Potatoes: a "light" pleasure

Not everyone knows that potatoes are not only rich in starch, calcium, phosphorous and vitamins, but that they also contain three times less calories than pasta. Add to that the perfectly sated feeling they leave you with, and it becomes clear why potatoes are perfect for those wanting to indulge in good food and still be in great physical shape.

"The Thursday Supper" featured in the italian newspaper La Repubblica -09 november 2008

"Thursdays, gnocchi; Fridays, fish; Saturdays, tripe". That's how the menu of the pubs of yesteryear used to read. It's easy to understand the simple dish on the day Christians traditionally dedicate to penance, or the tasty but modest meal preceding the celebratory feast. But why gnocchi on Thursdays? A consolation prize, perhaps, to make up for the sacrifices of the following day? An award for the stomach following half a week's work? To answer these questions, just bite into one of those tiny, mouth-watering ditali, elegantly served on your plate. The best just melt away in your mouth, like soft candy, scrumptious and irresistible. Children with small appetites, the elderly who find it difficult to chew, listless teenagers and preoccupied adults... it's really quite difficult to remain impervious to a plate of steaming gnocchi, the quintessential comfort food. You wouldn't dream of serving stingy portions, or leaving your plate half-full or not over-indulging just a little bit. Because gnocchi are nutritious and sustaining; they are affordable and easy to digest; they are ready in minutes and can take on hundreds of different flavours, you just need to know how to serve them. Generations learnt the complicated tradition of "ridging" gnocchi from their mothers and grandmothers in a sort of initiation ceremony into the mysteries of the kitchen, during which – without getting covered in flour – they mixed together the soft dough comprising potatoes and flour – a little flour, very little flour, measured in proportion to the talent of the housewife – and performed a simple, but decisive act, a sort of rite of passage: with a fork or grater (held the wrong-way up), they applied light pressure with their thumb to leave a traced pattern on the piece of dough, so that once cooked, it would gather just the right quantity of sauce in those ridges. With a gnocco squashed too forcefully here, and a gnocco without any ridges there, young "wet-behind-the-ears" cooks began to unearth the pleasures derived from a "signature" dish and how it is served: with a drop of oil, or a knob of butter, or tomato sauce for an easy and light first course; with legumes, meat or cheese for a protein boost; stuffed with chestnut flour and served with chocolate sauce for those children at heart with adventurous taste buds and an intense love for dessert. Those who can still recall the first time they tried this heavenly dish, struggle to find a mass-produced product they like. Indeed, whilst the original recipe calls for gnocchi to be made with potatoes, today, the quantity of flour used, which costs a lot less, has grown out of proportion, together with the standardisation of both shape and taste. The result: little rocks that cannot be digested and are impermeable to sauce, which of course gets left at the bottom of the plate.