Lucky dip - weird from Trieste

This lucky dip is from the massive tome - The Silver Spoon the bible of Italian Cooking. In the publisher's words:

"First published in 1950, Il cucchiaio d’argento (the silver spoon) has become the most successful cookbook in Italy. Experts were commissioned to collect hundreds of traditional recipes from throughout the country, including every regional speciality. From its first appearance, the book immediately made its mark on the world of gastronomy and has been constantly updated, adapting the recipes and techniques to our modern lifestyle without losing the principles of authentic Italian cuisine."

All I know is that if you are looking for a particular Italian dish it will be in there - no frills - a few pictures - very little comments - just the recipe. I don't use it a lot but I do use it from time to time. Anyway it was my lucky dip and the page I opened it at was a page of potato gnocchi recipes. The one that caught my eye was Gnocchi di patate con supine alla Triestina (Triestian potato gnocchi with prunes). Gnocchi with prunes thought I - how weird is that. And then when I did my usual trawl of the net for pictures and information I came across a picture of the dish that someone had eaten at Le Noci in Grutti in Umbria. Which was one of those moments of huge coincidence. For several years ago we went to Grutti - a very small village in the middle of Umbria with friends and spent a week there. Inevitably we dined at the local restaurant - Le Noci and I do remember the food as being pretty good. Lots of truffles I seem to remember. So I searched my Photos library and here it is - Le Noci in Grutti, courtesy of my friends, for I did not take any photos of our night there. A bit blurry but you get the picture.

le noci 2

le noci 1

It was a lovely little spot and the view from our house of the stunning town of Todi was just amazing. But really what a coincidence. I still can't get over it. It's nowhere near Trieste by the way. Anyway here is a picture of the Le Noci version and a link to the website, complete with recipe. Their version has dried apricots too.

Trieste, where this dish hails from apparently, is on the border with what once was Yugoslavia and was once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Maybe that's where the curious mix of potatoes with prunes comes from. And interestingly when I looked up gnocchi triestina I found several recipes for gnocchi made from bread. I had some of those in Lombardy last time we were in Italy and very nice they were too. But there were also several for the prune one.

So what do you do with the prunes? Well you make the dough for the gnocchi, and then you shape the gnocchi and push a prune into the middle. Well it's a bit more complicated than that. When the gnocchi are cooked you melt butter, and add breadcrumbs, cinnamon and a sprinkling of sugar, then toss the gnocchi around in it until golden. So it's really a sort of sweet dish - but with potatoes? Weird eh? Because it's not sweet and sour. Maybe it would be good with sweet potatoes instead of ordinary potatoes too. Or carrots - see below.

For whilst we are still on sweet -one of my favourite gnocchi, that I make from time to time is from Bert Greene and is for Amish carrot dumplings - so not Italian at all, but really they are gnocchi by another name. They look a bit like these on the right. I guess carrots are sweetish but they are perfectly right with this recipe. I add a bit of parsley too.

So just to finish this post here is the recipe. Do try it - they are light and lovely. He recommends serving them with what he calls Amish sticking sauce, which seems like a spicy kind of BBQ sauce. You could just try tomato sauce - or plain with melted butter and cheese.

AMISH CARROT DUMPLINGS

1 1/4 cups cold mashed potatoes

1 large carrot, peeled, finely grated

1 small white onion, grated

2 eggs

1/2 cup finely grated Swiss cheese

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 1/2 cups plain flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine all the ingredients through the pepper in a large bowl, mix throughly. Work in the flour with your hands, starting with 1 cup and adding more until a soft dough is formed. Refrigerate, covered, 1 hour.

Roll the dough on a well-floured pastry board into ropes about 1/2 inch thick. Cut each rope into individual dumplings about 1 inch long. Press each end with the tines of a fork. Cook, about ten at a time, in a large pot of boiling salted water just until they float to the surface, about 1 minute or less. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain lightly on paper towels. Transfer to a well-buttered shallow baking dish, and reserve. Continue until all dumplings are cooked. Let them stand, covered, at room temperature until ready to heat.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Dot the dumplings with butter and cook them in the oven until warmed through. 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving if you like. Serves 6