In recent weeks I’ve blogged about two Italian staples: pizza and pasta. But no look at  Italian cuisine is complete without gnocchi.

Have you tried gnocchi? I still recall the first time I did, and I found it hard to pin down exactly what it was – bread? pasta? potato? Indeed, gnocchi can be any of these!

The classic gnocchi, which dates back to Roman times, is made with semolina. The French gnocchis à la parisienne are made from choux pastry, while the Nice specialty gnocchi de tantifla a la nissarda is made from potatoes and wheat flour. The Tuscan malfatti contain flour with spinach and ricotta. And then there’s the Veneto dish gnocchi di pane, made from breadcrumbs.

So if the ingredients can vary then what makes gnocchi gnocchi? Two things:

• The consistency: gnocchi is thick but soft.
• The shape: These are little dumplings, sometimes ridged, but just like their namesakes (nocchio: knots in wood) each can be unique in shape.

The beauty of gnocchi is that you can’t get it wrong when making it at home. Here’s a simple recipe to follow. For the true Italian taste, serve as a starter with pesto or melted butter and fresh herbs (sage is delicious).

Ingredients

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon fine sea salt 

100ml whole milk 

150g breadcrumbs

40g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 

50g plain flour

1. Mix together the breadcrumbs, milk, egg, cheese and salt.
2. Add flour gradually until you have a thick dough, then knead.
3. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 2 hours.
4. Roll small balls from the dough.
5. Set a pan of salted water to boil.
6. Drop the balls into the water (about 20 at a time).
7. Cook until tender (approximately five minutes).

Enjoy!