Gnocchi alla Bava

Prepare the Fontina for soaking

• 1 Remove the rind from 250 g Fontina, slice 5 mm thick and place in a bowl.
• 2 Pour over all 180 ml cold milk, rather than only enough to cover, approximately 120–150 ml, and submerge the cheese completely.
• 3 Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Soak the cheese chilled for at least 2 hours

• 1 Meanwhile(While the cheese soaks.) Continue with potato boiling, sieving and dough preparation in steps 3–5.
• 2 Leave the bowl undisturbed in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight for 8 hours.

Boil the potatoes in their skins

• 1 Meanwhile(While the potatoes cook.) Set out a sieve, fork, dough scraper, gnocchi board and a tray lined with a cloth.
• 2 Meanwhile(While the potatoes cook.) Measure the 00 flour separately: 160 g for the dough, 30 g for adjustment and 30 g for dusting.
• 3 Scrub the dirt from 800 g potatoes and place unpeeled in a large pot.
• 4 Add water to cover and bring to a boil over high heat without adding salt.
• 5 Reduce to medium-low and cook for 35–45 minutes, keeping the water gently trembling.

Sieve hot and release moisture

• 1 Drain the cooked potatoes and, holding each with a fork, peel with a knife while hot.
• 2 As each is peeled, pass it through a sieve or potato ricer directly onto the work surface.
• 3 Spread the riced potato about 2 cm thick and leave for 5 minutes to release steam.

Make the dough and test a gnocco di prova

• 1 Meanwhile(While sieving and spreading the potatoes.) Put 1 L water in a small pot over high heat and start boiling it for the test.
• 2 Add 10 g coarse salt to the boiling water prepared for testing.
• 3 Sprinkle 160 g 00 flour, 5 g salt and 0.3 g grated nutmeg evenly over the spread potato.
• 4 Put 1 room-temperature yolk in the center and combine flour and potato with chopping motions of the scraper.
• 5 When no flour is visible, bring together with just 3–4 gentle presses of the heel of your hand.
• 6 Pinch off a thumb-sized piece, round it, add to the test water and cook for 30 seconds after it floats. Remove and check its shape and texture.
• 7 If it falls apart or is too soft, add the reserved type 00 wheat flour for adjustment in 10 g increments and gently recombine, cooking 1 test piece after each addition, up to 30 g total.
• 8 Cover the finished dough with a cloth on the worktop.

Emulsify the fonduta at 2 temperatures

• 1 Meanwhile(While making the fonduta.) Bring 6 L water to a boil in a large pot over high heat, dissolve 60 g coarse salt and keep boiling.
• 2 Meanwhile(While making the fonduta.) Warm the oven to 60°C and place 4 serving plates inside.
• 3 Drain the soaked Fontina, separating cheese and milk. Put the cheese with 120 ml milk in a water-bath bowl and reserve the remaining 60 ml milk cold in the refrigerator.
• 4 Heat water in the bath pot and use a cooking thermometer to maintain 70–75°C.
• 5 Set the bowl containing the cheese, 120 ml milk and 30 g chilled butter over the water without letting its base touch; stir slowly in a figure 8 with a wooden spoon.
• 6 Continue stirring for 10–12 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and stretches in strings from the spoon.
• 7 Remove from the bath and stir for 1–2 minutes until the mixture is 65°C or below.
• 8 Add cold water to the bath to lower it to 60–65°C.
• 9 Add 2 room-temperature yolks and whisk quickly from the center of the bowl.
• 10 Return to the bath and heat for 4–6 minutes, stirring constantly to thicken.
• 11 Taste; if insufficiently salty, add only 1 g salt and mix.

Shape the gnocchi

• 1 Meanwhile(While shaping.) Leave the fonduta over a water bath at 60°C and stir with a wooden spoon every 2–3 minutes.
• 2 Meanwhile(While shaping.) Keep the salted water boiling and the plates in the oven at 60°C.
• 3 Divide the dough into 6 and roll on a floured surface into ropes 2 cm in diameter.
• 4 Cut the ropes into pieces 2 cm wide.
• 5 Press lightly onto the back of a fork or wooden gnocchi board and roll, creating ridges and a hollow.
• 6 Arrange without overlap on a cloth-lined tray lightly dusted with flour.

Boil, coat with fonduta and plate

• 1 Meanwhile(While the gnocchi cook.) Keep the fonduta bowl over the 60°C water bath.
• 2 Add half the gnocchi, about 35, to boiling salted water and cook for 30 seconds after they rise from the bottom.
• 3 Warm 20 g butter with 6 sage leaves in a wide frying pan over low heat for 1–2 minutes. When the butter is clear and fragrant, remove the sage to paper.
• 4 Reserve 50 ml cooking water with a ladle.
• 5 Lift the 1st batch of gnocchi with a slotted spoon into the frying pan and toss by shaking for 30 seconds. Cook the remaining half the same way in the same water and add.
• 6 Turn off the heat, add 2/3 of the fonduta and shake the pan to coat. If too thick, add reserved cooking water in 10 ml increments.
• 7 Plate on the warmed plates and pour the remaining fonduta on top.
• 8 Divide 20 g Parmigiano among 4 plates, freshly grind 1.5 g black pepper coarsely over them and add 1–2 infused sage leaves to each.