Gnocchi alla Romana on Argentinean Gnocchi Day

Gnocchi alla romana - a bit different from the classic gnocchi, even in looks!

 The end of another month is approaching fast... but before we get all philoshophical here and start pondering over  how time flies and where all those nice March days have gone to, take a good look at your calendar. It's almost the 29th of the month and this means... it's Gnocchi Day! Or at least, it's Gnocchi Day in Argentina. 

These small doughy balls known as gnocchi in Italian and as ñoquis in Argentina, are generally made from potato but there are many other varieties that are just as delicious as the traditional potato ones.
To celebrate this special day in our culinary calendar, I invited bloggers Katie, Ana, Rebecca, Meag and Paula  to come up with their special version of the ñoquis for this 29th March. The idea is to share our recipes and have new options for the 29th of the months still to come. We will find out what delicious recipes these ladies have prepared for this special holiday in a moment....

But first, why is the 29th Gnocchi Day in Argentina?

The truth is no one knows for certain and there are a number of theories to explain this tradition, like that it was brought over to the New World by our Italian ancestors who celebrated St. Pantaleon every 29th in Italy by serving gnocchi on this day.

The most likely explanation, though, is that the 29th is the day right before payday and what better food is there to feed your family, that is cheap yet delicious and filling and is easy to make at the same time? The answer is ñoquis, of course!!
Serve them with a simple red or white sauce or just drizzle some olive oil and and put a sprinkle of parmesan on top and it becomes a dish that is rich and will leave you and your loved ones with full bellies and happy hearts. In fact, that is what you say, before eating the ñoquis - but wait! let's explain how it should be done:

First, make your ñoquis and serve them with your favourite sauce. Then place a folded bank note under each plate to attract prosperity to your house and your dear ones. Take your napkin and tie it around your neck (ok, you can skip this one if you promise to mind your manners) and make a toast to a "full belly, happy heart" (in Spanish, "panza llena, corazón contento") and.... dig in!
A friend of mine who is originally from Uruguay (our neighbours from just across the Río de la Plata) told me that in her family, they normally count how many ñoquis each member has been served and later place bets on that number in the lottery! The idea is, do anything and everything you can to bring good luck and prosperity to yourself and your family!

Now, here is my idea for Gnocchi Day tomorrow:

Ñoquis a la Romana: 

Gnocchi alla romana don't have the traditional gnocchi shape.

 This recipe is pretty simple and it can be served as a first course or with some sauté  mushrooms and veggies (leeks or chard stalks and leaves, are my favourite to serve this way) or even some tuna or beef meatballs in a red sauce.
Tomorrow I am going to be serving mine with sauté mushrooms, leek and paksoi. The idea for this combination came from an Argentinean food blogger, Cristina. You can see her recipe here.

They are a bit different from the gnocchi we are used to, they look more like disks than like little dough balls and the texture is different as well. My grandma used to make them when I was a little girl and I remember I used to love cutting the gnocchi in different shapes so that the dish ended up looking a bit strange in the end! Another thing I liked was that if there was any dough left, my grandma used to sprinkle a bit of parmesan and rosemary over the dough, cut it in little sticks and fry them to eat as snacks until the ñoquis (as we called them) were done. 


Ingredients: (serves 4)

45g. unsalted butter, melted
30g Parmesan cheese, grated
3 egg yolks
1l. milk
pinch of nutmeg
200g semolina flour
salt, pepper to taste

For the topping:
40g butter, melted
90ml cream
30g Parmesan cheese, grated


Preparation:

Notes:
- Have all the ingredients ready beforehand, because the dough needs to be hot when you pace it on the baking sheet to set and cool. 
- Seasoning is important, make sure you taste the dough is not too bland before you put it in the fridge to cool.

Line a shallow bread tin or dish with some greaseproof paper to have it ready when you are done with the mix.
Whisk the butter, Parmesan cheese and the egg yolks and season to taste. Set the mixture aside.

Heat the milk in a big pan. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. When the milk is just beginning to boil, add the semolina flour in a thin stream, little by little, whisking constantly - and I mean, constantly - you don't want lumps in the dough. Reduce the heat and let the mixture cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring continually, until all the milk has been absorbed and the mixture comes loose from the sides of the pan. The texture has to be thick, but still creamy and moist.

Take the pan from the gas and whisk in the egg mixture you had previously set aside. Taste to correct seasoning if necessary.  Spread the dough while still hot (very important, since this will make it easier to spread the dough) on the sheet to a thickness of about 2cm. Spread it as smoothly as you can, using the flat side of a knife or a metal spatula, dipping it first in cold water before touching the dough.
Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to cool for a couple of hours. If you are not going to make the ñoquis right away, you can at this stage the dough overnight or freeze until needed.

To cut the gnocchi I used a cutter with a funny shape. They're ready to go into the oven now!

 Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a shallow ovenproof dish with some butter. Take the flat dough from the fridge and cut disks of about 4 cm in diameter with a round cookie cutter or a glass previously dipped in cold water. Keep dipping the cutter in cold water to prevent sticking. Arrange the disks or ñoquis slightly overlapping in the greased oven dish.

Grate some Parmesan on top of the gnocchi and take it to the oven...

For the topping, mix the butter and the cream. Pour this mixture onto the ñoquis and sprinkle generously some Parmesan cheese. Put the dish in the oven and bake the ñoquis for about 25-30 minutes until the top layer is golden brown. Once they are ready they should be served right away.

Out of the oven, bubbling away...

* * * * *

Let's now take a look at the other ladies' ñoquis recipes!
(you can go to their recipes by clicking on the link under the photo)

Spinach Gnocchi by Paula de Caro

Arugula Gnocchi by Ana O'Reilly

Butternut Squash Gnocchi - Two Ways by Katie

Roasted Beet Gnocchi by Meag

Ñoquis del 29: A family tradition by Rebecca

This should definitely see us through the next six months of full bellies and happy hearts, don't you think? (wink!)

Food from home: Diego's ñoquis de papa (potato gnocchi)

potato gnocchi with a leek and tarragon cream sauce. © 2011 Diego Bianchi.

(puedes leer esta receta en español en Contacto con lo Divino) 

Getting used to new kinds food was one of the aspects of my new life as an expat in the Netherlands that proved to be one of the hardest things I had to cope with. Nine years after moving out here from Argentina, I still miss my food from home. I guess that even when you adapt to your new country and assimilate and embrace the new culture, food is still something that you never quite let go. The food from home is like your own family, your people - no matter how far from home you are, you still carry them close to your heart.

Diego is a porteño, a native of the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires. Food and photography are two of his passions and he always brings these two together when he posts his recipes on his blog, Contacto con lo Divino. Every time I see the fantastic photos of his food I feel a sudden and strong nostalgia for home, because he usually cooks dishes that are familiar to me, to my Argentinean soul and palate.

Here is one of his pasta recipes that caught my attention. I often crave for ñoquis (as we call gnocchi in Spanish) at home and I am trying Diego's recipe tomorrow for ñoquis del 29 (Gnocchi Day every 29th of the month) ... an Argentinean tradition I will tell you all about when I post my take on this recipe soon.

DIEGO'S RECIPE:  (serves 4-5 people)

Ingredients for the ñoquis:

1kg potatoes - 500g flour, and some extra for kneading - 1 egg - 1tbspoon salt - nutmeg, to taste.


Ingredients for the sauce:

100g smoked pancetta or streaky bacon - 400g single cream - 1 1/2 tbspoon dehydrated leeks with tarragon mix or if you can't find this mix, use 1 tbspoon dried tarragon and 1 chopped stalk of leek (the white stalks, it tends to be overpowering, so if you don't like your sauce too oniony, just use half a stalk) - 2 cloves of garlic - 1 red pepper - 100ml white wine - 2 teaspoon flour - a bit of chopped parsley.

Preparation:

Making the ñoquis:

• Choose potatoes that are roughly of the same size so that they cook evenly. Wash them well and put them in a pan with cold water and some salt to boil. You don't need to peel the potatoes, for the skin will prevent them from absorbing too much liquid. If this happens, you will need to add more flour and this will definitely ruin the taste of the ñoquis. 

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

•  Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes - roughly about 25 minutes. To check if they are ready, insert a skewer in the potatoes and it should go in easily without any resistance. Try not to overcook them or again, they will absorbe too much water. 
• Drain the water and peel them right away. Cooks normally have asbestos fingers but if they're too hot use a fork and a knife or better even, a ricer if you have one; push the potatoes through it and the skin will stay in the ricer.
• Start mashing the potatoes while they're still hot; if they are already getting cold they will be too hard to mash and you'll get lumps. 

@ 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Add a tablespoon of salt, an egg and season with nutmeg. Mix all the ingredients well with the potato masher. 
• When everything is properly mixed, it's the time to place the dough on a floured surface. Knead it adding the flour little by little until you have a dough that is smooth and doesn't stick to your hands. 

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Leave the dough to rest until it has cooled down completely. 

 © 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Take a portion of dough and roll it with your hands to form a long thin sausage, dusting the surface and the dough with a bit of extra flour. 

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Cut the dough into small portions of 1,5/2cm approximately. Do the same with the rest of the dough.

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Take the little portions of dough one by one, pressing them gently and sliding them down a fork or a ñoqui board. Once shaped, place the ñoquis on a floured surface.

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• In a pan put a generous amount of water to boil with some cooking salt. Lift the ñoquis with a spatula or flat tool and drop them (gently!) into the boiling water. Put the lid on the pan and let the water boil again. The ñoquis will start coming up to the surface in just a few minutes. They are ready when they are just "al dente" (firm, but not hard).

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

Making the sauce:

•  Bake the pancetta slices in a pan without adding any oil or fat. Once they are golden, remove them and chop them roughly.  

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Now chop the red pepper finely and bake in some olive oil together with the chopped garlic cloves. Once done, add the pancetta, the cream and mix.

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• Then add the mix of dehydrated leeks with tarragon if you have it, or the fresh leeks with the dried tarragon. If you are using the fresh leeks, then let them soften a bit. Add the white wine and let the sauce reduce over a low gas. Don't let the sauce boil.

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

• To thicken the sauce you can add the two teaspoons of flour and let it cook just for a few more minutes. It is now ready to serve.
• Serve the ñoquis on the plates with a generous amount of sauce and sprinkle some very finely chopped parsley over the top. 

Buen apetito!

© 2011 Diego Bianchi

Thanks a lot, Diego, for letting me post your recipe and your fantastic photos!

A Taste of Home: the Argentinian passion for Dulce de Leche

If you ask any Argentinian expat what things they miss the most from their country, you will almost certainly hear them reply -among other things to be sure, "dulce de leche!" I know I miss it - I miss eating it on my toast every morning or in my pastry on special occasions; and just by talking about it, fond memories of childhood tea-hour when the dulce de leche was nearly always present, spring up in my mind.

We, Argentinians, are known to be passionate about many things, like football or tango - but our love for dulce de leche is definitely as strong and constant as our passion for that sport or the legendary music and dance for which we are known all over the world.


What is dulce de leche, you may ask?

Mmmmmmmmm ..... dulce de leche is........ sticky, rich, sweet, luscious, shiny, smooth, creamy, voluptuous, toothsome, scrumptious, delicious, yammy .... caramelised milk and sugar. Simple as that! It is prepared by slowly heating milk with sugar for a couple of hours until it acquires the desired brownish, and creamy consistency that is typical of this sauce. This happens thanks to a chemical process known as the Maillard reaction, which is responsible for the browning and the flavours of many foods, such as toast, biscuits, roasted meat, roasted coffee, and of course, dulce de leche.

As for its origins, it is not very clear who came up with the idea for the first time or where it was invented, but it is especially popular in Latin American countries: in Mexico it is known as dulce de cajeta (which you don't want to say up loud in Argentina, by the way), in Colombia and Venezuela it is called arequipe, and its goes by the name of manjar blanco in Perú, Chile and Ecuador. In France they have something similar called confiture de lait, which they usually serve with fromage blanc.



In the Americas, the origin is undoubtedly colonial. According to the Argentinian journalist Victor Hugo Decrot in his book "Los sabores de la Patria" (flavours from the fatherland), dulce de leche arrived from Chile, first to the region of Cuyo and from there it passed on to the north in Tucumán, where it quickly became popular as a filling for another local delicacy, the alfajor (a sandwich biscuit we are also very passionate about).


But in Argentina we love our legends and myths (think of Evita, for example), and this sweet delicacy has its own story. We like to think that dulce de leche was discovered by accident, in the year 1829, and that this accident involved two of the most important figures of those turbulent times in Argentinian history: Juan Manuel de Rosas, a political leader and landowner of Buenos Aires, and his archrival, Juan Lavalle.


The legend goes that during a visit that Lavalle paid to his opponent Rosas in his estancia (ranch) to discuss the terms of a pact they were about to sign, he felt exhausted from all the horse-riding and fighting he had been doing, and upon finding the stretch bed of his enemy at hand, decided to take a nap until Rosas arrived for the meeting.
A servant who was there cooking milk with sugar for her boss' mate (an Argentinian kind of tea) later, thought that this was unacceptable, and left the pan with milk on the fire to go out and warn the soldiers about Lavalle's insolence. When Rosas came into the room, he found Lavalle sound asleep and he ordered that he should not be disturbed under any circumstance. When Lavalle woke up, a friendly Rosas ordered the servant to pour the mates for him and Lavalle, at which point the poor woman remembered the pan with the milk she had forgotten on the fire. What she found was a rich dark brown paste that tasted like heaven. She served this caramel to her boss and his guest, who found it very tasty - and this is how dulce de leche was first "discovered" in Argentina 180 years ago!

Just in case, we coined the phrase: "Más argentino que el dulce de leche!" (he/she/it is or I am more Argentinian than dulce de leche)


Whether this myth about the origin of dulce de leche is true or not, what remains certain is that Argentinians can't live without it. We grow up eating it, for breakfast or for tea, spread on bread and butter. We also find it on many recipes that are classic desserts usually prepared at home, like panqueques (crepes), alfajores ( sandwich biscuits) and flan (a soft caramel custard). Piononos (a sort of swiss roll), croissants, pastry and cakes are filled with dulce de leche and it is an icecream flavour as well. Dulce de leche candy is a big favourite with both, children and grown-ups - never mind how challenging it is afterwards to remove the sticky bits from your teeth when you eat it!

And the word is spreading: the worldwide known American brand Häagen-Dazs, offers a dulce de leche icecream, a flavour "inspired by the Latin American treasured dessert" which combines caramel and sweet cream, "swirled with ribbons of golden caramel", as it reads on their products menu.




Also the famous American chain Starbucks, offered in 2007, a dulce de leche special version of their frappuccino, a frozen coffee drink for which Starbucks has created different varieties.
The Girl Scouts of the USA have been "converted", too: for their annual sales programme in 2008, they came out with dulce de leche cookies for the South Florida area, targetting in that way the large Argentinian and Latin American population of this part of the state.

Outside Argentina, dulce de leche can be found in supermarkets in countries with large Argentinian communities, like the States, Spain or Italy. Here in the Netherlands, it is not widely available though.
In some of the big supermarket chains here in the big cities, you may be lucky to find it, but so far I haven't seen it in any of the supermarkets in my area.
There are several online shops that sell dulce de leche and other products from my part of the world, like Mate-tee from Germany where I normally buy my Argentinian tea (mate).

Then of course, you can try making it from scratch, which is fun to do, too. Here's the recipe:




Ingredients:

2 l. of milk
500 g. of sugar
1 vainilla pod or 1 teaspoon of vainilla extract
1 small teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of corn syrup (optional, the glucose in it helps to keep the caramel moist and thick)

Preparation:

In a thick-bottomed saucepan bring the milk to the boil first, and then add all the other ingredients stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn the gas down and cook for about 2 to 3 hours or until the caramel reaches the desired consistency and colour. The longer you cook it, the thicker and darker the dulce de leche will be.
When it is ready, turn the gas off, let it out to cool and then you can put it in a jar, seal it and keep it in the fridge.
If you are going to use it to fill pastry or prepare any other recipe with it, take it out of the fridge beforehand and allow to reach room temperature. This will make it easier to spread or mix.

Give it a try: spread it on your toast, fill your pastry with it, spread it on your sponge cake or your pancakes. I assure you will find it hard to resist the temptation of just eating it with a spoon from the jar and thinking, every time you try to put it away:

"Quiero más dulce de leche!"


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Note: I would like to thank my good friends Andrea Sosa de Rauhofer (from Uruguay) and Bianca Pacheco de Zafra (from Venezuela) for contributing with their own photos of dulce de leche Chimbote and arequipe Alpina. Gracias, amigas!
Also, many thanks to Claudia Gibson (from Córdoba, Argentina) for letting me use her photos for this blog entry. Very generous of you, Claudia! Thanks!