Gnocchi di Patate from Country House Montali
Serves 4
Ingredients:
For the dough:
4 potatoes, yellow or red
1⁄4 tablespoon butter
a pinch of salt
a pinch of nutmeg
2 egg yolks
70 g Italian ‘00’ flour
70 g Grano Duro flour, plus more for dusting
1 handful of grapes
icing sugar for sprinkling
1⁄2 handful of chopped walnuts
For the cheese sauce:
85 g Taleggio
45 g Emmental
45 g Provolone
45 g Pecorino di Pienza
150 ml milk
2 tablespoons single cream
1 tablespoon butter
Cook and peel the potatoes. Push through a potato ricer on to a lightly floured surface and
add the butter and salt. Work well with a spatula until evenly incorporated. Cover and cool
completely. Add the nutmeg and egg yolks and work them into the potato with your hands until
the dough is even in colour and texture. In batches, incorporate the two flours into the dough
with the help of a pastry cutter. When the dough begins to come together, knead quickly and
gently until even, adding more Grano Duro if too sticky.
Using a pastry cutter or knife, portion off 2 tablespoons of dough. Roll out on a lightly
floured surface into a long 1-cm thick rope. Cut into 1 cm pieces. Gently press your index
and middle fingers into the centre of one piece and slowly roll your fingers back towards you,
allowing the dough to follow and form a shell shape. Repeat with the remaining dough, gently
tossing batches with Grano Duro flour to avoid sticking. Set aside on a floured tray, making sure
the pieces do not touch.
Grate all the cheeses and combine with the remaining sauce ingredients over a double
boiler. Melt over simmering water, gently mixing continuously with a wooden spoon. When the
sauce is creamy, remove from the heat and keep covered until serving.
Peel and halve the grapes. Gently remove the seeds and lay the halves face-down over a
sheet of parchment paper. Barely sprinkle with icing sugar and bake at Gas Mark 4/180oC for
10 minutes. Transfer the cheese sauce to a sauté pan and heat gently.
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a simmer and slide the gnocchi from the tray. As soon
as the pieces come to the surface (approximately 1 minute), remove with a slotted spoon
and place immediately into the sauce. Toss together and transfer to a large serving platter or
individual plates. Garnish with chopped walnuts and baked grape halves and serve immediately.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster
