Smoked Tomato Sauce on Gnocchi

Friday 15 June
When we pulled the bluefish from the smoker on Wednesday night at about 10, the charcoal was still glowing. It seemed a waste to just let it go out, so we tossed about 10 roma tomatoes, halved, on the grill, and just left them overnight. They ended up lightly dried and smoky, perfect for a sauce or coulis. Another benefit: the current batch of romas from Madison's have that annoying flaw of the modern tomato: a thick skin, which curls up into unpleasant little papery straws when cooked. But the smoking made it easy to peel the skins off. It made us think of our friend Helene, an aficionado/aficionada of pens and paper, and wonder "if onionskin paper, why not tomatoskin paper?" of a roseate hue.
All it took was a quick and simple sauté of half an onion, a clove of garlic, and the smoked tomato halves, all chopped fine, with a little white wine to help them along. Poured the sauce over Trader Joe's miraculously simple gnocchi. No cheese, which would have interfered with the subtle smoky taste.