Crispy Potato Gnocchi and Greens in Fontina Fonduta

If cheese is your love language

Hello!

Gnocchi won out on this week’s poll, and I’m glad it did because I had a lot of fun developing this rich, cheesy dish. Using egg yolks at the moment, along with a good fontina makes this feel like a luxurious and special dish. If I had a truffle, this dish would be perfect for shaving it over.

Apple dumplings to come, though! I did just publish a recipe for Tarte Tatin, but it’s the season for comfort food, and I’m dying to make these dumplings that are baked in a buttery-apple-caramel sauce.

I started out by making a boiled gnocchi, but didn’t like the texture; I tried psyllium and xanthan gums, as well as no extra binder, but didn’t like any of these GF versions. Frying however, brings out the potato flavor even more, they hold together perfectly, and they turn perfectly crispy. Not traditional, but neither is the variation on the sauce that I developed.

I started with a traditional fonduta—the Italian sauce that combines fontina, milk, cream, and egg yolks and is whisked over a hot water bath until thickened—but I discovered that when blended, you end up with a silky smooth, very stable sauce. Cheese sauces like this are notorious for splitting and turning grainy, but the blending emulsified it so that I was able to cool and re-heat it without problem, and the texture was like silk. It does get much thicker when blended—I need a food scientist to tell me why—but add a little warm milk, and it is perfect.

Notes:

• I made the traditional ridges in the gnocchi, but it really isn’t necessary. I would just roll them into ovals next time and fry.

• This dish wants strong greens with it—I used a combination of spinach and arugula. If you have basil, I’d add whole leaves when cooking the greens.

• I recently found some Calabrian chili flakes that I used to finish the dish, but any red chili flake will do.

• I tried out different potatoes, but took Marcella Hazan’s advice and used ‘boiling’ potatoes (Yukon Golds). They are smoother when riced, and have a richer flavor than russets. I also experimented with roasting vs boiling the potatoes (some prefer roasting as boiling can introduce more water), but when I boiled 500g of potatoes, I ended up with 505g after boiling—barely any difference, and boiling is much faster.

• Save your whites! You can make Chocolate Hazelnut Financier or a Key Lime Pie in Coconut Crust, or freeze for another future use.

From top left: riced potato with flour; rolled into logs and cut; the blended fonduta (note how thick) which smooths out when whisked with hot milk. Middle row: freshly made gnocchi; fried in olive oil; greens cooked in pan; plated gnocchi with greens and fonduta