Black gnocchi are a special preparation, made with cuttlefish ink that you can buy easily in any Italian grocery, or take it from fresh cuttlefish. It is now quite rare to find unclean mollusks with the ink pouches, but just ask to your fish shop.
These gnocchi take on the black color of the ink and are created with the classic recipe, but without egg. A fairly simple preparation, which is then completed with a good creamy dressing, always with fish. For this recipe we chose a cream with sea bass and saffron, but you can vary the recipe with a sauce made with the same cuttlefish. For the pairing, choose a white wine, dry, valuable.
BLACK GNOCCHI
Servings 2 people
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 1 hour
Ingredients
For the gnocchi
- 500 g potato
- 150 g Flour all-pourpose
- 4 g cuttlefish ink
- 1 pinch salt
For the seasoning
- 200 g Sea bass fillets
- 100 g Double cream
- 50 ml white wine
- 25 g Butter
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 sachet Saffron
- 1 sprig parsley fresh
- 1 pinch rosemary dried
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Put a pan full of water on the fire. Wash the potatoes (1) and then immerse them in the hot water (2) to boil for about 40 minutes. Then drain them (3) and let cool.
- Peel the potatoes (4) and mash them (5) to make a puree. Put them in a bowl (6).
- Sift the flour on the potatoes (7) and begin to knead (8) with your hands, for a few minutes, just to mix the ingredients. Then pour the squid ink on the mixture (9).
- Knead again (10) to mix the ink until you get a homogeneous mixture (11), with a uniform blackish color. Take a wooden board and flour it. Take a piece of dough to place it on the work counterpound (12).
- Now start forming a cigar with the piece of dough (13), rolling it under your hands. When it is about one centimeter thick, start cutting the gnocchi (14), one centimeter long. Then put all the gnocchi in a floured dish (15), separated from each other. If you want, you can strip the gnocchi with the appropriate tool or with the tines of a fork.
- Prepare the sauce. Put the butter to melt in a pan (16) over medium heat. Peel the garlic clove (17) and place it in the melted butter (18).
- Once the garlic is browned, add the sea bass fillet in the pan (19), putting the skin on the side on the fire. Then sprinkle the fillet with dried rosemary (20), and season with salt (21). Cook the fish for five minutes on the side of the skin only.
- Take the sea bass fillet and place it on a cutting board (22), with the part of the skin facing upwards. With a knife remove the skin (23), and then cut the fillet into small pieces (24).
- Put the a half of the fillet pieces in a saucer (25) and light the stove, over medium heat, using the same pan. Put the chopped fish back into it (26) and cook it for five minutes, turning it often (27).
- Pour the white wine (28) on the fish and cook for another five minutes, until the wine has reduced. Then turn off the heat and remove the garlic clove (29). Then take the fish and place it in the blender (30).
- Blend the fish (31), adding a dash of cream to make it a little creamy. Then put the fish back in the pan (32) and light the fire again, with the flame at minimum. Add also the saffron (33) in the cream aside.
- Mix the saffron in the cream (34) and then pour it all over the sea bass (35). Mix well (36) and heat the cream slowly.
- Wash the parsley (37) and chop it finely (38) to leave aside on a saucer (39).
- Put a pot of boiling salted water to cook the gnocchi. Put them in the water (40), and boil for a couple of minutes. When the gnocchi begin to come to the surface, take them from the water with a copper (41), drain for a few seconds, before add directly in the pan (42) with the sauce.
- Once done, mix carefully (43), gently, and then sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper (44). Add a pinch of chopped parsley (45) and turn off the heat. Serve immediately on the table with plenty of sea bass cream on top.