Preparation

Sauce.
Slice the onion and sweat it in a saucepan with half of the olive oil. Add the peeled tomatoes, season with salt and leave to simmer for at least 45 minutes. In a deep pan, fry the garlic, previously sliced, with the remaining olive oil. When almost golden colour, remove from the stove, add the basil leaves into the oil and pour all the mix into the tomato. Pass through a vegetable mill and keep on the side.

Gnocchi.
Peel the potatoes and place in a pot together with the saffron and a pinch of salt. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then simmer until soft. Drain and pass through a veg mill or mash them with a potato masher.
Leave to cool down for few minutes then add the egg yolk, grated Grana Padano and flour and knead by hand to form a smooth dough, leave to rest 15 min.

Bring a pot of water to the boil, blanch the torpedino tomatoes for about 30 seconds then put them into iced water to cool down. Peel them and dice them.

In a pan, fry sliced garlic until almost golden in colour. Add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce. Adjust with salt and simmer for few minutes.

In the meantime, cut the dough into smaller pieces and start rolling into a sausage-like shape. Cut into pieces of 1,5cm and roll on a gnocchi board or a fork. Cook them in salted boiling water until they float.

Drain and add to the sauce, cook for a minute, then remove from the heat and add the roughly chopped basil leaves, and the Grana Padano. Serve nice and hot.