Pasta shapes · Italian cuisine
Gnocchi
Italian dumplings – potato, or alla romana made with semolina; not pasta, but its close relatives.
At a glance
- Origin
- All of Italy; alla romana associated with Rome.
- Dough
- Potato and flour; alla romana semolina, milk, eggs, butter.
- Production
- Hand-shaped pieces; alla romana cut and baked.
- Pairs with
- Pesto genovese, tomato sauce, butter; alla romana butter and Parmigiano.
- Cooking time
- Potato gnocchi are cooked only until they float, packaged ones about 1.5–2 min, depending on the maker; alla romana are baked.
Gnocchi are not pasta in the strict sense but dumplings. The most common are made of potato: boiled, mashed potatoes are mixed with flour and shaped into small cylinders or ovals about 1.5 cm long, which are boiled and served with a sauce or butter. Gnocchi alla romana are different – made of semolina, milk, eggs and butter, cut into squares or rounds and baked with butter and Parmigiano.
They began as simple dumplings of flour and water; stale bread was added later, and potatoes only much later. They sit among pasta in this lexicon because in Italy they are eaten as a primo piatto with the same sauces, and pasta encyclopedias routinely include them.
They suit pesto genovese, tomato sauce, or baking.