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Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
Gnocchi alla Romana is a dish from Lazio, the Italian region where Rome is located. It is a typical first course dish that is prepared on Thursdays as a filling dish served alongside meatballs to help Romans through the next day, Friday, that historically had lighter meals and no meat for religious reasons.
The name gnocchi alla Romana can be quite misleading, as we usually think of gnocchi as a pillowy potato pasta dish, however these gnocchi are made from a semolina mixture with milk, butter, eggs and cheese and then baked in the oven. The favorite part of the recipe has to be the au gratin-like topping that makes a crispy golden crust when baked, making it the perfect comfort food. Delicious!
Making gnocchi is super simple and requires just a few pieces of kitchen equipment. Here’s what you’ll need for making semolina gnocchi alla Romana:
From start to finish, this recipe will take you just over one hour. Half the time is actually just needed for the semolina dough to chill, so you can use it to prep other parts of your meal, like a nice side dish of spinach or perhaps a caprese salad and of course some delicious Roman-style meatballs.
After making this delicious recipe we are sure you will start buying semolina flour to have on hand. That way when your family asks for this comfort food dish of baked gnocchi with melted butter and grated cheese you can make it without even going to the store, as the other ingredients are ones you likely have in your pantry.
There are a few ways to make the round gnocchi disks, but this is the method we like the most and it eliminates waste.
Try other traditional recipes:
You won’t need many tips for making these gnocchi because they are so easy, but here are a few to make sure they come out perfectly.
Once you get the hang of making these gnocchi alla Romana with just the simple butter sauce, you can experiment with adding a tomato sauce.
Add a tomato sauce. If you prefer tomato sauce to butter sauce, you can leave out the melted butter drizzled on top and substitute with a lightly cooked red sauce.
You can store your gnocchi in the dish they were baked in. Once the dish is cool, cover it with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for 2 or 3 days. To reheat, simply let them come up to room temperature and then add a few bits of butter and a fresh grating of cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until warm all the way through, and serve immediately.
“Alla Romana” means “Roman style” in English and although these gnocchi have butter and Parmigiano cheese, both ingredients from Northern Italy, they are a confirmed ancient recipe from the Lazio areas.
The origins of gnocchi alla Romana are unknown, but they are said to be similar to the gnocchi served in ancient Rome made from semolina wheat flour. We know the original gnocchi the Romans made did not have potatoes because they didn’t arrive until hundreds of years later from the New World.
The three main types of gnocchi are: gnocchi di patate, gnocchi alla Romana and gnocchi alla Parisienne (or Parisian gnocchi). The first, gnocchi di patate, are a Northern Italian potato gnocchi dumpling. The second is gnocchi alla Romana which is this recipe for semolina rounds baked in the oven from the area near Rome. And the last is Parisian Gnocchi which is not Italian at all but from Paris, France and is a combination of flour, hot water, butter, and eggs.
Unlike other gnocchi, these gnocchi are made from semolina wheat flour, milk, egg yolks, butter, Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino. They are then baked in the oven to perfection.
