Gnocchi di Susine — Plum-Filled Potato Dumplings

Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the Triveneto — the plum dumpling tradition arrived with the Habsburg administration and Austrian culinary influence. It is most strongly associated with the areas of Friuli closest to the Slovenian and Austrian borders: Gorizia, Udine, and Carnia.

Gnocchi di susine (or Zwetschkenknödel in the German-speaking tradition) are the Central European plum dumplings that Friuli shares with Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia — a shell of potato dough wrapped around a whole small Italian plum (or prune plum, susina or damson), then boiled and finished with toasted breadcrumbs and cinnamon sugar, sometimes browned butter. The combination of savoury-starchy potato exterior and jammy-sweet plum interior is the defining flavour paradox of the Central European pasta tradition — sweet dumplings served as a primo or as a dessert secondo. In Friuli, they are served as a first course at lunch in autumn when the susine damascene (damson plums) ripen.

Gnocchi di susine is one of the great flavour surprises of Italian cooking — the exterior is a familiar soft potato gnocco, but cutting it releases a plum that has cooked to a jammy, sweet-tart centre. The breadcrumb and cinnamon coating adds crunch and warmth; the butter adds richness. Served as a primo in autumn, it is the sweet-savoury paradox that defines Central European-Friulano cooking.