When we lived in Australia, one of our favorite meals was fresh ricotta gnocchi. I traveled on the tram to the Prahran Market, to the fresh pasta shop. They had all sorts of delightful things there - noodles, filled pastas, and then this gnocchi. I think I bought some ravioli a few times, but my main love was their gnocchi. All you had to do after purchasing it was throw it in a skillet with some olive oil and panfry it til golden brown on the sides, dump on a little marinara sauce, and that's dinner!
Upon leaving Australia, I haven't had a gnocchi that could match the Prahran Market's. Until now. I had been wanting some for a while, and then finally this week I decided to try to make some on my own. I chose a recipe that looked fairly easy and didn't require any weird ingredients (a major deal-breaker for me because if it doesn't turn out well, who wants to be stuck with a million-dollar-per-ounce jar of urchin powder?). I skimmed the recipe, and the directions seemed fairly simple.
Sure, it did take about 45 minutes, but man, this stuff was good! CO begged me immediately to make more again soon, and did we have some left over so that he could take it to work? This recipe could easily be prepared a bit in advance, stored in an airtight container, and then sauteed hours (maybe days?) later.
Here's the recipe.
originally published in
Gourmet | April 2008
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active Time: 40 min
Total Time: 40 min
Ingredients:
2 cups whole-milk ricotta (1 pound)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 ounces), divided
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 (2-inch) rosemary sprig (optional)
Preparation:
Stir together ricotta, eggs, 1 cup cheese, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add flour, stirring to form a soft, wet dough.
Shape dough on a well-floured surface with lightly floured hands into 2 (1-inch-thick) ropes (I would do 1/2 inch thick ropes next time). Cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces with a lightly floured knife. Put in 1 layer on a lightly floured parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cook gnocchi in 2 batches in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water), adding a few at a time to pot and stirring occasionally, until cooked through (cut one in half to check), 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain in colander.
Meanwhile, cook butter with rosemary in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Toss gnocchi with brown butter in skillet and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt.
Julie's notes: I skipped the butter with rosemary step, instead I just tossed the gnocchi with plain butter (olive oil would work too) until it was brown on both sides (think the color of grilled cheese).
I served with Newman's Own Organic Marinara Sauce and hubby couldn't say enough good things about it. Apparently it makes good leftovers, but he snatched them away before I could eat them!
