[Photographed by and in the kitchen of Marisa Ciceran]

Before

After

Gnocchi de Susini
(Prune Gnocchi)

A unique aspect of this dish is that it can be served as either a main course or as a dessert. In the average Istrian family's cuisine, there is nothing more traditional than gnochi de susini (gnocchi di prugne in Italian). Like many other dishes, especially desserts, it's origins are in the rich Austro-Hungarian culinary heritage.

Istria has a wealth of wild and domesticated plums, including the Italian prune which is sometimes simply called a "free-stone plum". It has a very short season, and do not be tricked into believing that you can substitute any other plums for the Italian prune. As in the case of baccala', neither the preparation nor the taste and texture of the finished dish can be achieved with alternative ingredients.

Recipes:

• Gnocchi con le susine (Gnocchi stuffed with Prunes) - Gorizia (English)
• Gnocchi di susine da Muggia (Italiano)
• Nina's gnochi de susini (English)

Preparing the dough: 

Follow the instructions for the basic gnocchi dough recipe, and also consider leaving a side a small amount of dough to make gnochetti (Kiffel; cometti) as well.

Preparing the prunes:

Wash and pat dry the prunes. With a sharp knife cut a small sliver along the seam of the fruit, making it only large enough to extract the pit. Set aside.

Preparing the gnocchi for boiling:

Put a large pot of salted water to boil. 

Follow the same steps to make and shape the gnocchi as described in the basic gnocchi recipe except that the roll should be approximately 3 inches in diameter and the final cut pieces about 1-inch thick. 

Press down each piece with your fingers to stretch the dough to a larger round shape and to an even thickness of no more than 1/2 inch. Place a prune on each of the gnocchi pieces. Doing one at a time, insert a teaspoon of sugar inside the prune, close the prune tightly with your fingers and wrap the dough around it immediately. Pinching the open seams of the dough to seal into a ball shape around the prune. Roll in your hands to smooth out the shape of the ball and set aside on a newly floured part of the kneading board. If you find that you can make the dough smaller without breaking the finished gnocchi, by all means do so. The smaller the gnocchi, the less gnocchi dough and more prune taste.

If you are making 20 gnocchi, the cooking must be done in two stages. Cook for 10 minutes. While the gnocchi ere cooking, proceed to preparing the glaze.

Preparing the glazing/coating:

Place the oil and pats of sweet butter in a 3-qt. saucepan or large frying pan over low heat. Add the breadcrumbs, stirring constantly until the bread darkens slightly, and remove from the flame. Add the sugar and optional cinnamon. Stir until completely mixed. Place one half of the glazing in a large deep bowl. Have a larger bowl ready for the final dish.

The final step:

Gently remove a few gnocchi at a time with a slotted spoon and place on top of the glazing in the servish dish. Shake and roll the bowl (do not handle the gnocchi with any implements at this point) to evenly coat the gnocchi with the glazing, then move the glazed gnocchi to the larger serving bowl. Add more glazing to the smaller dish and follow the same procedure until you've done all the gnocchi.

Sources:

• Recipe and top photographs - Nina & Marisa Ciceran
• Bottom photograph - Lidia Bastianich & Jay Jacobs, La Cucina di Lidia, Doubleday (New York, 1990).

Ingredients: 

• 1 kilo potatoes
• 300 grams flour 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 teaspoon butter 
• pitted prunes 
• salt 
• sugar 
• butter
• cinnamon 
• breadcrumbs

Preparation: Make a cone of flour with an indention in center and crack the eggs into the well. Add the melted butter and a pinch of salt; knead dough until smooth and fairly soft. Allow to rest for about one hour. Roll and cut out circles to wrap around prunes. In separate pan brown breadcrumbs in small amount of butter. When browned add sugar and cinnamon. Fill pitted prunes with resulting filling, place on circles and seal. Cook in salted boiling water and remove when they begin to float. 

Serves 6.

Ingredienti:

L'impasto e' come per gli gnocchi di patate: 

• 1 kg di palate lessate e passate
• 200 g di farina
• un uovo
• sale 

Le susine piuttosto piccole vanno lavate e liberate dal nocciolo; all'interno si mette un cucchiaino di zucchero e si avvolge il frutto immediatamente con la pasta preparata. Gli gnocchi vanno preparati e messi a bollire in acqua salata man mano che vengono preparati, altrimenti il frutto lascerebbe filtrare il sugo.

Quando gli gnocchi vengono a galla si lasciano bollire per un moinento e si tolgono subito dall'acqua con un ramaiolo, si pongono in una terrina ove, di cottura in cottura verranno messi gli altri e verranno conditi con burro fuso e pangrattato precedentemente rosolati. La pietanza e' dolce e non sta male un po'di zucchero cosparso alla fine sugli gnocchi. 

Ristampato da:

• Muggia OnLine - cucina
• Cuore Triveneto - La cucina goriziana