Gnocchi ala Romana

If you have tried Gnocchi, you'll probably have tried the ones made with potatoes. Roman Gnocchi has a similar version but uses semolina flour. It is my favourite dish, though ingredient may seem kind of heavy but it doesn't taste so when it's eaten. You can eat this with your favourite stew, meat sauce or just as it is.


4 cups of milk
1 cup semolina
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 egg plus 2 yolks
1/3 cup of parmigiano reggiano (or other cheese you fancy), grated
pinch of salt
pinch of ground nutmeg


A sauce for topping:

2 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup grated cheese of your choice


Method:

Grease a baking tin with butter.
In a bowl, beat together butter, parmigiano, egg/egg yolks, salt and nutmeg.
In a saucepan, heat milk but do not let it overboil. In a steady stream, pour in semolina while stirring.
Increase heat again to medium. When the milk has been absorbed and mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan in one mass (about 6 to 10 minutes) you can remove it from the heat. Beat in the butter/parmigiano/egg mixture. Scoop and smoothen mixture into baking tin - spread evenly in the pan. The semolina is set to cool in the fridge 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking dish.

Remove cooled semolina and place on board. Using a cookie cutter or 3 inch-diameter juice glass cut semolina slices.
Arrange these slices overlapping in your greased baking pan.

To make the topping, blend the butter and cream and pour over the gnocchi slices. Sprinkle parmigiano on top. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden.