Canardeli were traditionally prepared in poor families in Northern Italy. They are a kind of gnocchi using stale bread instead of letting it go to waste. This is a creative and tasty way to recycle leftovers. In her recipe, Shéhrazade Schneider suggest adding carrot tops that would otherwise be wasted too. Twice as much recycling – and a nice alternative to French toast!

Ingredients

– 200g (7 oz) stale bread
– 2 glasses warm milk
– 1 bunch carrot tops
– 1 handful pine nuts
– 1/2 glass olive oil
– 2 eggs
– 30g (1 oz) flour (plus a little more to spread batter on)
– 3 litres vegetable stock
– salt and ground pepper

Preparation

– Dice bread and soak in warm milk and eggs
– Wash and chop carrot tops
– In a blender or a food processor, mix and blend bread, milk, eggs, olive oil, salt, pepper and carrot tops
– Place mix in a large bowl and add flour until mix is a smooth dough, neither liquid nor too thick, a bit like doughnut batter
– Sprinkle flour on a flat surface and spread batter into round strips of approximately 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick
– Cut strips diagonally to form small lozenges

Cooking

– Mettre l’eau à chauffer avec le bouillon.
– Plonger les gnocchis dans l’eau bouillante. Lorsqu’ils remontent à la surface, c’est cuit !

Principles according to Shéhrazade Schneider

You can use and serve these gnocchi with any sauce of your liking: pesto sauce, carrot tops pesto, etc.