Tuesday 17 April 2012

Gnocchi with Chestnut and Fontina Cheese


From Mietta’s Italian Family Recipes, Mietta O’Donnell, Black Inc., 2000.

Chestnuts have appeared in the markets which set me looking for recipes that included them. I had been looking at Mietta’s recipe for gnocchi with chestnuts for a while so this was the to make it.

Firstly the potato had to be boiled and mashed and the chestnuts boiled and peeled. It needed equal amounts of potato mash and gnocchi chestnut puree. I used 200g of each.

On the benchtop I measured out flour, a quantity one quarter the weight of the potatoes and chestnuts (100g in this case). Some freshly grated nutmeg was grated on top. The ingredients were combined to make a dough.


The dough was then taken in portions and rolled out into sausages that were then cut into gnocchi-sized pieces.

A pot of water was put on the stovetop to boil. A frying pan was also made ready with butter and a little olive oil to prevent it burning.  


Fontina cheese was cut up into small blocks. A mixture of herbs (parsley, sage, basil and tarragon) were chopped.



When the pot of water boiled the gnocchi were dropped in and cooked until they rose to the surface and the pan was turned on to heat the butter and oil. The gnocchi were then scooped up with a slotted spoon and placed in the frying pan. The fontina was added, and then the herbs.  Once the fontina had begun to melt it was ready and could be dished onto plates and served.



I think I was a little late in taking the gnocchi off the heat as the fontina quickly disappeared into the mix. It still tasted fine though. This is a pleasant variation on the standard gnocchi and worth remembering when chestnuts come into season.

Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

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