Diablotins

Diablotins (tiny poached gnocchi with a cheese crust) teach one true thing: the gratin must form at the last possible moment. These little dumplings should arrive tender beneath a fine bronze crown, with just enough cayenne to leave a warm prickle. Hold them after gratinating and the crust softens while the gnocchi tighten. Timing is the dish.

The grand kitchen surrounding the original had a saucier on staff, stock never off the fire, and extra hands for service, though Diablotins needs neither sauce nor stock. What it truly assumed was a cook free to poach minute gnocchi on command and a fierce salamander waiting overhead. At home, a small saucepan, a piping bag or sturdy freezer bag, and a thoroughly heated broiler do the same work. The entry gives no fixed brigade quantities, so this formula makes one shallow dish for four while preserving its flavorings and exact sequence: poach, cheese, cayenne, gratin.

The brigade's holding arrangements are scaffolding and can go. The immediate passage from poaching water to top heat cannot, because that is the dish itself. Drain the gnocchi well, spread them in one layer, and have the broiler ready before the cheese touches them. One cook, one stove, one evening.