Gnocchi with black truffle and fontina cheese: a perfect recipe for winter

Gnocchi inevitably take me to my grandmother's kitchen. From the tiny balcony of her flat you could see all the roofs of the houses surrounding the church in the small old town. From behind the little marble table top, still soiled with flour, rising swirls of smoke bathed the whole room in a damp embrace with a strong taste of home. And when it began to get cold, we all looked forward to the moment when she, my grandmother, would for us cook gnocchi with black truffles.

Table of contents

• - Ingredients
• - Preparation
• - Recipe
• - Alternatives

Ingrendients for 4 persons

• black truffle: 80 g
• potato gnocchi: 800 g
• milk: 150 g
• butter: 40 g
• salt: to taste

 

Preparations

It's not easy to replicate your grandmother's recipe; she did everything by intuition. After years of trying, however, I have found an easy recipe that comes pretty close. :) The trick is to organise all the cooking times well: one minute out of place and the cream thickens too much! Just as quickly as those poor gnocchi left floating in the pot just a few seconds longer. But all in all, it is a really simple and quick recipe that will impress even the most sceptical guest.

• First of all, you need to clean the fine black truffle well; don't let a few soil residues spoil such a beautiful moment! Gently wash it under a splash of water and remove all the dirt with a brush directly under running water. Then dry it with a dry cloth without rubbing it excessively.
• - After that you have to prepare the fontina cheese: place it on a cutting board and remove the outer rind. Then cut it all into tiny cubes to help them melt.

Recipe

Once all the ingredients are ready, you are already well on your way. Cooking will be fairly quick, so be careful not to get too distracted.

1. Boil water in a sufficiently large pot. Yes, I have already made the mistake of misjudging the size of the pot respectively the amount of water, and bitterly regretted it.
2. While waiting for the water to start boiling, melt the butter in a saucepan over very low flame.
3. Once the butter has completely melted, add the milk and increase the heat slightly. The flame must be gentle enough, however, or there is a risk that the unpleasant film typical of cooked milk will instantly form.
4. Just before the water starts to boil, add the diced Fontina cheese to the milk and keep stirring carefully so that it doesn't form lumps.
5. Once the fontina has completely melted into the milk, turning it into a creamy consistency, grate about half of the truffle and add it to the cream, lowering the heat to a minimum (move the saucepan to a smaller cooker if necessary).
6. When the water is boiling, add salt and - after a few seconds - throw the gnocchi into the water.
7. When the gnocchi are ready (about 3-4 minutes), remove them from the pan, using a skimmer, and pour them in the cream as they rise to the surface..
8. Turn off the heat, stir gently and serve on plates.
9. And here's the finishing touch: slice the remaining truffle directly on top of the plates, the heat of the gnocchi will spread the scent of the freshly cut truffle throughout the room.

Alternatives and additions

Personally, I like to add a pinch of pepper directly on the plate just before grating the truffle. Not everyone likes it though, and some even argue that it's a bit much with all that black truffle, but I suppose it is a matter of taste, isn't it? If you like pepper, try adding some yourself, and let me know how these black truffle gnocchi turned out. :)

Not the season for black truffles? Do you think it costs a bit too much? The prized black truffle can be substituted with any other type of truffle, but be careful if you want to use white truffle: in order not to risk ruining it, remember never to put it in the cooking process, and to wash it properly, possibly using only a damp cloth without using running water.