Sardinian Gnocchi Recipes

SARDINIAN GNOCCHI WITH SHRIMP AND ARUGULA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Season the water generously with salt. Add the Sardinian Gnocchi and cook until the pasta is floating and barely al dente, about 2 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain well.
• Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp, pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the shrimp is pink and almost completely opaque, about 1 minute. Deglaze with the wine and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer for 2 minutes to reduce slightly and finish cooking the shrimp.
• Add the pasta to the shrimp mixture and sprinkle the bare pasta with the Parmesan. Top with the arugula and lemon zest and toss well to combine, adding pasta water if needed to maintain a sauce, until the arugula is wilted. Serve topped with additional Parmesan if desired.
• In a large bowl, combine the semolina and 00 flours and form a well. Add the water and salt to the center of the well. Using a fork, slowly start to incorporate the flour into the water to form a rough dough. Add a teaspoon of water if the dough is too dry or a dusting of flour if it is too wet.
• Lightly flour a smooth work surface and pour the dough onto the flour. Knead the dough until it springs back when you press a finger into it, 8 to 10 minutes. Flatten the dough into an even square. Wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.
• Cut the dough into 6 pieces. Roll a piece into a 1/3-inch-thick rope. Cut the rope into 1/3-inch pieces. Press one piece of dough firmly with your thumb against a gnocchi board or the back tines of a fork, rolling the dough as you pull it along to create a shell shape. Continue with the remaining dough, dusting the pasta with 00 flour as needed to prevent sticking.

HOMEMADE SARDINIAN GNOCCHI

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the semolina and 00 flours and form a well. Add the water and salt to the center of the well. Using a fork, slowly start to incorporate the flour into the water to form a rough dough. Add a teaspoon of water if the dough is too dry or a dusting of flour if it is too wet.
• Lightly flour a smooth work surface and pour the dough onto the flour. Knead the dough until it springs back when you press a finger into it, 8 to 10 minutes. Flatten the dough into an even square. Wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.
• Cut the dough into 6 pieces. Roll a piece into a 1/3-inch-thick rope. Cut the rope into 1/3-inch pieces. Press one piece of dough firmly with your thumb against a gnocchi board or the back tines of a fork, rolling the dough as you pull it along to create a shell shape. Continue with the remaining dough, dusting the pasta with 00 flour as needed to prevent sticking.

SARDIANIAN SAUSAGE TOMATO SAUCE & CICCIONE (GNOCCHI) RECIPE

Steps:

• For the sauce: Remove the sausage from the casing. In a bowl, pour the white wine with the sausage and gently mix it with your hands. The wine will prevent the sausage from cooking in large clumps. Heat enough olive oil to lightly coat your pot (I use a Dutch Oven), add the onion and a little kosher salt and saute until tender-- just a couple minutes. Add the red pepper flakes (1/2 teaspoon gave this pasta some kick, which we liked. Adjust according to your taste. Add the sliced garlic. Push aside some of the cooked onion & garlic and add a little more olive oil. Add the sausage to the "hot spot" and cook until it is no longer pink, breaking it up as you go along (the wine trick really worked!) Add the tomatoes (which I quickly pulsed in a food processor). Season with kosher salt to taste. Add the fresh basil, whole, so it can easily be removed before serving. Simmer, for at least an hour, on low heat. FOR THE GNOCCHI: To the 1/2 cup of hot water, add a pinch of saffron (you could use a little tumeric, which would color the pasta yellow). Stir the water and saffron to help release the golden color. In a food processor, place 4 cups of semolina flour. With the processor turned on, slowly add 1 1/2 cups water, and then the saffron water. Watch as the water combines with the flour, the dough will begin to form. Once it all comes together, turn off the processor and remove the dough onto a floured surface. With flour hands, knead the dough a few times and form into a round disk. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to relax in the refrigerator for at least an hour. On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough and cut it into six pieces (in half and then in thirds). (A bench scraper works great for this and is safer for kids to use!) Cut each section, again (in thirds is good), and roll into a "snake" about the width of a child's finger. Sprinkle a little bit of flour before cutting each "roll" into small pieces. Using the back of a microplane (I used one for grating hard cheese, because it has large holes) place either your thumb (which I did) or your index finger and push and roll the piece of dough. It should leave an impression and have a "hole" where the delicious tomato sauce will find it's way. With two people, the whole process of making the gnocchi/dumplings/ciccione (not sure which is the most correct term) about 45 minutes. Place these on a baking sheet, covered with a clean tea towel. Bring a pot of heavily salted (1/4 cup) water, to a boil. Lift the prepared pasta by lifting the corners of the towel, and gently dump the pasta into a colander, over the sheet pan. Gently shake the colander, to remove the excess flour. Place the pasta into the boiling water. The dumplings will double in size, and will begin to come to the surface. I cooked the pasta for about 10 minutes. I have a "spider" which makes it easy to scoop the gnocchi out of the boiling water and placing it into the tomato sauce (don't forget to remove the cooked basil). Right before serving, you can add fresh basil as a garnish and freshly grated parmegiano-reggiano(or hard cheese of your choice. Delicioso!

ROMAN-STYLE GNOCCHI

Steps:

• Line a rimmed sheet pan with plastic wrap.
• Place milk and salt in a saucepan. Bring almost to a simmer over medium-high heat. As soon as bubbles start to break the surface of the milk, gradually whisk in the semolina. Whisk until semolina becomes thick, about 20 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-low; continue stirring with a wooden spoon until very thick, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter, grated cheese, and egg yolks. Stir quickly to prevent the yolks from cooking.
• Transfer mixture to prepared pan and spread out evenly. Cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Brush a round, shallow baking dish with butter.
• Using a round 2 3/4-inch cookie cutter, cut out circles of the semolina dough. Arrange in a circular overlapping pattern in the prepared baking dish.
• With your damp hands, form the scraps of dough into a small ball. Flatten and place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap to flatten to the same thickness of the other dough. Cut out a few more rounds and arrange in center of circle.
• Drizzle melted butter over gnocchi and brush it over them evenly. Sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne pepper and a generous dusting of grated cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

GNOCCHI ALLA SORRENTINA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly oil an oven-safe baking dish.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook gnocchi in the boiling water until they float to the top, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• While gnocchi is cooking, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Cut an "x" into the skin of each tomato with a sharp knife and add to the skillet; stir well. Pour in white wine and simmer until tomatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Using a spoon, gently crush tomatoes to release juice and pulp. Add basil and continue to gently crush tomatoes to create a sauce. Remove and discard tomato skins as they loosen from the pulp. Cook for 1 more minute over low heat. Add drained gnocchi to the sauce and mix until covered with the sauce.
• Remove skillet from heat and add mozzarella balls, folding everything together gently but quickly, so cheese is coated with sauce but not cooked or melted. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cheese has melted, about 10 minutes. Garnished with fresh basil sprigs.

PARISIAN GNOCCHI (CHEF JACQUES PéPIN)

Steps:

• In small saucepan, combine water, salt and nutmeg with 2 tablespoons butter. Bring to boil over high heat. Add flour all at once and beat dough with wooden spoon until thick and comes away from sides of pan. Cook, stirring to dry out dough, about 30 seconds. Transfer dough to medium bowl. Cool 5 minutes.
• Bring large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Set bowl of ice water near stove.
• Beat 1 egg into dough until incorporated. Beat in 1/4 cup cheese and another egg until blended. Beat in last egg until dough is smooth and shiny. With spatula, transfer dough to large resealable plastic bag, pressing it into one corner. Cut tip off bag to create opening 1/2-inch long.
• Reduce boiling water to gentle simmer. Hold bag over water with one hand and squeeze out dough, using small sharp knife to cut it into 1-1/2-inch lengths; let drop into water. Simmer gnocchi 3 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer to ice water. Transfer to paper towels and pat dry.
• Grease 13- by 9-inch baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Scatter gnocchi in dish; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cheese. Bake in preheated 350F oven until puffed, about 25 minutes. Preheat broiler. Broil gnocchi 6 inches from heat until browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
• Makes 4 servings.

GNOCCHETTI SARDI WITH WILD BOAR

Steps:

• In large heavy pot over high heat, heat oil. Add celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and caramelized, about 8 minutes.
• Add wild boar, juniper berries, and wine and stir to combine. Cook until all liquid evaporates, about 20 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and 2 cups water and reduce heat to low. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender, about 30 minutes.
• Cook gnocchetti Sardi in large pot boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, about 20 minutes. Drain pasta and add to stew. Cook over high heat until heated through, 2-3 minutes. Stir in fresh herbs. Sprinkle with pecorino cheese before serving.

PARISIAN GNOCCHI

Steps:

• 1. To make the pâte à choux, heat the water, butter, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan over medium heat just until the butter is melted. Dump in all the flour at once and stir the mixture briskly for about 2 minutes, until the dough forms a smooth ball. Remove from the heat and scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (If you don't have a stand mixer, simply leave it in the bowl.) Let the dough sit for 3 minutes, stirring it every so often to release some of the heat.
• 2. With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the dry mustard and beat until the dough is completely smooth. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set aside.
• 3. To make the mornay sauce, melt the butter in the saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, letting the mixture bubble, stirring constantly for 2 minutes, until the paste is thickened. (Don't let it brown.) Gradually whisk in the milk, beginning slowly and stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
• 4. Decrease the heat to low and cook the mornay for 6 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the sauce is about as thick as a milkshake. Remove from heat and add the salt, cayenne, and 1/2 cup (40g) of the Swiss-style grated cheese; stir until the cheese is melted.
• 5. Butter a shallow 2 1/2- to 3-quart (2.5 to 3l) baking dish. (A wide dish is preferable to a deep one for browning the cheese topping.) Sprinkle half of the Parmesan over the bottom and sides. Spread 1 cup (250ml) of the mornay sauce over the bottom of the baking dish.
• 6. Line a large dinner plate with a few layers of paper towels. Bring a pot of salted water to a low boil. Either using two soupspoons-one to scoop up some of the dough and the other to scrape it into the boiling water-or a spring-loaded ice cream scoop filled partially full, scoop a round of the dough-about 1 generous tablespoon each-and drop it into the water. (The ice cream scoop was a little newfangled for Paule, although she did agree-reluctantly-that it was more expedient and made nicer gnocchi.) Working in batches, poach 8 to 10 gnocchi at a time. Let them poach for 2 minutes, then retrieve them from the water and drain them on the paper towels. (They won't be fully cooked inside.) Repeat, poaching the rest of the gnocchi the same way.
• 7. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) with the oven rack in the top third of the oven.
• 8. Once the gnocchi are parcooked, place them in a single layer on top of the mornay in the baking dish, and then spoon the rest of the mornay over the gnocchi in a fairly even layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/4 cups (100g) of Swiss-style cheese over the top, along with the remaining Parmesan. Put the baking dish on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 400ºF (200ºC) and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese on top is well browned. Let cool a few minutes, and then serve in the baking dish, family style.