PrintGnocco Fritto Rules
In Frank Bruni's entertaining and informative piece on the food of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna in today's Times he mentions gnocco fritto, the addictive little pockets of fried dough served with salami, mortadella, sopressata, prosciutto, or stracchino cheese (or with lardo or culatello in Italy). Have you ever had gnocco fritto?
They're astonishingly good. Gnocco Fritto are one of those Italian dishes that I wish were available everywhere, but the fact of the matter is that gnocco fritto are hard to find in New York.
My favorite gnocco fritto in New York are served at Bianca,5 Bleecker Street (bet.Bowery and Elizabeth Sts.) 212-260-4666. Chef-owner Giancarlo Quaddalti's little fried pillows of dough are crisp, greaseless, and cloud-light. The man knows from gnocco fritto. He is from Emilia-Romagna.
At lunch you can get a mean gnocco fritto sandwich at Via Emilia, 47 E. 21st St. (bet. Park Ave. So. and Broadway), 212-505-3072 . Two slabs of fried dough surround pieces of prosciutto and mozzarella. The gnocco fritto here are not as light and artfully done as the ones at Bianca, but they're mightly tasty, nonetheless.
We need more gnocco fritto served in this country. Now.
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9 Comments:
I've never heard of gnocco fritto, and I lived in Italy for several months many years ago. Do they taste anything like beignets before the sugar is added?
progers at 9:56AM on 10/25/06
Are they anything like panzerotti? I Trulli on 27th between Lex and Park has:
"Panzerotti Small Apulian Calzones filled with Tomato and Mozzarella"
They look a lot like the image, and are much lighter than a calzone. I would hardly use that term to describe them.
MurrayHill at 1:47PM on 10/25/06
I've never had this, but it looks great. (My family is from the south of Italy, so it's not a part of my family tradition).
Mario Batali has a recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_12071,00.html
I think I'll give it a try.
I live in Puerto Rico, so I've given up on finding an Italian restaurant outside of San Juan, but I have salumi and cheese shipped in regularly.
jibaro at 2:17PM on 10/25/06
I just got off the phone with my friend Maurizio DeRosa, who knows more about Italian food than anyone I know. Gnocco Fritto are not really like beignets without the powdered sugar. Beignets are more like raised doughnuts. The dough is more bread-like.
Gnocco Fritto are not like the panzarotti (sp?) either. Panzarotti is a filled pasta that is fried. Gnocco Fritto are single pieces of dough with no filling that are fried.
Does all this answer everyone's questions for now? Ed
Ed Levine at 4:56PM on 10/25/06
They also serve gnocco fritto at Gnocco, on 10th between A and B.
keown at 5:14PM on 10/25/06
That's great. I have to check it out. Are they good there?
Ed
Ed Levine at 5:39PM on 10/25/06
Thanks for the gnocco fritto clarification. And speaking of beignets, other than Cafe' Du Monde, where can you get Cafe' Du Monde-like beignets?
progers at 9:44PM on 10/25/06
Abboccato serves them. I didn't actually have them at the restaurant when I went at lunch(although they're on the dinner menu) but I had them with lardo and duck proscuitto when the chefs came to the James Beard House. MMMMMMMM!
guttergour at 8:39AM on 10/26/06
The gnocco fritto are fabulous at Gnocco on 10th and B. You should absolutely try them.
akludt at 3:41PM on 10/31/06