Strangolapreti: Make delicious dumplings made with stale bread and spinach at Home

The Strangolapreti are delicious dumplings made with stale bread and spinach, a typical first course from Trentino that is enjoyed with a dressing of melted butter and grated cheese. Below is our recipe.

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 500g fresh spinach
• 400g stale bread
• 1/2 liter of milk
• 2 eggs
• 100g grated grana cheese
• 100g 00 flour
• nutmeg
• 80g butter
• sage leaves
• salt

EXECUTION: EASY

PREPARATION TIME: 30 min

COOKING TIME: 20 min

SOAKING TIME: 30 min

SERVINGS: 4

The Strangolapreti is a specialty of Trentino cuisine. They are large and tasty dumplings made with simple ingredients such as stale bread, eggs, cheese, and a small amount of flour, and are enriched with spinach. After a quick boil in hot water, they are seasoned with butter and sage.

 

This is a recipe of peasant origin, born to use up leftover bread and wild herbs. As is always the case with traditional recipes, Strangolapreti turn out to be a very delicious dish and are also very tasty when seasoned with a light fresh tomato sauce.

 

If you feel like trying alternative gnocchi to the classic potato gnocchi, we recommend pumpkin, leek, and sage gnocchi, and polenta gnocchi with sausage.

 

• OTHER TASTY RECIPES: Malfatti, Bread and Salami Gnocchi, Trentino Canederli.

How to prepare Strangolapreti 

Step 1:

To prepare Strangolapreti, start by cutting the crustless stale bread into cubes and collecting it in a bowl with milk. Let it soften for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the milk is completely absorbed.

In the meantime, wash the spinach thoroughly and blanch it in a capacious pot.

Step 2:

Once cooked - it will take about five minutes - remove them from the pot, let them cool down and squeeze them well.

Step 3:

Finely chop the spinach with a knife and sauté them in a pan with some extra-virgin olive oil. Proceed by squeezing the soaked bread well and crumble it with your hands or chop it with a knife.

Step 4:

Then, in a bowl, gather the bread, spinach, eggs, grated Grana cheese, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Mix everything thoroughly with a spoon to combine well.

Step 5:

Add the flour and incorporate it as well, obtaining a sufficiently compact mixture that can be transferred to a pastry bag. The amount of flour to be added may vary slightly depending on the initial moisture of the dough. Bring plenty of salted water to a boil and cook the strangolapreti by dropping pieces of dough, about 3 cm each, directly into the water from the pastry bag. When they come to the surface, let them cook for another couple of minutes.

Step 6:

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pan, flavoring it with a few sage leaves. Extract the strangolapreti with a slotted spoon and add them to the melted butter. Season them by swirling the pan, so that they do not break.

Step 7:

Complete with a sprinkling of grated Grana cheese to taste and serve the strangolapreti hot immediately.