ITALIAN RECIPES
And now “Gnocchi”
Gnocchi alla Romana with Leeks and Speck
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (250 g) semolina
2 leeks
3 ounces (75 g) speck, in a single thick slice
1 quart (1 liter) milk
2/3 cup (120 g) unsalted butter
3 yolks
2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to tastePreparation:
Wash the leeks, cut them into rounds, and sauté them until they wilt in the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add a ladle of hot water, and simmer for 20 minutes. Finely dice the speck and sauté it briefly in a non-stick pan. When the leeks and speck have cooled, combine them with the yolks and 1 1/2 cups cheese.
Bring the milk to a boil with a pinch of salt and 1/4 cup butter; add the semolina in a steady stream, stirring constantly, and continue cooking for about 20 minutes, stirring all the while. Work the leek mixture into the semolina, and spread the semolina out into a half-inch (1 cm) layer on your work surface; let it cool for a half hour. Using a moistened glass, cut the semolina into disks and arrange them, partially overlapping, in a buttered pan.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the gnocchi, melt the remaining butter and drizzle it over them too, and bake the gnocchi for 15 minutes in a preheated 360 F (180 C) oven. Serve at once. A wine, if you're serving them alone? I might go with a Sauvignon Blanc here, if possible unoaked.
Gnocchi with Artichokes and Walnuts
Ingredients:
2 pounds (800 g) potato gnocchi
4 artichokes
4 ounces (100 g) chopped walnut meats
A small clove of garlic
The juice of a lemon
A sprig of thyme
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to tastePreparation:
Fill a bowl with water and add the lemon juice. Prepare the artichokes, stripping away the tough outer leaves, trimming the top, and peeling the exterior part of the stem (see instructions if need be). Sliver them lengthwise, and put them in the acidulated water to keep them from darkening.
Drain them well, and cook them in 2 tablespoons of oil for about 10 minutes. Season them to taste with salt and pepper, and add the leaves from the sprig of thyme. While they're cooking, set a pot of water to boil. Mince the walnuts and the garlic, and toast them in 4 tablespoons of hot oil for a few seconds.
Salt the pot of water when it comes to a boil and cook the gnocchi. Season them with the artichokes and the walnuts, and a sprinkling of more thyme leaves.
Eggplant Gnocchi
Ingredients:
For the Gnocchi:
2 1/4 pounds (1 k) eggplant
1 pound (500 g) boiling potatoes
2 1/2 cups (250 g) flour, plus a little more for flowering your work surface
An egg
Olive oil, salt and pepperFor the Sauce:
A scant pound (400 g) zucchini
12 ounces (300 g) fresh jumbo shrimp tails, peeled
1 clove garlic, minced
A little fresh oregano and thyme, finely minced
Parsley -- just the leaves
Olive oil, salt, and pepper
Optional garnish: finely sliced grilled eggplantPreparation:
Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, score the flesh in a deep diagonal pattern, salt them, oil them, and bake them in a preheated 400 f (200 C) oven for about 20 minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh with a spoon, crumble the mixture by hand, and heat it over a brisk flame in a non-stick pan to drive off excess moisture.
While the eggplant is baking and cooking, boil the potatoes, skin them, and rice them. Make a mound of the cooked-down eggplant, riced potatoes and flour on your work surface, and work the egg into it, together with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Make gnocchi 3/4 of an inch long and half that in diameter, and set them aside on a lightly floured surface while you prepare the sauce (set a pot of water to heat while you're at it).
Cut the zucchini into rounds, and sauté them in olive oil with the garlic, thyme and oregano. Cover and simmer the vegetables for 10 minutes; in the meantime the water should have come to a boil. Salt it and add the gnocchi, while adding the shrimp and fresh parsley to the zucchini. The gnocchi will rise to the surface as they become done; remove them with a slotted spoon and add them to the sauce.
Check seasoning and cook the gnocchi for a few minutes in the sauce, shifting them about in the pan by shaking it as if you were turning an omelet. Serve, garnishing the dish with finely sliced grilled eggplant if you want. Serves 6.
Buon appetito!
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