Paolo: Flavio, you know it has only been a few years since we met and you joined the Olive Garden culinary team here in Orlando. Can you tell us a little about your background? How did you develop a passion for Italian cooking and sharing your expertise?
Flavio: Sure! I lived in Verona for the last 25 years in the area of Lake Garda, which is where I spent many years working in the best and most popular local restaurants. I guess the love for food was passed down through my family since both of my grandmothers were chefs. So, I have always had a passion for cooking and creating, mainly pleasing people’s palates.

Paolo: What did you think after we met and you were asked to join our culinary team?
Flavio: I was really looking forward to the opportunity to help bring Italian food and culture to Olive Garden guests across the country and experience new challenges.

Paolo: You have contributed to our latest menu additions, bringing one of your hometown’s favorite staples, gnocchi, to our new menu with the Chicken & Gnocchi Veronese. What was your inspiration for this dish?
Flavio: The inspiration was to bring to the menu an authentic dish of my region, Verona, and nothing is more authentic there than gnocchi. In my personal history and family there is a strong tradition of eating gnocchi.

Paolo: Yes, I understand there is a holiday which celebrates gnocchi in your region. What’s the story behind that?
Flavio: Everybody in the Verona area grows up with this tradition. There is a carnival in Verona where gnocchi is the ritual dish and Father Gnocchi is the main character of the festival. The story comes from the 1600’s when, after the plague struck Verona, a local nobleman celebrated its end by offering a plate of gnocchi to the people of Verona. Even today, throughout the city, gnocchi is given to the people of Verona and Father Gnocchi is seen as a charitable figure who visits the sick, brings food to the poor and visits the schools during the carnival period.

Paolo: What a wonderful story. How did your family celebrate the Father Gnocchi festival and the carnival period?
Flavio: We prepared gnocchi at home to celebrate and would also attend the Regatta on the river Adige and the great Carnival Parade of Masks in the heart of Verona, Piazza S Zeno, where we would eat from a huge pan of gnocchi that was served. We always enjoyed this.

Paolo: So gnocchi was a family favorite? How did you and your family traditionally prepare the dish?
Flavio: Gnocchi is comfort food that we love to eat during the winter topped with marinara sauce (salsa la pomodoro), melted butter, cinnamon or parmesan cheese, or with cheese sauce or meat sauce (Bolognese). We eat gnocchi also with beef stew.

Paolo: Is the Chicken & Gnocchi Veronese similarly prepared to your traditional style?
Flavio: Very similar, the gnocchi that we developed has the best consistency. Good gnocchi has a nice potato flavor and a soft but nice texture, never chewy. And the sauce is very similar to the typical cheese sauce that we use for Gnocchi ai Formaggi in Italy because we love cheese just like Americans.

Paolo: But you created a unique recipe for this dish to share with our guests?
Flavio: Yes, we thought about adding something to further please our guests and we added the caramelizing chicken sauté to enhance the taste of the cheese sauce. To finish the dish we topped it with roasted peppers and zucchini seasoned with basil pesto that adds freshness to the dish.

Paolo: Do you think this dish will share the authentic experience of the Father Gnocchi festival to Americans?
Flavio: Maybe not the whole experience, but the best part at least!