Gnocchi di Zucca con Burro e Amaretti

Mantova

‹ Lombardy

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Origin

Lombardia — Mantova province, Po Valley

Description

Butternut or Mantova pumpkin gnocchi from the Po Valley of Lombardy, served with browned butter and crumbled amaretti biscuits — a combination that articulates the sweet-savoury agrodolce character of Mantovano cuisine. The roasted pumpkin purée is mixed with flour and egg, shaped into oval gnocchi, and boiled. The browned butter provides nuttiness, the amaretti contribute almond sweetness and crunch, and the Parmigiano adds salt. These gnocchi are intentionally sweeter than potato gnocchi — the pumpkin's natural sugar is not to be counteracted but celebrated.

III

The Thread

—Pumpkin dumplings are an Alpine autumn tradition on both sides of the Italian-Austrian border — the same gourd-and-flour dumpling concept Austrian

—Pumpkin gnocchi with cream and nutmeg — French Savoyard equivalent without the amaretti sweet element French

—Brown butter as the natural pairing for roasted pumpkin sweetness — the flavour logic transcends traditions American · Thanksgiving

Flavour Context

Sweet, nutty, with the toasty complexity of browned butter; amaretti add almond sweetness and unexpected crunch; a dessert-adjacent first course that challenges the sweet-savoury boundary

Pillars V — VII

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