An early 14th c. Italian Resolution Recipe
Apr. 5th, 2006 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerCheese Gnocchi
Note: this is not my interpretation.
If you want some gnocchi, take some fresh cheese and mash it, then take some flour and mix with egg yolks as in making migliacci. Put a pot full of water on the fire and, when it begins to boil, put the mixture on a dish and drop it into the pot with a ladle. And when they are cooked, place them on dishes and sprinkle with plenty of grated cheese.
Frammento di un libro di cucina del sec. XIV edito nel di nozze Carducci-Gnaccarini. (Apparently a menu from a 1326 feast.)
2 packets cream cheese (or 600 grams fresh cheese)
6 medium (= 4 large!) egg yolks
1 1/2 cups flour (plus more as needed)
6-8 Tbsp grated Parmesan
Mash the cheese into a creamy paste. Mix in the flour by hand and add salt to taste. Blend in the egg yolks one by one and knead until neither too dry nor too sticky. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; make half-teaspoon sized balls (Note: a floured melon baller should work well for this) and drop into the simmering water. Cook approximately five minutes over simmering heat until the gnocchi float to the surface. Cover with grated parmesan and serve hot.
What worked: We liked this. Slightly time-intensive, but much less so than the time that I made actual potato gnocchi from scratch. These are more basic dumplings and they cook quickly. I bet that working some saffron into the dough would be good...
What didn't: I didn't mix the cream cheese and flour enough - the two were not as integrated as they should have been. Next time I may use a hand mixer on the cream cheese to whip it up a bit before adding the flour. I used a full quantity of large egg yolks, and then had to add quite a bit more flour to get it to the proper dough texture, hence the note about medium vs. large. I think that beating in the egg yolks into the cheese before adding the flour would work better; it's too bad that the recipe doesn't direct that way. Also, the half-teaspoonfuls that I shaped by hand were, shall we say, "rustic". A melon baller would produce nicer looking output.
Will I make it again? Most definitely - possibly even at Beltane. Even if I don't, this is going into the tourney cookbook for future camping. If I made the dough balls ahead of time, this would be a dead easy meal.
Edited to add source.
Note: this is not my interpretation.
If you want some gnocchi, take some fresh cheese and mash it, then take some flour and mix with egg yolks as in making migliacci. Put a pot full of water on the fire and, when it begins to boil, put the mixture on a dish and drop it into the pot with a ladle. And when they are cooked, place them on dishes and sprinkle with plenty of grated cheese.
Frammento di un libro di cucina del sec. XIV edito nel di nozze Carducci-Gnaccarini. (Apparently a menu from a 1326 feast.)
2 packets cream cheese (or 600 grams fresh cheese)
6 medium (= 4 large!) egg yolks
1 1/2 cups flour (plus more as needed)
6-8 Tbsp grated Parmesan
Mash the cheese into a creamy paste. Mix in the flour by hand and add salt to taste. Blend in the egg yolks one by one and knead until neither too dry nor too sticky. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; make half-teaspoon sized balls (Note: a floured melon baller should work well for this) and drop into the simmering water. Cook approximately five minutes over simmering heat until the gnocchi float to the surface. Cover with grated parmesan and serve hot.
What worked: We liked this. Slightly time-intensive, but much less so than the time that I made actual potato gnocchi from scratch. These are more basic dumplings and they cook quickly. I bet that working some saffron into the dough would be good...
What didn't: I didn't mix the cream cheese and flour enough - the two were not as integrated as they should have been. Next time I may use a hand mixer on the cream cheese to whip it up a bit before adding the flour. I used a full quantity of large egg yolks, and then had to add quite a bit more flour to get it to the proper dough texture, hence the note about medium vs. large. I think that beating in the egg yolks into the cheese before adding the flour would work better; it's too bad that the recipe doesn't direct that way. Also, the half-teaspoonfuls that I shaped by hand were, shall we say, "rustic". A melon baller would produce nicer looking output.
Will I make it again? Most definitely - possibly even at Beltane. Even if I don't, this is going into the tourney cookbook for future camping. If I made the dough balls ahead of time, this would be a dead easy meal.
Edited to add source.
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Re: "Gnocchi on Oven's Door"
Date: 2006-04-06 02:05 am (UTC)