Smitten With … Homemade Ricotta–Green Onion Gnocchi

Tonight I made ricotta–green onion gnocchi from scratch, and it was good. Really good. (If I do say so myself.)

I found the recipe in a great cookbook called "Simply Organic," but Jesse Ziff Cool (another Chronicle cookbook author! Sweet!). I've always been intimidated by gnocchi, for some reason, but they're actually pretty simple to make. Not that I'm an expert, but I'm guessing the key is to know just how much flour to add. You don't want them to get too dense.

I know this because I ate amazing ricotta gnocchi in Philadelphia with my husband a few years ago at a little place called La Locanda del Ghiottone. That meal is on my list of best evers (and don't even get me started on the maitre d' and his alligator shoes and golf-ball-sized diamond cufflinks). The restaurant's name translates to "the place of the gluttons" … so there's that. Anyway—they had ricotta gnocchi there that were so light, it was like eating a marshmallow dipped in cloud.

I'm doubly impressed with tonight's outcome because I've never made gnocchi before and because I've been on hiatus from cooking. I don't know why—I love cooking. I find it soothing and soul-nourishing.

Admittedly, it's now really hard to cook anything beyond toast or a peanut butter sandwich when B is awake. He's very busy these days and very close to walking, meaning he does not sit still for more than a second. I mentioned that I find cooking soothing and soul-nourishing—not so much with an almost-1-year-old who wants nothing more than to open all of the cabinet doors and pull only the most dangerous and breakable items onto the floor. (Note to self: must finish baby-proofing stat.)

Step 1 is to drain the ricotta for about 20 minutes.

After it's drained, get a big pot of water boiling. Combine the drained ricotta with 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Asiago (I had Romano, so I used that), 1 large beaten egg, 6 minced green onions, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Next, add 1/4 cup of flour at a time to the ricotta mixture until it just comes together into a dough. (I'm pretty sure I used 1 cup of flour to reach this point.) To test if it's ready, scoop out a bit of the mixture, roll it into a ball and drop it into the boiling water. If it falls apart, you need to add more flour (again, 1/4 cup at a time). If it doesn't fall apart, and it rises to the surface after a bit, you're good to go.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Separate the dough into 4 balls. Roll each ball into a long rope 1 inch in diameter.

 Slice the four ropes into individual gnocchi, about 1 inch each. Gently indent each one with the tines of a fork.

Drop each one gently into the boiling water, taking care not to overcrowd the pot. Stir gently to prevent them from sticking together. When the gnocchi rise to the top and float, they're finished cooking.

We served ours with a good jarred pasta sauce for expediency's sake, but later in the summer I'd like to make my own sauce with fresh tomatoes and herbs. The recipe also says you could serve this with olive oil, garlic, fresh parsley and more grated cheese.

Comments

[Mary]

This looks amazing Steph! I'm going to try it, but always assumed gnocci would be really hard!