Bread gnocchi with mussels
Presentation
Got that forgotten piece of stale bread on the counter? Don't throw it away: it's just waiting for its moment of Mediterranean glory. Today, I'll take you to the heart of cucina povera to show you how simple leftovers can be transformed into a gourmet masterpiece: Bread Gnocchi with Mussels. Imagine soft, porous gnocchi soaking up the savory mussel sauce. It's a rustic yet incredibly refined dish, proof that you don't need expensive ingredients to cook like a true Italian chef. Are you ready to bring the scent of the sea into your kitchen? Get your hands on it!
Ingredients:
- 100g of stale breadcrumbs
- 75g of milk
- 50g of pecorino romano or parmesan
- 1 egg
- 55g of type 00 flour
- about 25 mussels
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 small chilli pepper
- parsley
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine: 1 the crumbled breadcrumbs, the beaten egg with a pinch of salt, the grated pecorino cheese, and the milk. Mix the ingredients together by hand, then begin to 2 gradually add the flour until the mixture is still moist but still firm. 3 Then cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least half an hour.
Meanwhile, roughly chop a small chili pepper, peel and halve a garlic clove, 4 roughly chop a sprig of parsley with a knife. In a pan 5 sauté the chili pepper and garlic in olive oil until the garlic is golden brown 6 Then add the cooked mussels (see how to prepare them) , shelled and strained with their cooking liquid, and reduce the sauce over medium heat.
7 From the prepared dough, shape it into round gnocchi about 2 centimeters in diameter by rolling a portion of the dough between slightly wet hands. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the gnocchi until they float to the surface. 8 Then, add them to the pan with the mussel sauce and sauté over medium heat until the liquid has reduced to the desired consistency. 9 Add the chopped parsley, give it a final toss to combine, and serve the gnocchi piping hot!
Advise
- How much flour : add the flour a little at a time and in any case avoid going over the recommended dose, the dough should be moist but consistent.
- Creamy sauce : if you want the sauce to be more enveloping, when you sauté the gnocchi in the pan you can add a pinch of flour to create that succulent creamy sauce that envelops the gnocchi.
- The bread : it can be stale or not, if it is a little dried out on the outside, after resting, massage it a little more to combine even the tougher bits that have softened in the meantime.
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