gnocchi

Gnocchi (meaning 'knots', most likely) have been around since Roman times. Literally, it means 'dumplings'. Lately it has come to mean the thing a lot of Italian kids can count on every Thursday night: heavy potato dumplings with a plain tomato sauce and lots of cheese. We suspect they're intended to be mom's night off.

Verona claims the best, and even has a dumpling pope, il Papà del Gnoccho, who presides at Carnival's Baccanal del Gnocco, a tradition dating back over 400 years, after a famine struck the city and a benefactor donated the ingredients to make a gnocchi feast for the town. A bit confusingly, in the south, gnocchi often mean the same as strozzapreti.

Some gnocchi classics:

gnocchi alla bava: a speciality of Piedmont, served with butter and Fontina and topped with Grano Padano.