With home-made gnocchi: 2 hours max

Serves 8

1,2 kg home-made gnocchi

Follow this recipe: Gnocchi

800 gr tomato sauce

2 garlic cloves

30 gr fresh basil

half glass of olive oil

salt and pepper

1 tsp sugar

300 gr mozzarella cheese

150 gr grated parmesan cheese

Make the tomato sauce. Fry the garlic with the olive oil.

Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper and the sugar. Let simmer (low heat) half covered for 15-20 minutes.

Take out from fire. Add the basil and the remaining olive oil. Stir and set aside.

Chop roughly the mozzarella cheese. Once the potato dumplings are cooked as per the recipe above, put them in a baking pan. Add the tomato sauce and stir.

Sprinkle with the parmesan and stir.

At last sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese and grill for 7/8 minutes. Serve.

1 kg potatoes

300 grams all-purpose flour

1 egg

salt

Boil in salted water the unpeeled potatoes (check doneness with a knife, if you get easily through the other side of the potato it is done). Let cool down. Peel them and mash them in a container with a potato masher.

Add the flour, the salt and the egg.

Mix well until smooth and soft. Add some flour if it is too sticky.

Make some rolls 1,5/2 cm diameter and cut lenghtwise at the same dimension. With you thumb, press them gently on a fork to give them the usual shape.

Put them on a clean and dry cloth sprinkled with abundant flour.

To cook the potato dumplings: pour the helping yourself with the cloth into hot boiling salted water (add 1 tbs of olive oil to the water before the potato dumplings this will help keeping them separate). Sitr gently and drain them with a perforated spoon once they come on the surface of the water. Top with the preferred sauce.

Gnocchi alla Romana

250 gr semolino / 250 gr semolina

1 lt latte / 1 lt milk

100 gr burro / 100 gr butter

120 gr parmigiano / 120 gr grated parmesan

sale, pepe e noce moscata / salt, pepper and nutmeg powder

3 rossi d’uovo / 3 egg yolks

Portare il latte a ebollizione con 50 gr di burro, un pizzico di sale, la noce moscata e il pepe.

Bring the milk to boil with 50 gr of butter, a big pinch of salt, the nutmeg and the pepper.

Quando in ebollizione, unire il semolino aiutandovi con una frusta per evitare grumi.

Once boiling, add the semolina slowly and mix it quickly with a whip (to avoid lumps).

Cuocere per 2-3 minuti finché non si addensa. Unire 60 gr di parmigiano e i tre rossi d’uovo, uno alla volta.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until thick. Add 60 gr of parmesan and the 3 egg yolks (one by one).

Stendere su una leccarda unta d’olio e poi, prima con le mani, poi con un mattarello, appiattire l’impasto fino a circa 8 mm di altezza.

Put the mixture on a greased dripping pan and, first with your hands then with a rolling pin,  level it out up to 8 mm height.

Con una formina circolare (o un bicchiere), tagliare quanti cerchi possibili. Disporli nella teglia (o nelle mini- teglie a piacere).

With a circular cookie cutter (or a regular glass), cut as much rounds as possible. Put them into the baking pan (a unique pan or more smaller ones).

Coprire con alcuni fiocchi di burro e spolverare di parmigiano. Infornare per 20 minuti a 200° e finché non sono gratinati.

Add on top some small pieces of butter and sprinkle with parmesan throughoutly. Put in the oven for 20 minutes at 200° and cook them au gratin (the must be brown on the surface).