Gnocchi is a classic for a reason and has long been a must-order for diners looking for a comforting, hearty dish. The foundational pasta is the perfect match with a cheese-based sauce, which is where Grana Padano PDO comes into the picture.
Chef Donato Cofano from Tacco & Tosca replaces potato with pumpkin to make his gnocchi and begins by roasting slices of the vegetable with olive oil before breaking it up with a whisk. Cofano then combines the pumpkin with flour and grated Grana Padano PDO to make a pasta dough. “The reason why I use Grana Padano is because we don’t need a lot – it’s very tasty,” he says.
Once the dough reaches the desired consistency, it’s rolled out and the gnocchi is cut. Cofano places the gnocchi in a pot of boiling salted water and removes once they float to the top. Meanwhile, pieces of pancetta are fried off with olive oil until crisp and added to a luxurious, creamy sauce made with Grana Padano PDO. Cofano coats the gnocchi with the sauce and finishes the dish off with crushed crispy sage leaves and a generous grating of Grana Padano PDO.
Ingredients
Serves four
700g Kent pumpkin
2 shallots
100g pancetta
150g flour tipo 00
2 egg whites
400ml milk
15ml extra-virgin olive oil
300g grated Grana Padano PDO (100g for dough, 200g for cream)
100g shaved Grana Padano PDO
16 sage leaves
Salt and pepper
Method
- Bake pumpkin with shallots until completely roasted. Remove the shallots, mash the pumpkin well, and place in a large bowl.
- Add flour, egg whites, and 100g of grated Grana Padano to the mashed
pumpkin and mix by hand until a dough is formed. Knead for a few minutes. - Cut the dough into smaller pieces, roll each piece into a cylinder, and cut each cylinder into 1-inch pieces.
- Cut the pancetta into small pieces and shallow fry with a drizzle of EVO until completely cooked. Add eight sage and leave a few minutes. Set pan aside.
- In a saucepan, over low to medium heat, mix milk and the rest of the grated grana Padano until a creamlike texture is formed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Place the gnocchi in boiling salted water. When they rise, remove from the pot and place into the pan where the pancetta was cooked.
- Mix cooked pancetta with gnocchi until all pieces are coated with pancetta and sage flavour.
- Serve on a plate and add a few spoons of the Grana Padano cream on top.
- Finish off with shaved Grana Padano PDO and garnish with the remaining sage leaves cut into smaller pieces.
For more information on Grana Padano PDO, visit congafoods.com.au
