Friulan plum gnocchi

(Gnocchi di susine)

Serves 6

600 g (1 lb 5 oz) potato gnocchi dough

12 sugar (president) plums, deseeded

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

100 g (3½ oz) salted butter

30 g (1 oz/½ cup) fresh white breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra for dusting

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped

icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the gnocchi dough to 2–3 mm (1/16 x 1/8 inch) thickness and cut into 12 discs large enough to completely wrap your plums. Place a plum on each of the discs and put ½ teaspoon of the dark brown sugar in the centre of the plum. Wrap the dough around the plum to completely cover it to form a large gnocco (dumpling). Make sure there are no holes in the dough. Repeat this process for all 12 plums. Excess dough can be re-rolled to make more gnocchi.

Heat the butter in a saucepan and brown the breadcrumbs over medium heat. Strain the butter and set aside in a warm place. Place breadcrumbs on a paper towel to drain until dry. When drained, add the cinnamon, remaining dark brown sugar and vanilla bean seeds and mix together.

Boil the gnocchi in salted water until they come to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and rest on a tea towel (dish towel) so that most of the water drains from the gnocchi. Roll the gnocchi in the prepared breadcrumb, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla mixture and place two gnocchi on each plate. Drizzle some of the strained browned butter over the top. Dust with the icing sugar and extra cinnamon and serve.