Gnocchi

Gnocchi are soft dumplings rather than pasta in the strict sense, and the potato version everyone pictures today is a relative newcomer: potatoes only reached Europe from the Andes in the sixteenth century, and it took roughly until the nineteenth for potato gnocchi to become the northern staple it is now. The name comes from a knot — from old words like the Lombard knohha — describing the small knobby lumps. Long before the potato, Romans ate gnocchi of semolina or flour, and that older line survives in gnocchi alla romana, baked discs of set semolina under butter and cheese. Rome keeps a soft spot for them still, in the tradition of giovedì gnocchi, Thursday gnocchi, a hearty plate before the lean Friday to come.

Small dumplings, roughly cork-sized, rolled from a soft dough of riced potato, flour, and often egg, then pressed against a fork or a ridged board so each one wears a set of grooves. Those ridges are not decoration: they, and the dimple the thumb leaves on the other side, catch and hold sauce, which is why a smooth gnocco is considered a beginner's slip. The dough is the whole game, kept barely worked and light on flour so the dumplings come out pillowy rather than dense.

Gnocchi are tender and mild, a soft cushion built to carry sauce rather than stand up to it, and the ridges do real work gripping whatever they are dressed in. They take a wide range of sauces, from the simplest melted butter and sage to tomato, gorgonzola, pesto, and slow meat ragù, and they bake beautifully, as in gnocchi alla sorrentina under tomato and mozzarella. Because they are rich and filling, they are usually served as a first course in a modest portion, with a sauce that flatters rather than fights their softness.

1. 01Burro e salviaMelted butter and sage, the plainest and best test.
2. 02Alla sorrentinaBaked with tomato, mozzarella, and basil, Campanian style.
3. 03Al gorgonzolaA creamy northern blue-cheese sauce.
4. 04Al ragùA slow meat sauce the ridges hold well.