Gnocchi

Gnocchi are small Italian dumplings, most often made from potato. They look simple and are not: the difference between light gnocchi and heavy ones is a matter of a few spoonfuls of flour.

What it actually is

Floury potatoes are boiled in their skins — so they take on no extra water — then peeled and riced while still hot. They are bound with as little flour as possible and often an egg, sometimes with a grating of nutmeg.

The dough is rolled into ropes, cut into pieces and usually ridged with a fork or a gnocchi board so the sauce has something to hold on to. They are boiled, and they are done the moment they float.

The whole craft is restraint. Too much flour, or working the dough too long, develops gluten and turns them heavy and gummy. There is no fixing that later.

Not everything called gnocchi is the same dish. Gnocchi alla romana are baked semolina discs with butter and Parmigiano, with no potato. Gnudi are a separate dish — soft dumplings of ricotta, sometimes with spinach, not a kind of potato gnocchi. Gnocchi alla sorrentina are ordinary potato gnocchi baked with tomato, mozzarella and basil.

How it's served

• With butter and sage, the dressing that hides nothing.
• With gorgonzola, pesto, tomato or a slow ragù — dressed, never drowned.
• On a Thursday, in Roman trattorias, where gnocchi il giovedì is still the custom.

Writing it on a menu

• Say which kind: potato, semolina alla romana, or ricotta gnudi. They are barely the same dish.
• Name the sauce — it is most of what the guest is choosing.
• Note the egg if your dough has one — not every potato gnocchi recipe uses it — and the dairy in the sauce. A potato dough without egg is straightforwardly vegan; the sauce usually is not.
• Don't call it vegetarian by default: Parmigiano Reggiano is made with animal (calf) rennet, so a vegetarian version needs another cheese or none.
• The nutrition figures describe gnocchi dressed with butter, sage and cheese, not plain boiled gnocchi.