Storzapretti are Corsican dumplings made with spinach or chard and cheese, topped with tomato sauce and extra cheese, and baked till bubbly and golden. In line with legend, a priest as soon as discovered the dumplings so scrumptious that he stuffed himself to the purpose of choking, therefore their title, which interprets roughly as ‘strangle the preacher’. One may assume they’d be heavy, however after consuming a plateful my visitor pronounced them delightfully gentle.
Storzapretti / Corsican dumplings in tomato sauce
I stumbled upon this recipe throughout a current journey to Corsica, recognized by the French as l’Île de Beauté (the Isle of Magnificence). And it’s extremely stunning. White sand seashores, pale turquoise waters, charming villages nestled in mountains rising simply inland from the ocean, parasol pines, flowers all over the place. Seafood is plentiful, the veggies are beautiful and native specialties embody brocciu, a recent cheese much like ricotta made from sheep or goats milk.
One of many island’s signature dishes is cannelloni au brocciu, during which the tubular cannelloni are full of a mix of brocciu and Swiss chard. Storzapretti are like cannelloni au brocciu minus the cannelloni. There’s a little bit of potato, making them considerably akin to gnocchi, however they’re far lighter and fluffier. As brocciu might be onerous to search out outdoors Corsica, and even in Corsica has a season, ricotta could also be used as a substitute.
Upon coming back from Corsica I did a little analysis and found that the dumplings have roots within the Trentino area of Italy (and, as my Italian associates wish to level out, Corsica was dominated by the Italians lengthy earlier than it turned a part of France). I additionally found that, inside Corsica, the dish is a regional specialty, the area being the north of the island and specifically the realm across the metropolis of Bastia. After I requested a Corsican buddy concerning the dish, she’d by no means heard of it — her household’s place is additional south.
The title itself is problematic. In line with Laure Verdeau, whose grandmother was from Bastia and who wrote about storzapretti lately for M, the journal of Le Monde, the title interprets from Corsican into French as étouffe-prêtre, or ‘choke the priest’. Different sources translate the title as tordre le moine (‘twist the monk’) or presser le moine (‘squeeze the monk’). But when etymology generally is a information, then the Italian model, strangolapreti, resolves the argument. It very clearly means ‘priest stranglers’.
The Italian dish differs from the Corsican model, nevertheless. My favourite Italian recipe website describes strangolapreti as ‘a really historic dish of actually particular gnocchi made with stale bread and spinach’. No potato and no recent cheese. The herbs are additionally completely different. The Corsican dumplings are flavored with mint and parsley, the Italian with recent sage. And the Italian dumplings are served with melted butter — no tomato sauce concerned.
This being stated, the cooking of the dumplings is analogous. You make a batter, kind oval shapes, mud them with flour and drop them into boiling water till they fluff up and rise to the floor. That is the enjoyable a part of the recipe, which is admittedly a bit extra of a manufacturing than many of the recipes on this website. However you are able to do it in levels, for instance by making the tomato sauce the day earlier than embarking on the dumplings themselves.
The storzapretti could also be served both as a vegetarian principal course or starter, or as a facet dish with grilled or roasted meat, fish or poultry. You can start with, say, melon and prosciutto and comply with up with recent summer season fruit or a fruity dessert. Both a calming rosé or a dry crimson would marry nicely. You may simply really feel such as you’re on a ravishing island…
Completely happy cooking.
