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Gnocchi with Cheese Fondue

risotto with porcini

Cheese fondue is very creamy. A cheese that aged a month will have that slight bitterness that goes very well with something sweet like potato Gnocchi. That's actually how this dish came to my mind after I got a slightly aged smoked cheese in the Carpatian mountains by a local cowherd.

Ingredients

For the Gnocchi:

  • 2 parts potatoes - so for 300g dough, 200g potatoes;
  • 1 part hard wheat semola flour or just soft wheat flour (common flour) - so for 300g dough, 100g semola.
  • Some nuts

    • potatoes semola nuts

For the Fondue:

  • 200g cheese - choose any you like except a fresh one like mozzarella, better one that is aged a little bit, at least a month: Parmigiano or Pecorino are good examples;
  • 1 glass of milk;
  • 1 tablespoon of flour;
  • 20g butter;

    • cheese milk flour butter

Preparation

First thing, clean the potatoes to wash off the soil on their skin. Salt them, and them put them to bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes to make them solf. While they bake, cut the cheese into fine pieces and then place it in the glass with the milk, and crush the nuts.

cleaned potatoes patate nel forno cut cheese crushed nuts

When the potatoes are baked you can choose to peel them or as in my case keep the skin - it is way easier to peel them after they are cooked; I kept it because those I used are from a lady's farm near me and I know she's not using anything on the soil that could be of harm. This variety with the red skin that she's growing is slighly sweeter in taste compared to the common potato, but not that much to make a big difference so the common one is just as fine to use.

Mash the potatoes, you can do it with a fork or any other way, and then mix them with the flour you chose, and salt them. You want to knead them into forming a ball. Cut the ball in few pieces and roll them with your hands to stretch them to form some dough caterpillars. Cut them into obtaining smaller pieces of about 2 cm. They are ready as they are now but you can also choose to shape them into a ball rolling them into your palm for the looks.

puree semola and potatoes dough caterpillar gnocchi

Cooking

First of all let's make the fondue. Warm up the butter in a small pot and mix it with the flour to make a white Roux. Keep the heat on and add the milk and the cheese that were waiting together in the glass a bit at a time an keep mixing evrything. Continue until you reach the desired thickness. It shouldn't be too runny rather.

butter and flour roux aggiungndo fonduta

Place abundant water in a large pot and boil it. When the water boils salt it well and pour the gnocchi in. Let them cook for about 3 minutes, they will start floating on the water when cooked.

water boils roux

Place them in a pan with some of the cooking water and pour the fondue on them, then saute them in the pan to blend them in this cream.

water boils

Now they are ready to serve! Plate them and put the crushed nuts on top for an explosion of taste with combined textures.

Enjoy them and I wish you well.

Take care,
George.