Gnocchi alla bava: a delicious recipe from Piedmont

Do not be fooled by their name. Gnocchi alla bava, literally ‘drool gnocchi’, are delicious. Precisely, they will make you drool over them.

For this recipe, the small dumplings are made with a mix of white and buckweath flour, or alternatively with buckweath flour and potatoes. The gnocchi are served in a sauce made with melted cheese, usually Toma or Fontina. 

Here is our suggested recipe for the best gnocchi alla bava.

Ingredients (for about four portions)

250 g white flour

250 g buckweath flour

1 egg yolk

salt

For the sauce

200 g Toma cheese

500 cl fresh cream

salt 

Method

Mix white and buckweath flour together. On a board, create the shape of a volcano with the flour and put the egg yolk in the centre, together with salt and enough water to get compact dough. Leave to rest for an hour.

Shape the dough in long rolls about 2 cm thick. Cut small dumplings of 2 or 3 cm and gently squeeze them with the back of a fork. As you make gnocchi, leave the ones already made on a floured surface.

Melt the cheese with the fresh cream on a small pot over low heat, while always stirring. Add salt. 

Cook the gnocchi in salted water (be careful not to add too much salt). Take the gnocchi out of the water individually as soon as they start coming to the surface. 

Add the sauce to the gnocchi and stir gently.

Alternatives

Instead of white flour, use 1 kg of potatoes: boiled and mashed, then added to 250 g of buckweath flour.

For the sauce, try Fontina cheese with 80 g of butter instead of fresh cream.