The tasty “Gnocchi Ricci”, a traditional dish from Amatrice

A few days ago, I returned to Amatrice. I hadn't visited the town since the terrible 2016 earthquake, and I must say that the impact was considerable: the destruction and the void are still very present.

The reconstruction that seems to have begun for the historic center proceeds slowly and here I say that it will take another 20 years.

I want to give a contribution to the memory of the town and to pay homage to its history with a traditional dish, certainly less known than ‘spaghetti alla amatriciana’ but perhaps more ancient.

Gnocchi Ricci (curly gnocchi) was a dish of noble and wealthy families. Their sauce was made with mutton and today I propose a version called "gricia": a sort of white amatriciana.

The peculiarity of curly gnocchi is its dough, in fact they are two types of pasta assembled and then cut into gnocchi that recall sea urchins and the absence of potatoes.

To make curly gnocchi, we prepare two different doughs. For the first one we make a dough based on eggs and flour and for the second dough we use the same amount of flour, but we mix it with boiling water.

In the Amatrice tradition, the amount of water was measured by making a hole in one of the eggs in order to use the shell as a measuring cup.

Once the 2 doughs have been prepared, they are left to rest covered with a cloth to absorb the humidity. Then we will combine them creating a single dough that we will work a little more to mix them well.

At this point we are ready to prepare the gnocchi by cutting strips of dough 1 cm in size to form the gnocchi. The 'balls of dough' will be worked with the middle finger, index finger and thumb, rubbing it on the pastry board to form curly gnocchi.

Now put some sliced guanciale with very little oil in a pan over low heat, let the fat melt and, when the bacon becomes translucent, turn off the heat.

Wait for the pan to cool down a little and add some grated pecorino. At the same time, we boil the gnocchi in boiling water and when they come to the surface we drain them and toss them in a pan with the sauce.

For the final touch of the dish, we add more pecorino cheese and freshly ground pepper.

In the glass? I drank a Tuscan Viogner, a well structured white wine that leaves the mouth clean and degreased.