Minestra Mariconda

Name: Minestra Mariconda (Soup with Bread Gnocchi)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 300 g sourdough bread, crusts discarded, roughly chopped; 100 g unsalted butter, melted; 2 litres Beef Stock; 2 cups (500 ml) milk; ⅔ cup (100 g) plain flour, sifted; 1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg; 4 eggs; 150 g Grana Padano, freshly grated; salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Soup with Bread Gnocchi

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Lombardian Cookbook

By Alessandro Pavoni and Roberta Muir

Published 2015

About

This very old recipe is related to similar recipes for using up stale bread from neighbouring Tirol and Switzerland, where the dumplings are called knudle. I like this simple, comforting soup – it’s just what I crave when I’m a bit under the weather.

Ingredients

300 g sourdough bread, crusts discarded, roughly chopped
2 cups (500 ml) milk

Europe
Switzerland
Italy
Tirol
Mediterranean
Soup

Method

Place the bread and milk in a bowl and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes, then squeeze to remove the excess milk. Place the bread in a mixing bowl and stir through the butter. Add the eggs, 100 g of the Grana, the flour, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Mix to combine well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Shape the mixture into 2 cm balls. Bring the stock to the boil in a larg