatoes drained finely chopped canned (reserving juice)
• 1 small garlic clove minced
• 0.5 cup guanciale finely chopped (cured pork jowl)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 8 servings pecorino cheese finely grated
• 1.3 cups onion red finely chopped
• 1.3 teaspoons salt 
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• 0.5 cup water 
• 1.5 lb yukon gold potatoes 

Equipment

• bowl
• pot
• sieve
• baking pan
• wooden spoon
• ziploc bags
• kitchen towels
• slotted spoon
• colander
• potato ricer

Directions

1. Heat oil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté guanciale and onion, stirring, until onion is golden, about 6 minutes.
2. Add garlic and sauté, stirring, until golden, about 1 minute.
3. Add tomatoes with reserved juice, water, sugar, and salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes.
4. Cover potatoes with salted cold water by 2 inches in a large pot, then simmer, uncovered, until very tender, about 25 minutes.
5. Drain in a colander and, when cool enough to handle, peel.
6. Force warm potatoes through ricer into a large bowl.
7. Add flour and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture begins to come together. Gently form dough into a ball and cut in half.
8. Knead each dough half on a floured surface until smooth, about 1 minute (if dough sticks to surface, dust lightly with additional flour).
9. Cut each half evenly into 10 pieces.
10. Roll 1 piece into a 14-inch-long rope (1/2 inch thick), keeping remaining pieces covered with a kitchen towel.
11. Cut rope crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces and toss pieces lightly with flour on work surface.
12. Press a piece of dough against tines of a floured fork and push with a floured thumb in a forward rolling motion toward end of tines, letting gnocchetti fall from fork into a well-floured shallow baking pan. Make more gnocchetti in same manner.
13. Just before cooking, gently shake gnocchetti in 4 batches in a large medium-mesh sieve to knock off excess flour. Cook gnocchetti in 4 batches in a 5- to 6-quart pot of boiling salted water until they float, about 1 minute.
14. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large shallow bowl as cooked and spoon some sauce on top.
15. • Sauce can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Reheat before proceeding. • Gnocchetti can be formed (but not cooked) 1 week ahead and frozen in floured baking pan, covered, until hard, about 3 hours, then put in a sealed plastic bag. Do not thaw before cooking. Boil frozen gnocchetti about 2 minutes. *Available at Salumeria Biellese (212-736-7376).