Friday, January 8, 2010

Gnocchi for the faint of heart


After a very slightly slobby few weeks of vacation I felt the need to get back in the kitchen while I still have the precious time. A good friend was coming over for lunch so I decided to try my hand at homemade gnocchi. As a gnocchi-from-scratch virgin I was excited to find this manageable-looking ricotta gnocchi recipe on Delicious Days. As promised, it was simple to make and the results were spectacular - fluffy, velvety pillows of yum. I replaced about a quarter of the fresh ricotta with a beautiful, creamy goats cheese (Robiola di Capra Carlina - fellow Lower-East-Siders can find it at my much-loved Formaggio Essex in the Essex St. Market), combined it with the yolk and parmeggiano and added some finely chopped fresh basil. I didn't measure out the flour, I just incorporated it into the cheesy, yolky mixture until it formed a very sticky dough. I turned the mixture out and formed the gnocchi directly onto a (heavily floured) chopping board to avoid the hassle of moving these delicate little dumplings around prior to the boil. I had a salsa finta on the burner during the process (lazy me replaced the tomato puree and sugar with ketchup), and just tore up the fresh basil into it, a la jamie oliver, right before I boiled the gnocchi. 3 minutes later I had a delicious and deceivingly impressive dish. Have a go: it's fabulous, and so much easier than you think.

Quick Ricotta Gnocchi
Recipe source: http://www.deliciousdays.com
Prep time: ~15 minutes
Ingredients (for 2):
250 g Ricotta
1 egg yolk (M-L)
1/4-1/2 tsp fine sea salt
30 g Parmigiano (or Pecorino), freshly grated
50-75 g all-purpose flour, extra for dusting the dough/board
serve with tomato sauce or any kind of pesto

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