🥬 Malfatti with nettles, melted butter, and aged Bitto
A first course from the Valtellinese peasant tradition, simple and full of flavor 🌿🍽️🧀
Introduction
Often considered just a pesky weed, the nettle – or Urtica dioica – is actually a precious ingredient of popular cuisine. Used since ancient times for its nutritious and beneficial properties, it finds one of its most authentic and tasty expressions in malfatti with nettles.
These rustic and irregular gnocchi, dressed with melted butter and aged Bitto, are perfect for bringing the simple yet genuine flavors of Valtellina to the table. A dish that celebrates seasonality, sustainability, and Alpine gastronomic culture. 🍃
📝 Ingredients (for 4 people)
- 500 g of fresh nettles
- 100 g of flour
- 100 g of bread crumbs
- 100 g of aged Bitto, grated
- 3 eggs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Melted butter to taste for dressing
👩🍳 Step-by-step preparation
- Wear gloves and carefully clean the nettles, using only the tenderest leaves and shoots.
- Boil the nettles in boiling salted water for a few minutes. Drain and reserve the cooking water.
- Thoroughly squeeze the nettles and finely chop them with a knife or mezzaluna.
- In a bowl, pour the flour in a mound, add the eggs, the bread crumbs, the chopped nettles, salt and pepper. Mix until you obtain a homogeneous dough.
- With the help of a spoon or slightly damp hands, form small irregular gnocchi (the typical “malfatti”).
- Bring the cooking water of the nettles back to a boil and cook the malfatti: they will be ready as soon as they float to the surface.
- Gently drain them and immediately dress with hot melted butter and plenty of grated Bitto.
🍽️ Tip
You can enrich the dish with a sprinkle of nutmeg or an addition of crispy sage in the melted butter for an extra aromatic touch!
The image of the dishes is purely indicative and does not necessarily correspond exactly to the recipe
