This gnocchi recipe, popular in both Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, can also be made using fontina cheese, instead of toma. Another variation calls for potatoes to be added to the gnocchi dough.
Gnocchi with creamy cheese sauce recipe
Ingredients 4 servings
Time: 1 hour 15 mins + rest
500 g fresh cooking cream
250 g white flour plus a bit more 250 g buckwheat flour
200 g Toma Piemontese Pdo
1 egg yolk – salt
Method
Mix the two flours on a board and make a well. Pour the yolk into it and start mixing with a fork, then add 250-300 g water if need be.
Knead the dough with your fingertips, add a pinch of salt and the rest of the water until the dough is soft and elastic (at least 10 mins). Wrap it in cling film and put in the fridge for about an hour.
Flour the board, roll a piece of the dough under the palms of your hands to make pinky-sized rods; cover them with flour and then repeat. Cut the rods into 1.5 cm pieces (gnocchi).
Cut the toma cheese into small cubes. Heat the cooking cream in a pan, when hot, add the cheese cubes, remove from the fire and mix with a whip to dissolve. Then put the sauce into a larger pan. Cook the gnocchi in plenty of salted boiling water for 25 to 30 mins.
Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and put them in the pan with the sauce (bava). Stir for a minute to let them absorb the sauce. Serve hot.