As you may be able to tell, if you are a regular reader of this blog, we love mint.  We use it often in the summer because it grows like a freaking weed.  Because we live in Brooklyn, we barely have any outdoor space (but are very fortunate to have any). Yet, in that small space, we have many, many planters.  Over the years, we’ve managed to inadvertently kill many varieties of plants, flowers and veggies but nothing will kill our mint.  One season, a few things died unexpectedly and we thought maybe it was the soil (we coined the term “soil of death” during this depressing time – witty, I know).  The “soil of death” was most definitely used when we planted the mint and even that crap couldn’t kill it!  Mint is too often underused in cooking, which I don’t understand.  There are a quite a few varieties of mint and some people feel very strongly about it, usually either loving it or hating it (except when it’s used in their mojito or julep).  I love it but love it equally as much in my savory foods as  in sweets or alcoholic bevy’s.

Many are used to sage brown butter sauces so we figured why not try it with mint?  It was delicious.  The heating of the mint mellowed the flavor and added a fabulous “clean” flavor to the dish. It also balanced the creaminess of the butter and paired well with the cheese.  We added some breasaola because we had to use it up before it went off but if you are veggie, you can totally have a fabulous meal without it.  I think some pancetta or guanciale could work as well.  We found fresh fava beans which are still in season and they gave the dish a bit of chew.  Don’t be scared off by making your own gnocchi.  You can follow our easy-to-read instructions.  Gnocchetti just refers to the size – we cut our gnocchi much smaller than we usually do about 3/4 an inch long.  We decided not to run each gnocchi over a fork, hence why they don’t have their traditional ‘ridges’.

So embrace your mint, give it some love.  Hell, you don’t even need to tend to it in your garden unless it’s taking it over and killing your other plants (which can definitely happen).  If it is, make a huge batch of this dish, make a giant vat of mojitos and forget your problems.

Traditional methods of making gnocchi are some of the oldest ways to prepare food – the first noted recipe dates back to the 13th century. The original gnocchi were made with flour and water and had more of a consistency to pasta. It is possible that gnocchi actually pre-date pasta. These days, any “gnocchi” made with flour and water are called pasta, while gnocchi will be a dumpling made with anything else. The most well-known and traditional ingredient is the potato. Have you ever wondered why some people specify their gnocchi as “potato gnocchi“? Well, that’s the reason. Gnocchi does not exclusively mean using potato. Also, the shape of gnocchi also changes in Italy from region to region. Which brings me to my dish – Roman Gnocchi. The Romans put their own spin on gnocchi by using semolina in lieu of potato, by cutting them into larger ‘discs’ and baking the dish. Originally this type of gnocchi was made using crustless bread. Those delicious Romans also add plenty of eggs, cheese and butter to the dish to make it seem like it would taste pretty heavy but, believe me, it tastes weirdly light at the same time. Ok, ok, so traditionally there should be about a half of pound of butter and cheese as the topping. Seriously, guys, it tastes weirdly light! Much lighter than a bowl of traditional potato gnocchi.

Give this easy and different type of gnocchi a try. I’m sure it would be a conversation starter if you made it for friends. You could make different toppings (pesto, meat sauce, etc.) and pair it with roasted vegetables or an arugula salad to make it more of a balanced meal. Whatever you do, give it a try – but maybe wait till the summer is over in order to blast up that oven.

GNOCCHI ALLA ROMANA (ROMAN GNOCCHI)

Ingredients (**Note: We used less butter and cream in our dish because we were feeling like fat asses – it still turned out delicious. If you’re feeling thin, adding the extra butter and cream to the topping will create a delicious and fattening sauce.)

• 4 cups of milk
• 1 cup semolina
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 egg plus 2 yolks
• 1/3 cup of parmigiano reggiano, grated
• pinch of salt
• pinch of ground nutmeg

For topping:

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup grated parmigiano

Recipe:

1. Rub butter in a baking tin to grease.
2. Beat together butter, parmigiano and egg/egg yolks and season with nutmeg and salt and set aside.
3. Heat milk in a large saucepan. When milk is boiling, turn heat down and pour in semolina while stirring. Make sure you pour in a slow and steady stream.
4. Increase heat again to medium. Cook until milk has been absorbed and mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan in one mass (about 6 to 10 minutes).
5. Remove semolina from heat and beat in the butter/parmigiano/egg mixture. When smooth, spoon mixture into baking tin – spread evenly in the pan. Use a knife or a spatula if necessary. The semolina should be about 2 inches thick. Set aside to cool for 1/2 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease another baking dish. Remove cooled semolina from other dish (it should slip out if properly greased) and place on counter/board. Using a cookie cutter or 3 inch-diameter juice glass (or whatever else that is about 3 inches wide and circular) cut semolina slices.
7. Arrange these slices slightly overlapping in your newly greased baking pan.
8. Make the topping by blending the butter and cream and pour over the unbaked gnocchi. Sprinkle parmigiano on top.
9. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Feel free to put under the broiler for 3 minutes to make top extra-crispy.

Check out some other Roman-cuisine themed posts you might enjoy:

• Cacio e Pepe (recipe)
• Perciatelli (Bucatini) al Amatriciana
• Cacio e Pepe, NYC (restaurant review)
• Remembering Italy with Thin-Crust Pizza

After our second full day of tasting we were all overwhelmed by the urge to continue our bacchanalia that evening with a four course dinner and more wine. Heated discussions were had over what should be on the menu and what we could reasonably cook given that we’d been drinking all day and the kitchen in our cabin was less than professional-grade. Finally, we decided that a variety of cold appetizers, including hummus, guacamole, crudite, and pita chips, would be an easy way to begin and might allow us to cook the rest of the meal without getting too drunk.

The second course was gnocchi with a combination of two Lidia Bastianich sauce recipes – one with breadcrumbs fried in butter, and the other with sage and brown butter. The sauce, of course, was about as easy as a sauce can be, but the process was lengthened by us making the gnocchi from scratch.

The third course was a delicious New York Strip steak served with a red wine jus and roasted red and golden beets. And all of this was topped off with a final cheese course of a California goat brie, a morbier and an honest hunk of manchego — naturally all washed down through purple lips with some more red wine.

Now, the point of this tale is not to wow our readers with how much we drink when we’re with Amy’s cousins, because we often surprise ourselves by that, but rather it is to demonstrate that you can make really, really good gnocchi di patate from scratch even when you’re half in the bag — though we recommend you make it when sober for the first time.

Here’s how to do it.

GNOCCHI DI PATATE (Serves 3 to 4)

Ingredients

- 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-3inch cubes/lumps

- 3 tablespoons kosher salt (2 tablespoons of table salt)

- 1 large egg

- Up to 2 cups plain white flour (depending on size of your potatoes)

- 1 large pot of boiling water or enough to boil the potatoes in and then the gnocchi.

Recipe:

1. Boil water and add two/one tablespoon of salt

2. Peel and chop potatoes, and boil them until they no longer stick to a knife-blade. Remove potatoes from water, but not discard it. Drain potatoes and let stand until cool enough to handle.

3. Use a food-mill, food processor or, better yet, the fine grater side of a box grater, to grate potatoes.

4. Spread grated potatoes out on a baking sheet and sprinkle with remaining salt to draw out some of the moisture. Leave for 20 minutes.

5. Sprinkle flour on a board and place grated potatoes on it. Make a well in the middle and crack egg into it. Add half a cup of flour and combine it all by hand.

6. Mixture should be quite sticky so continue adding flour and combining until it gets smoother. You’ll know it’s the right consistency when it stops being sticky and, if you cut into it, it resembles cookie dough. Don’t worry about getting it really smooth because the potatoes won’t combine perfectly with the flour, it’ll always have a kind of speckled look.

7. Cut dough into three or four lumps. Re-flour your board and hand roll each of the lumps into a long sausage, about the width of a large hot dog, I suppose. Then take your knife and cut the roll into inch-long lumps. These are your gnocchi.

8. Then take a fork and press/roll the gnocchi down the tines of the fork, making grooves to better hold the sauce.

9. Re-boil the water and cook gnocchi in batches. You know they’re done when they float to the surface.

10. Serve with your favorite sauce (Amy’s Tomato Sauce, Pistachio Sauce, Pesto or Brown Butter and Breadcrumbs – see below).

BROWN BUTTER AND FRESH BREADCRUMB SAUCE (from Lidia Bastianich)

Ingredients

• Unsalted Butter (about 1 stick)
• 6-8 Sage leaves
• 1 thick slice of bread – grated finely
• Salt and Pepper
• grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Recipe

1. Melt butter in saute pan on medium. When it begins to color, add your grated breadcrumbs. You will be crisping up your breadcrumbs, but watch your heat because you do not want to burn your butter.
2. After 1 1/2 minutes, add the sage. Allow to flavor the butter for another minute.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Toss sauce with your gnocchi. Plate and sprinkle with grated Parmigiano Reggiano. DELIZIOSO!

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY:

• CHESTNUT CUSTARD TART
• BREAD-CRUSTED FISH WITH LEMON-BUTTER SAUCE
• LIDIA’S LAMB CHOPS (Lamb Chops with A Mustard Anchovy Sauce)
• LEBANESE-SPICED LAMB OVER CRISPY PITA WITH CHICKPEAS, PINENUTS, POMEGRANATE SEEDS SMOTHERED IN GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE
• LIVORNESE FISH STEW