Potato Gnocchi

History

Gnocchi are among Italy's oldest dumplings, with antecedents in a Roman semolina-and-egg porridge that survives in gnocchi alla romana. The name likely comes from nocchio, "a knot in wood," or nocca, "knuckle," for the little rounded shapes. For centuries the dumplings were bound not with potato but with flour, bread, or semolina: an early flour-based recipe was inspired by the Renaissance cook Cristoforo Messisbugo (1549), and Bartolomeo Scappi's 1570 version of flour, water, and breadcrumbs was shaped by pressing dough across a grater — the same grating gesture Artusi still describes in 1891. Potato reached Italy in the 16th century through the Columbian exchange, yet it entered gnocchi only later, and the sources vary on the pace: Francesco Leonardi's 1790 gnocchi were still merely flour and water; one account has potato versions beginning to emerge in the late 16th or early 17th century and becoming widely established through the 18th and 19th centuries, while another ties their spread to the late 19th century, when wheat-milling fees pressed small landowners in central and northern Italy. Artusi gives two potato recipes; the simpler potato-and-flour one closely resembles the gnocchi we know, boiled potato passed through a sieve and lightly worked with flour, helping fix the modern form.

Ingredients

• g potatoes
• g wheat flour
• cheese
• butter
• tomato sauce
• milk

Instructions

1. Cook the potatoes (ideally steamed), peel while hot, and pass through a sieve.
2. Knead with the flour, roll into a thin cylinder, and cut into pieces about 3 cm long.
3. Dust with flour and hollow each with your thumb against the back of a grater.
4. Boil in salted water for 10 minutes; drain and dress with cheese, butter and tomato sauce, or cook in milk for a more delicate version.