Making Gnocchi with Sienna on the Square

A neighborhood staple, Sienna on the Square serves up simple, creative Italian dishes in Market Square and has been named “Best Restaurant” by Pittsburgh Magazine.

Chris Castine, Sienna’s Chef de Cuisine, walks us through how they make gnocchi, one of their signature dishes.

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Gnocchi are hand made several times a week with potato, semolina and all purpose flour, parmesan cheese, egg and minced oregano.

“The first step is to bake the potatoes until tender so that they can be riced while hot and kneaded with the flour, cheese, egg and herbs. It’s a delicate balance of making sure the potatoes are hot and adding just the right amount of flour and kneading gently so that they don’t become dense and chewy,” Chris says. “We then roll the dough into long strands to cut off thumb-sized pieces and blanch for approximately 2 minutes before shocking them in ice water.”

Once the gnocchi are formed, it’s time to start cooking.

“The dish is made by browning the gnocchi in butter along with prosciutto, shiitake mushrooms, and zucchini. We deglaze the pan with a little bit of Parmesan stock and toss with butter.”

“Then,” Chris adds, “the finishing touch that really brings the dish together is a pepper jack mousse made with Amish pepper jack cheese sourced from Goot Essa Creamery in State College, PA. It is made by first sweating garlic and shallots in a saucepot and then simmering with white wine and cream. The pepper jack is blended into the cream as well as a little parmesan cheese and then put into a whip cream canister, producing a very light, smooth custard.”

Learn more about Sienna on the Square.

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Hungry for more? Learn about suggested wine pairings the gnocchi featured above from Sienna on the Square’s general manager here.