What are these dumplings? A soft paste made mainly of mashed boiled potatoes and then made into a specific consistency with the addition of wheat flour, egg yolk and Parmesan.
Gnocchi is truly a special dish from Italy, which is very tied to tradition, but not very well known abroad.
The reason why ? It isn’t difficult to make , but it requires a certain skill and the ability to prepare them is becoming increasingly rare.
What are these dumplings? A soft paste made mainly of mashed boiled potatoes and then made into a specific consistency with the addition of wheat flour, egg yolk and Parmesan.
It is delicious and delicate. Precisely because of their delicate flavor it is combined with all types of sauce: white meat sauce with mushrooms, parmesan, with vegetables and cheese or even with fish.
The dumplings are prepared on the day and cooked fresh.
It is not always easy to find them at restaurants.
The cost of a gnocchi dish ranges from 6 euros to 12 euros, even 15 if served with fresh porcini mushrooms in autumn, and much more if garnished with truffles.
The secret to recognizing good gnocchi? First the shape, which is not perfect. Gnocchi is handmade and therefore each gnocco is different from the other.
Then … the taste, the flavor of the gnocchi is delicate, sweet and tastes of potatoes. It’s consistency is soft and not too hard. When it is too hard it means that too much wheat flour has been used in the dough which is a genuine tip from the traditional recipe.
Gnocchi can be eaten in many ways, with white sauce (which is sauce without tomatoes but doesn’t ) , tomato and basil sauce or a meat sauce.
The white sauce, where you don’t use tomatoes and really bring out the taste of the gnocci.
A great addition is seafood, fresh mushrooms , Parmesan or with butter.
Where to find them? Generally in restaurants that do traditional home cooking or perhaps in the villages in the mountains.