Going through my old recipe book, I stumbled upon this delicious dish - true comfort food, Italian style! It is absolutely simple to make and a guaranteed success. The only challenge lies in finishing the two components at the same time.
This recipe has been adapted from La Cucina Italiana (Novembre 1997, page 58).
Sauce ingredients for 2-3 servings
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 big leek (or 2 smaller ones)
- 1 cup (250ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (125ml) heavy cream
- 10 oz (300g) Taleggio cheese
- salt
Sauce Preparation
- Slice the leek in thin rings (a), and sauté them in butter for 10 minutes (b).- Add the milk and cream (c), and stew slowly for 30-45 minutes until thick.
- When almost ready to serve, add the diced Taleggio (d) and stir until the cheese melts completely. Adjust the salt.
Bignè ingredients for 2-3 servings
- 1 small Russet potato (250g)
- 1/2 cup (50g) flour
- 1/4 cup (50g) butter
- 1/4 cup (50g) water
- 1/8 of a teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup poppy seeds
- 2 cups (0.5l) olive oil for deep-frying
Bignè Preparation
- Boil the potato. Let it cool until lukewarm.- Put the water and butter into a small pan (1) and bring to a boil (2).
- Add the flour and stir constantly (3).
- Keep the mix on the heat until sizzling, and the mix detaches itself from the pot (4).
- Move the mix into a bowl, let cool.- Add the egg and salt (5). Mix (6).
- Add the mashed potato (7).
- Mix everything until smooth, then stir in 1 Tbsp of poppy seeds (8).
- With your hands, make walnuts-sized balls, roll them over poppy seeds until completely covered (9). You should be able to make 8-10 of them (10).- Deep fry the bignès in olive oil (11) keeping the temperature at constant 180 ℃.
- When golden-brown, remove balls and put them to dry onto paper-towel (12).
- Serve the bignè while still hot on a bed of sauce.
