It’s not often that I come across a dish that’s relatively unknown on the Internet – in this case, I mean the English-speaking internet. Until the flood of French Fridays posts today, I could only find a handful of references to this week’s dish in English – there are plenty of recipes for it on French sites. (As an aside, it pleases me that I can read French relatively well, even though no one should ever be subjected to me speaking it.)
Storzapretis, not to be confused with the Italian pasta called strozzapretis, are a sort of Corsican gnudi, as Betsy pointed out in her post today.
They are properly made with Brocciu cheese, but thick ricotta makes a good substitute. The ricotta is mixed with spinach, grated cheese, minced mint or marjoram, an egg, and a very small amount of flour. It’s then formed into quenelles, lightly tossed in a little more flour and set to rest in the fridge or freezer. When it’s time to finish them, they’re gently poached in simmering water, carefully dried, then put in the oven covered with tomato sauce and grated cheese.
It’s the last two steps that caused our crew so much trouble this week, resulting in one of the longest P & Q sections we’ve had in some time. Reading the comments saved me from disaster and also led me to experimenting with cooking them in two different ways.
Many Doristas found their storzapretis disintegrating as they poached, so Adriana tried skipping that step and cooking them in the oven only. She preferred that method and when I tried it, the night I made the storzapretis, I cooked a few that way and stowed the rest in the freezer.
Today, I tried the poaching method and though they kept their shape, I found their texture to be a little too soft for my liking, even after baking them for a bit longer than called for in the recipe. The ones I’d stuck straight into the oven were tender and fluffy, but firm. In future, I’ll skip the poach.
Though these dumplings were a bit time-consuming to make, I will be making them again. They’re worth the effort. And this week’s experience just reinforced my love of this cooking community – we truly help each other along each week.
Find links to the rest of the French Fridays crew’s posts on this week’s recipe here: Storzapretis.
One Wet Foot 
I am glad that you concluded the straight baked ones were the best – after reading the P&Q, that’s exactly what I did. They were good!
Yeah, baking sure would save a lot of hassle. Glad that’s an optional technique…yours look perfect!
I’m definitely trying the baking from frozen method next!
Thanks, Teresa! I will definitely try the direct-to-oven method next time. I can see how the texture would be a bit better without the poaching step. Thanks and they look great!
Teresa, glad to know you tried poaching and not poaching and that you preferred not poaching! If you skip that step these aren’t hard to make. I’m not sure I’ll make them again, though. It was interesting that so little info is out there on these. I checked my Larousse and there they are called dumplings and after poaching they are browned in the oven. Interesting I thought.
The community is the best part of the group 🙂
I think they worked pretty well going straight into the oven (sans poach) – if nothing else, it limited the points of angst.
Interesting recipe and how we all tried different methods to work these little gems. It’s
amazing all the new words we are learning with this project, like gnudi. Happy Thanksgiving
Teresa.
Thanks for experimenting with them both ways. I was curious as to what the difference in the texture would be.
The longer we go on, the more I’m convinced that for me, this is more about the community than what we are cooking. I love how we help and support each other. I’m glad to know that baking them straight from the freezer is a tasty option.
You have all helped me so that I now have enough confidence to try these pesky little pastas. This week’s recipe, Storzapretis, just seemed a bit overwhelming for me. I suspect Tricia and I will do a make-up on the same Friday and I will suggest to her that we go straight from the freezer to the oven. My favorite word of the month is “gnudi”. Never, never, never haVE I seen that word written or heard it said. (Of course I’ve never been to Corsica either.) First, Betsy. Now, you. Nice, informative post, Teresa. Loved the picture of your brother with the sunchokes. Yep, next time you are stumped about an ingredient, call your Bro.
Yes, this one was definitely a group effort. I wouldn’t have thought to skip the poaching step if not for the P&Qs. I found that my non-frozen, poached ones had a similar texture to the frozen, non-poached ones. It was the frozen ones that I tried to poach that were too soft. I love your close-up photo of the shaped quenelles!
I’m just happy you were all out there listening and ready to weight in. Loved that it worked out for everyone who tried it.
great tips! 🙂 I’m glad that these worked out for you in the end!
Very helpful post! I’m so happy to see that someone did a side by side comparison of the two methods. Mine held up in the water, but given how time consuming these were, I’m more than happy to cut out a step next time I make them.
And I too love our cooking community. There are so many dishes in this book which I never would have had the courage to try on my own.
I am glad that you enjoyed them and thought that they were worth the effort. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. I will be interested to hear what you make for Thanksgiving since your partner is vegan.
Nice post, Teresa! Very informative…I really enjoyed this dish! I poached mine, and thought they came out quite well. This week the P&Q’s were very helpful! I’m sure the reason for any success I had with them. Glad these were a winner for you! Have a great week!
Dear Teresa, terrific post – I love trying different methods of preparing a recipe – baked, poached or just simmered in the tomato sauce – these all seem to be options that work for those lovely Strozapetri. Yours look wonderful, and I am with you on making this recipe again, although it did seem time consuming.
Have a lovely week, dear friend,
Andrea
I have never heard of this one either but you’ve definitely peaked my interest! Looks wonderful. Love the baked version.