Gnocchi Alla Romana
Roman-style Semolina Gnocchi
I grew up eating gnocchi alla Romana or, like we called in Argentina, ñoquis a la romana or ñoquis de sémola. My mom made them for lunch probably around once a week. Sometimes I helped make them. It would thus have been logical if I'd made them for my children when they were little. I never did. I'm not sure why other than I didn't think they were particularly nutritional and I don't like making anything that requires rolling a dough and using a cookie cutter - though in this case, you don't actually need to roll the dough, just smooth it with a spatula. Another reason is that I never found these gnocchi to be particularly flavorful, no matter how much Parmesan cheese I added to them.
Still, I'm cooking Lazian food, and I couldn't just skip them. Plus, with my mother passing away recently, I was ready for this trip to memory lane. The recipe I used is pretty similar to my mother's and, perhaps not surprising given the few ingredients, they taste just like hers. My oldest daughter liked them, so I now regret to having made them for her earlier. And really, I regret not making them for my mother in her final months, when she didn't want to eat anything. She needed calories and perhaps she would have eaten them.
The key to making these gnocchi is to use coarse semolina. Semolina flour or fine semolina won't give you the right texture. You can look for it at Italian, Middle Eastern or Indian grocers.
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Gnocchi Alla Romana
Ingredients
- olive oil for greasing
- 7 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
- 4 cups milk
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups coarse semolina
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided
Directions
Grease a working surface with a little olive oil.
Put the milk in a saucepan, add the nutmeg and salt & pepper to taste and bring close to a boil over medium high-heat. When the milk is almost at a boiling point, turn heat to medium-low and gradually whisk in the semolina. Continue whisking until the semolina is smooth and has thickened. Turn off heat.
Whisk in 3 1/2 Tbsp butter until completely combined. Stir in the yolks followed by 1 1/2 cups of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Transfer the mixture onto the prepared working surface, spread and flatten it throughout the surface to a 1/4" thickness. Let the mixture cool.
Preheat oven to 375°F Using 1/2 Tbsp butter, grease 2 baking sheet.
Using a cookie cutter, cut rounds about 1 1/2" in diameter. Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheets.
Melt the remaining 3 Tbsp of butter. Brush the prepared rounds with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano on top. Bake for 15 minutes, then broil for another 5' (alternative, turn oven to the maximum). Serve hot.
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Adapted from a recipe at Patarò Gnocchi
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