Melbourne pasta: Carosello Moonee Ponds to serve Nutella gnocchi

Gutsy chefs at a Moonee Ponds Italian restaurant are serving up a weird gnocchi dish to celebrate World Pasta Day. Here’s their secret to making the unlikely combo work.

GUTSY chefs at a Moonee Ponds Italian restaurant are serving up a weird gnocchi dish to celebrate World Pasta Day.

While chocolate and potato are not ingredients we’d usually pair in food, Italian restaurant Carosello chefs are doing it ahead of World Pasta Day on October 25.

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Between October 23 and 28, the Moonee Ponds restaurant will serve its limited edition Nutella Gnocchi with deep-fried house-made chocolate gnocchi, a rich Nutella sauce, freeze-dried strawberries, crushed peanut brittle and ice-cream.

Oh yes they did — chef Elvis Kamboj with his Nutella gnocchi mash-up. Picture: Ellen Smith

Carosello’s house-made Nutella pasta was so popular last year they decided to do it again but with gnocchi instead.

Chocolate gnocchi is the dreamchild of head chef Elvis Kamboj and manager Mark Natoli.

Mr Natoli said the Nutella gnocchi combined two great foodie loves into one dish.

“We we’re sitting around the table brainstorming ideas, and Nutella gnocchi just made sense,” Mr Natoli said.

“We know our customers love Nutella — earlier this year we made a Nutella martini that was well received, and we know they love gnocchi,” he said.

“So the challenge for us was making a dish that looks good but also tastes amazing, because they’re not normally ingredients you see together.

“We made a couple of versions, and settled on one that involves deep frying the gnochi. It gives it a crispy coating.”

Last year, Costello sold 104 Nutella pasta dishes in six days.

“We think our customers will love the Nutella gnocchi just as much.”

A new summer menu will be launched at Carosello in November.

Carosello is at 22 Margaret St, Moonee Ponds.

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