Thursday is Gnocchi. The tradition of an entire country, Italy.
They are made with all possible doughs, giving life to recipes such as gnudi with spinach or Roman-style gnocchi mixed with semolina.
With the arrival of potatoes from America the music changes and now the classic gnocchi dough cannot ignore the overseas tuber. I propose on the site the recipe from the “Table with the Chef” cooking course that I attended a few years ago.
The recipe does not use eggs and I really like it because the end result is a very soft dumpling.
Ingredients (for 6/8 people):
- 1 kg of potatoes (better if floury, like Dutch ones)
- 300 g of flour
- 15 grams of parmesan
- 15 grams of pecorino
- nutmeg
- pepper
- salt
- a drop of oil (for cooking)
Cook the potatoes by boiling them in salted water. Cut them crosswise and let them dry on a baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove the peel while the potatoes are still warm (when they cool it becomes much more difficult). Pass the potatoes through the appropriate tool (potato masher) finally obtaining the puree to work with the flour.
Wait for the puree to cool by spreading it on the table and start kneading, adding the flour, pepper, nutmeg, pecorino and parmesan from time to time. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes and start making the gnocchi.
The process is quite easy: roll out long strips (all roughly the same size) on the table and cut them. To engrave them it would be best to use a tarot, but I realize that it is not really a commonly used tool in Italian homes, so even a knife with a smooth blade will work fine.
Cook the gnocchi in water, adding a drop of oil to prevent them from sticking. Drain them a few seconds after they come to the surface.
Gnocchi lend themselves well to different types of seasonings. We have a special memory of a day spent at a friend’s house in Lunigiana, and the gnocchi with pesto that we ate that day cannot leave our heads.
Handmade pesto sauce recipe here!
