First, in a pot, heat milk with 50g of butter;
When the milk is about to boil (you can see the bubbles- prevent it from overflowing), stir in the semolina;
Stir vigorously with a whisk, and cook until a cornmeal mush texture. At the beginning it will be quite liquid, don’t worry, because it will get compact, almost difficult to stir;
Whisk well to avoid any clumps;
Cook for a few minutes more until it gets thick;
Remove the pot from the heat;
Add the slightly beaten egg yolks and stir with a wooden spoon until an even mixture;
Stir is 3-4 spoons of grated Parmigiano Reggiano;
Season with salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg (its flavor is richer) to your taste;
Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly combined;
The mixture of your gnocchi is ready: it is time to shape them; you may follow two methods;
Method 1: pour the mixture onto a sheet of parchment paper or a marble board (don’t use the wooden board, because the mixture sticks to it);
Cover with another parchment paper sheet and flatten it with a rolling pin until 2 cm thick;
Allow to cool down for about 30 minutes;
Shape 5cm round disks with a biscuit cutter or a pasta stamp ;
Rinse the pasta stamp regularly to prevent the dough from sticking to it; you want your gnocchi to be regular and smooth;
Flatten the leftovers into a regular dough sheet and cut more disks;
Method 2 (this is what I usually do): put your hand into cold running water (in a few seconds you will realize why…you won’t get burnt):
Pour half of the hot dough onto a sheet of parchment paper and use your hands to shape it into a 5-6cm diameter cylinder; wrap it into the parchment paper;
Repeat with the remaining part of the dough;
Refrigerate the cylinders for about 20 minutes;
In the meanwhile butter a baking pan where you will place the gnocchi;
Once cooled, the cylinders will be compact and easy to cut;
Rinse a cook knife under cold running water and cut the cylinder into 2cm thick disks;
You will have about 30 disks:
With a spatula, gently place them onto the baking pan slightly overlapping the slices;
Season gnocchi with 25g of melted butter (it must not be too hot! You may add also some sage leaves to flavor the butter); sprinkle with grated Pecorino and Parmigiano cheese, top with the remaining butter divided into small pieces, and the nutmeg;
Pre-heat the static oven at 180°C-200°C (356°F-392°F) and bake for about 20 minutes (170°C-338°F in fan oven for 15 minutes);
Start the grill in the last 5 minutes;
Serve gnocchi very hot with a spoon; garnish with a little more grated cheese … it will strings… so toothsome!!!!