I love gnocchi (with bonus recipe)

I love gnocchi.

(The singular is gnoccho.)

Gnocchi were probably invented in the Middle East in Roman times.

They’re thick, soft dumplings made from semolina, wheat flour, breadcrumbs or similar ingredients. Using potato is a  recent innovation. The smaller forms are called gnocchetti (cute!).

The word gnocchi means ’lumps’ (how appetising, ‘Mum, can we have lumps for tea?’). The name may come from nocchio, a knot in the wood or from nocca (knuckle) – neither of which makes the name much more appealing.

The name is also used in France in the dish known as gnocchis à la parisienne, a hot dish comprising choux pastry gnocchi and béchamel sauce.

Gnocchi with tomato sauce is known as strangolapreti or strangoloprevete, meaning ‘priest stranglers’, because a local priest liked them so much and ate them so fast that he choked on them.

So why do they sink, then float when you cook them?

When gnocchi are placed in boiling water, the combined density of the ingredients is more than the density of the water, so the gnocchi sink. As the gnocchi warm up, it’s a bit like inflating a rubber dinghy at the bottom of a swimming pool - the air trapped in the dough expands and the combined density of the ingredients becomes less than the density of boiling water, causing the gnocchi to rise to the top.

There are about 250 calories in a cup of potato gnocchi.

Here is a recipe I made up for strangoloprevete gnocchi. It is dead (ha!) easy and delish. We're eating it at least once a week at the mo.

Mediterranean gnocchi

What you need:
3 chorizos, halved lengthways and sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1/3 cup semidried tomatoes
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives
1/3 cup roasted capsicum strips
350 grams passata
500 grams gnocchi
Shaved parmesan to serve

What you do:
While the water for the gnocchi is coming to the boil, pan fry the chorizo until the edges brown. Add garlic and chilli and stir until fragrant (about a minute). Add tomatoes, olives, capsicum and passata and simmer for five minutes (or until the gnocchi is cooked).

Serve the tomato topping over a bed of gnocchi finished with shaved parmesan.

(Serves three – looks small but is very filling!)