Recipe Pisarei e fasò – Small Gnocchi with Borlotti Beans and Tomato Sauce

[MypinchofItaly]

The Pisarei are small gnocchi from the city of Piacenza, Emilia Romagna region. Although they may seem similar to usual gnocchi at first glance, they are actually not made with potatoes but with a mixture of flour and old, stale bread. Farmers, traditionally not wealthy, developed this technique to save up on raw materials.

Serves: 4 | Preparation time: 60 mins | Cooking time: 30-35 mins

• Canned cranberry beans/ Fagioli Borlotti: 450 g
• Lard: 30 g
• Tomato sauce: 350 ml
• Garlic cloves: 1
• Onions, medium-sized: 1
• Bay leaves, fresh: 1
• Breadcrumbs: 6 tbsp
• A/P flour: 4 tbsp
• Sugar: ½ tsp
• Water, lukewarm: as needed
• Parmesan, grated: to taste
• Extra Virgin olive oil (EVOO): to taste
• Salt and pepper: to taste

Method

Put the flour in a bowl, along with the breadcrumbs and a pinch of salt. Mix thoroughly and start to add warm water little by little, whilst stirring to give the mixture a homogeneous texture. Knead the dough until you get a rather firm, elastic loaf; if the dough’s surface is too sticky, you can add some flour.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and cut it in smaller pieces. Roll out the dough in long cylinders, chop them in sections about 1 cm long and press on them with your thumb to give them the shape in the photo below.



Your pisarei are ready to be cooked! Set them aside whilst you work on the sauce.

Chop the onion and the lard in small pieces; brown them in a pan with hot olive oil, along with the garlic and the bay leaf.

Add the beans in the pan and season to taste. Pour in the tomato sauce, followed by a couple tablespoons of water to make it less thick. Remove the bay leaf and instead add the sugar. Let simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat.

Boil the pisarei in a big pot of salted water.

Tip: Once you put the pisarei in the boiling water, use a skimmer to remove them from the water as soon as they rise to the surface– it means that they are ready, and it usually takes less than a minute.

Add the cooked pisarei to the pan with the beans and stir to mix them with the sauce. Serve warm, topped with a generous handful of grated Parmigiano cheese.