Gnocchi

G nocchi is a type of Italian dumpling using little lumps of dough made of potatoes, flour, eggs, and salt. Today, non-traditional variations include adding cheese, breadcrumbs, herbs, veggies, and more. It’s cooked in boiling water and once ready, any one of a range of sauces can be added to it, from pesto to a butter and herb mixture and tomato sauce being a few options. The variety of options with the sauce allow cooks to imagine the dish in their own unique way and be creative in the cooking process. Gnocchi is often considered a first course or side dish.

The word is believed to be derived from nocca, meaning knuckles, or knohha meaning knot. Either way, the implication is a small, tight, round shape, reminiscent of the gnocchi. While people use variants like pumpkin and so on, the famous potato gnocchi was invented around the 17th century, after the Spanish explorers brought potatoes with them from South America.

But variants of the gnocchi have been around longer. During the Renaissance, one would find gnocchi among the fancy dishes found on banquet tables during important occasions. In the 15th century, gnocchi made of bread, milk and almonds was called zanzarelli. The 1570 cookbook author Bartolomeo Scappi includes a gnocchi recipe made of flour, breadcrumbs, and water, all pushed through a cheese grater. A while later, when egg, flour and water were added to the recipe, it came to be known as malfatti.

The modern gnocchi as we recognise it today goes back to the 19th century, when Pellegrino Artusi, the grandfather of Italian cuisine, published a recipe for potato gnocchi. It also included the story of a woman whose gnocchi had disappeared in the pot she was using to boil it, because she didnt use enough flour to hold them. After shaping the gnocchi, he rolls them against a cheese grater, and the resulting texture allows the gnocchi to hold the sauce. This recipe has being going strong all over the world today, with gnocchi being recognised as the pasta’s predecessor.