A classic winter dish enriched with lard that we pair with a Dolcetto d’Alba 2021 Amalia Cascina in Langa.
Ingredients for 4 people:
800g starchy potatoes, 160g 00 flour, 40g potato starch, 1 egg yolk, 200g lard, 1 yellow onion, peeled tomatoes, basil, ½ glass extra-virgin olive oil, grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano depending on personal preference.
Directions:
Put the potatoes in abundant cold water and boil them. Once they are cooked, remove the potatoes, peel and then mash them before spreading them out on a floured pastry board. Let the potatoes cool slightly.
Peel and finely chop the onion, cut the lard into slices and beat them with a knife to make them uniformly thin. Put the onions and lard into a pan and sauté them at a low heat until the lard melts completely and the onions become soft. Add the peeled tomatoes, which have been previously crushed using a fork, then cook the sauce until it has been slightly reduced. Turn off the heat and add some basil leaves.
Quickly knead the mashed potatoes with the egg yolk, salt, flour and starch. Roll out the dough into cylinders and cut them into gnocchi. Spread the gnocchi out on a plate that has been dusted with durum wheat flour.
Add a little EVOO to abundant boiling water and then add the gnocchi. Use a skimmer to remove the gnocchi when they float and put them in a serving bowl. Add the sauce and stir it in delicately, adding some of the pasta water, if necessary.
Serve topped with grated cheese.
Wine to pair:
(edited by Stefania Vinciguerra)
Dolcetto d’Alba 2021 Amalia Cascina in Langa
Intense purple-ruby color. Typical, fruity, fragrant aromas with notes of violets, small berries and slight black cherry. Saline, full, warm flavor with light tannins and delicious drinkability.
Production area: in the commune of Monforte d’Alba, 2.7 ha vineyards in the Sant’Anna area, mostly west facing, average altitude 450 m; very clay and limestone area; climatically windy. Soil of lequio formation from the Serravallian/Lower Tortonian period.
Grape variety: 100% Dolcetto, planted in 1971 with Guyot training system and planting density of 5000 vines/ha. Yield 60-70 q/ha. In organic conversion (certified from harvest 2022).
Harvest: grapes harvested by hand in boxes in the second decade of September.
Vinification: grapes are taken immediately to the winery for vinification. After destemming and crushing the grapes, alcoholic fermentation starts in the must. The maceration lasts for about seven days with pumping over. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation. Then it remains in stainless steel vats for about eight months. At the end of this process, it is bottled and left to refine in the bottles.
Alcohol content: 13.5% vol.
Number of bottles: about 5,000 per year.
Serving temperature: 16-18°C.
