Gnocchi Dumpling wih Radicchio

This is another Italian recipe for dumpling that we usually called in Italy Gnocchi. This type of dumplings are made with potatoes but their flavor is enriched by the addition of chestnut flour. The peculiarity of this Italian dumpling is the dressing made with Radicchio, Speck and a cheese like, Asiago cheese, if you like a sweet taste or Bitto cheese, if you like a more strong taste. The Italian cheese that I prefer to use in the dressing of this dumpling is Asiago cheese because its sweet taste makes a contrast with the a little bit bitter taste of Radicchio. The preparation of the dressing is easy you have just to cook the Radicchio, add the speck and then the cheese. Let the cheese melt but not dry it too much otherwise the sauce it will be not enough creamy for dumplings.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1kg or 4 cups of Potatoes
150 g or 1+1/4 of cup of Flour
150 g or 1+1/4 of cup Chestnut Flour
1 or 2 Eggs
100 g of Speck
100 g of Cheese
300 g of Radicchio


PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Oltrepo Pavese (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start cooking the potatoes without peeling them, boiled them in no salted water until they are cooked more or less 20 minutes since the water boils; in order to be faster you can use the steamer cooker, in this case you will need only 10-12 minutes. When the potatoes are ready, let them cool a bit, peel them,



mash them and put them on a table.



Then add to the mashed potatoes the flour, the chestnut flour, the eggs and salt.



Mix all together and work until you will obtain a homogeneous dough.



Now divide the dough in parts and roll each one in order to obtain a sort of longs sausages thick as a finger. Pay attention to have always enough flour on the worktable in order to not attach the dough to it. Cut each long sausage in small pieces of 1 cm length. When you have all the pieces, you have to give them the shape of gnocchi: to do this, take a fork. Hold the fork with one hand and lean it to the work board, with the other hand take a piece of dough and with the index finger press rolling it on the fork: in this way you obtain gnocchi.



Sprinkle the gnocchi with flour and place them on a tray.



In the mean time let the salted water boil for gnocchi and start preparing the seasoning for gnocchi. Clean, wash the radicchio and cut it in stripes. Cut the speck in cubes or stripes and cut the cheese in cubes.



When everything is ready preheat the extra Virgin olive oil in a large pan, add the radicchio and cook it for about 10-15 minutes.



At this point add the speck and let it cook for 5-8 minutes.



At the end add the cheese and let it melt,



pay attention to not dry too much the sauce that comes from the cheese.




When the salted water boils add the gnocchi and when they rise to the surface, drain them.



Add the cooked gnocchi to the sauce. Serve them and if you like sprinkle with Parmesan.



BUON APPETITO!

Tocchetti Dumplings with Asiago Cheese

If you want to eat Italian dumplings (gnocchi) but not the classical one, just made with potatoes, but something a little bit different with the taste of chestnut this is the perfect recipe.

I called this type of Italian dumplings Tocchetti because they don't have the classical shape of traditional Italin dumplings that are made with a fork but they are simply pieces of dough with square shape. These types of dumplings are made with chestnut’s flour, potatoes and pumpkin and the seasoning is made with the Italian cheese Asiago. The Italian cheese Asiago is produced in the town of Asiago and there are two types according to its aging: the fresh one that is smooth and the crumbly one for the aged cheese of which the flavour is reminiscent of Parmesan. In this recipe I used the fresh one for its sweet taste and its smooth consistency.

INGREDIENTS:
1 kg of Potatoes
300 g of Flour
200 g of Chestnut’s Flour
200 of Pumpkin in pieces
1 Egg
Breadcrumbs
150 g of Asiago Cheese cut in pieces
40g of Butter
Leaf of Sage

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15-18 minutes

WINE: Novello (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Boiled the potatoes with peel



and cook the pieces of pumpkin in a pan with two spoons of extra virgin olive oil.



When the potatoes are cooked, peel and mash them in a bowl together with the pieces of pumpkin.



Put on the table the mixture of potatoes and pumpkin together with the flour, the chestnut’s flour and the egg



and begin to knead until you obtain homogeneous and soft dough, this take about 8 – 10 minutes, if the dough is too soft you can add a little bit of breadcrumbs.





Divide the dough in parts and roll each one in order to obtain a sort of longs sausages thick as a finger. Pay attention to have always enough flour on the worktable in order to not attach the dough to it.



Cut each long sausage in small pieces of 1 cm length that we can call “tocchetti”. Sprinkle tocchetti with flour and place them on a tray.




Let salted water boiled, put on it tocchetti and cooked them until they come on the surface. In the meantime prepare the seasoning, put in a pan the butter with the leaf of sage,




when tocchetti are cooked drain them and put them in the pan with butter and sage, add the Asiago cheese and let it melted.



Serve hot.



BUON APPETITO!

Dumpling Gnocchi with Ricotta and Spinach

Gnocchi with spinach and ricotta cheese is an ideal and delicious Italian first course suitable for vegetarian and not. This type of gnocchi differently from gnocchi of potatoes has a soft consistency, for these reason when you prepare them you should not use an excessive quantity of flour. Important is the use of ricotta cheese and Parmesan that give them a mellow taste, these gnocchi are cooked in water and then baked in oven in order to obtain on their surface a sort of crunchy consistency due to the Parmesan that you should sprinkle over them.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 people):
1 Kg of Spinach
500 g of Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
80 g of Parmesan
100 g of Flour
50 g of Butter
Nutmeg
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Trentino Nosiola Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Boil salted water for gnocchi. Clean the spinach, place them in a pan with salted water and cook them for about 10 minutes since water boils.



When spinach are ready drain them and place them in a pan with 30 g of butter and sauté them for about 5 minutes.



Let the spinach cold, chop them and place them in a bowl, add the ricotta, the egg, 40 g of Parmesan and sprinkle with salt, black pepper and some nutmeg.



If the mixture is too soft add some flour



but not much because gnocchi should be not too hard and make a sort of balls like these shown in the picture below.



Preheat the oven to 180°C.
When the gnocchi are ready and water boils place them in it and when they rise in surface drain them with the help of a skimmer, place them in a baking pan put over them some pieces of butter and sprinkle with the remain of Parmesan.



Bake for about 10 minutes until the surface becomes slightly golden.
Serve hot. This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!