"Gnoc de Cola" were cooked throughout Valle Camonica with some variations depending on the area. This is the recipe of the Gnoc de Cola from Cerveno, also typical of the Lozio area. It is a poor man’s dish, easy and quick to make. In the past it was eaten all year round, thanks to the availability of wild herbs.

INGREDIENTS
50 g of "Strisiga" grass ("Silene vulgaris", also known as bladder campion or maidenstears)
Nettle leaves
50 g of chard
50 g of spinach or wild spinach
2 mint leaves
St. Peter's grass leaves (also known as costmary)
500 g of breadcrumbs
White flour as needed
Local cheese to taste
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt to taste
1 egg
Water

For the soffritto:
150 g of local butter
80 g of pancetta
A few sage leaves
Chives or leek to taste
Local cheese to taste

PREPARATION
Blanch the herbs for the dough for two minutes in very little water. Finely chop the mint and the costmary separately.
Mix the breadcrumbs with the egg, the chopped cheese and the cooked drained and coarsely chopped herbs.
Add the mint and the costmary, a pinch of nutmeg, salt and the water used to cook the herbs to the mixture. Mix everything with very little white flour. Let the dough rest for two hours. Then make gnocchi with a spoon, to be thrown into boiling salted water. Let them cook for 12 minutes, so that they will remain soft.

For the soffritto
Heat a non-stick pan over a low heat and add the pancetta cut into strips. The pancetta will release the necessary fat to make the sauce. When it is well cooked, set it aside and prepare a further soffritto with the butter, the finely chopped leek or the chives and sauté well.

Drain the gnocchi and add the pancetta and the fried butter.
Mix well and serve hot with grated local cheese.

ANECDOTES
Per cucinare degli Gnoc de cola prelibati, si consiglia di utilizzare la strisiga (o silene), erbetta di campo che si può raccogliere nel periodo primaverile, da maggio a giugno.
To cook delicious Gnoc de cola, we recommend using strisiga (or silene in italian, also known as bladder campion or maidenstears), a field herb that can be harvested in spring, from May to June.