Villaware Millegnocchi Attachment for Imperia Pasta Machine

I've been using one of these in a commercial setting for more than a year, while it is true you need a firmer dough than the traditional potato gnocchi, once you have figured out the dough (I use 1# ricotta, 1 whole egg, and 1.5# A.P.Flour) you can crank out 'mille gnocchetti' very easily.

I tried two different recipes for Ricotta Cavatelli and in both cases the dough will get stock to the machine and the wood rollers will stop. I have had great success with one of the recipes however with the CucinaPro Cavetelli Maker. Too bad because I really wanted this to work. Maybe my unit was defective! I don't know.

Gnocchi is a type of italian potato dumpling and are rather time consuming to make. I was hoping this machine would help with the shaping of the dough before boiling as it's called the MilleGnocchi attachment. Unfortunately, this machine is not to be used with gnocchi dough. The light fluffy potato dough will stick to all the mechanical workings. If you use a standard pasta dough instead, the attachment will make nicely shaped pasta.

I got mine used on ebay, but it is the same machine. At first I tried to make gnocchi using a recipe I had used before. What a mess. The dough was too soft and ugh... Then I tried cavatelli, made long ropes of pasta about as wide as my little finger, and cranked out perfectly shaped pasta, no problem. The consistency of the dough appears to be the key. So I can say it does work well, but it took some trial and error to get there.

The past maker works well, but the clamp is not sufficient for most kitchen counters. Requires a real table for use

I am really unhappy with this machine. If the dough is too soft the machine will not make the gnocchi. The dough usually just jams up in the machine. If you make the dough with egg it is firm enough and it works great,but the dough with egg is to heavy so it really does not cook very well. I made some gnocchi with egg. I cooked them ten minutes in boiling salted water and they still were not cooked. They felt to the tooth like whenever you undercook regular pasta. They were terrible.

I have used my Imperia Millegnocchi only a few times, but I don't agree with the other reviewer that said it was not meant to be used, just for decoration. I find it works fine producing nice looking cavatelli and gnocchetti sardi. The only thing I think is wrong in the instructions is that they say you should use pasta rolled with the wider setting: well, I think it is not enough, it works a lot better if you just knead it well and then make small sausage shapes to pass through the Millegnocchi. And, of course you have to crank it quite slowly to form perfect shapes.It is not something you absolutely need in your kitchen, but if you are a gadget freak like me, I'm sure you'll enjoy this stuff. Using it is a bit like playing with play dough, and it's fun!

This machine definetely deserves a star is for its "heavy-duty" look. However, I am unable to judge further simply because my specimen broke down after the first crank. An inspection of its mechanical construction showed that it had not been designed for actual use but rather for kitchen decoration...