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Roman Gnocchi
1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup of flour 1/4 cup cornstarch 4 whites of eggs 3/4 cup grated cheese 2 cups milk Salt Melt the butter, cook the cornstarch thoroughly, and then the flour in the butter; add the milk gradually; cook three minutes, stirring constantly; add the whites and one-half cup of the cheese. Pour into a buttered shallow pan, and cool. Cut into squares; place them on a platter a little distance apart; sprinkle with remaining cheese, and brown in the oven.
A stiff milk panada set firm, cut, and gratinated — the semolina-free version of gnocchi alla romana. The hinge is the cooling: the paste must set cold and solid before you attempt to cut it.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. Browning cheese on already-cooked squares wants a hot oven, 425F, or a few minutes under the broiler. The interior only needs warming through.
- Cook the starch out"Cook the cornstarch thoroughly" is the instruction that matters. The recipe cooks the cornstarch in the butter first and adds the flour after; both must lose their raw taste before the milk goes in, or the finished squares taste chalky. Two to three minutes over moderate heat, stirring.
- Adding the whitesTake the pan off the heat before the egg whites go in and beat them in fast. Unbeaten whites added to a boiling panada will set in threads. The mixture will look loose; it firms as it chills.
- Chilling time"Cool" means thoroughly cold — spread it about 3/4 inch deep and refrigerate at least two hours, or overnight. Warm paste tears rather than cuts.
- The cheese"Grated cheese" in an American book of this period generally means Parmesan or a dry aged cheese that grates to powder. Three-quarters cup by volume of grated Parmesan is roughly 2 1/2 oz.
- Spacing on the platterKeeping the squares apart is deliberate: it lets the cut faces dry and brown instead of steaming together. Use a shallow baking dish or sheet pan rather than a serving platter, unless yours is ovenproof.
- YieldTwo cups of milk with the butter and starch makes about 16 two-inch squares — four servings as a main course with a sauce or vegetable, six as a side.
- Yolks left overFour yolks are the byproduct, and the recipe as printed gives them no use. Custard, mayonnaise or enriching a soup will absorb them.
Gnocchi alla romana is properly made with semolina cooked into a thick porridge, cooled, cut and baked with butter and cheese; this version substitutes a butter-flour-cornstarch roux thickened with milk, which is closer to a French panade than to the Roman dish.