Potato dumplings with Montebore cheese

This recipe calls for two products from our area’s Appenine zone, Montebore cheese and the “quarantina” potato from the Curone and Borbera Valleys. The “quarantina” potato is an early maturing species which is harvested in September. Its flesh is white. It is usually of average size and very firm and it is traditionally grown in the valleys at the foot of Mount Antola and the immediate vicinity. Given its compactness and its low water content, it is ideally suited for making gnocchi. Montebore is a cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk to which a further 25% in volume of goat’s milk is added. This cheese, which has a characteristic “wedding cake” shape, is best eaten when half matured. However, when used in this recipe, it should be fresh. The sauce used to top the gnocchi is different from the classic Alpine fondue as it does not envisage the addition of egg yolk to the melted cheese sauce. It is obtained by adding butter, milk or cream and subsequently thickened up with grated Parmesan cheese. If we are to follow the traditional recipe to the letter the Parmesan is replaced by fully mature Montebore or mature regional Toma cheeses.