Eating cheaply and to your heart’s content for a few crowns is an art these days. But what if we give you a recipe for great gnocchi?
Every nation has some food that is cheap and “patches” a hungry stomach. The Czechs traditionally have dumplings, the French have pancakes, and the Mexicans, for example, have tortillas, in which they wrap all possible leftovers from the fridge… But the Slovaks won it across the board when they smuggled gnocchi into their kitchen. These small floury “súlankas” can be used salty or sweet, as a main course, or as a side dish, for example with goulash or other sauces…
Export from Romania
According to the ethnologist Katarína Nádaská, our eastern neighbors owe their bronze dumplings to Romanian shepherds who migrated to Slovakia in the 17th century. The occurrence of sheep’s cheese – brynza – is also associated with them. Few people know that the name brynza is from Romanian and means cottage cheese. Brynza dumplings used to be the food of poor villagers and were made from water, flour and later potatoes. Brynza and bacon added flavor and richness to the dish. They began to be considered a national dish only in the 19th century.
Simple gnocchi
There are many variations on gnocchi. Today we will present you a simple version that you can cook with just four ingredients. Prepare: 3 cups of plain flour, 3 eggs, 100 ml of water and ½ teaspoon of salt. How to do it: Sift the flour into a large bowl, add eggs, salt and gradually – while continuously adding water – make a sticky dough. do you have
Dinner quickly on the table
Fill a large pot with water with a pinch of salt. Once the liquid starts to boil, take a vegetable grater and push the dough through it. Cook the resulting gnocchi until they start to float on the surface of the pot. Remove them with a slotted ladle and serve with brynza and sliced bacon. Alternatively, you can use them as a side dish, for example to meat or mushroom sauces.
Still possible variations
If you don’t have brynza at home, you can replace it with steamed sauerkraut. They are also excellent with fried sausage, onion and English bacon. Alternatively, you can also use salty cottage cheese or cheese. A version of gnocchi with sour cream and boiled butter is also popular.
