Looking for a fancy side dish or something that shines on its own? Let’s check out this Ricotta gnocchi recipe that stands out of the crowd!
Originally, gnocchi is made of wheat flour and eggs as any other Italian pasta but over the time additional ingredients were incorporated and so gnocchi has distinguished itself in the pasta world unmistakably.
Although we still recognize gnocchi primarily by its appearance most of the time it contains other ingredients than just wheat flour, eggs, and salt.
Potato gnocchi which is simply called Gnocchi, without any indication about what other ingredients we should look for, contains potato and one of the most ancient methods of preparing the dumplings.
As mentioned before, gnocchi was originally prepared with flour, eggs or water and salt but once potato was available in Europe, it got incorporated into the dough and the dish spread across the continent without boundaries.
Nowadays, we can find gnocchi in the cuisines of many nations, some with clear etymological roots to the original while others completely blended into the national identity. Other countries in the world where the Roman empire influence waned, and the dish was introduced by the Italian immigrants, its name largely kept with small alterations.
Apparently, only the English language couldn’t manage to produce the necessary letters to write gnocchi down phonetically, so we stuck with the original spelling and gods good will when proudly try to present our creations to friends with Italian roots, or in fact to any who can pronounce “gn” properly.
Gnocchi are far and wild nowadays as they can incorporate not just the basic potato but a variety of other ingredients, like in our case now, ricotta or other cases ricotta and spinach. To be fair, ricotta gnocchi isn’t something new either, since Italians, more precisely Tuscanyans make them for quite a while now and call them “nudi”, meaning “nude”.
Ricotta gnocchi is fluffier and lighter than potato gnocchi by some, considered superior to traditional gnocchi, although that fight has not officially been over. Nutritionally, ricotta gnocchi undoubtedly better, since ricotta contains five times as many proteins as potato, yet if we are on a calorie restricted diet, cheese isn’t our best friend.
Making ricotta gnocchi isn’t harder than regular gnocchi in fact, it is easier and quicker. While traditional gnocchi require the potatoes to be peeled, cooked and cooled, ricotta gnocchi is more energy efficient.
Depending on the ricotta we have, draining the liquid off from our ricotta may be advisable, since some, especially in the States can be pretty wet, but other than that, we only need to knead the ingredients together and our dough is ready to be cooked into gnocchi.
Try not to stack the rolled and cut gnocchi on top of each other, and definitely not for a long time, since they are capable to bond inseparably rendering our later presentation efforts below average.
Once the gnocchi is in the boiling water, we only need a couple of minutes to see them bobbing up to the surface -except, of course if we use small amount of water and they stick to the bottom- screaming to be taken out.
Due to the starch content in flour, gnocchi tend to stick together. If we don’t like gnocchi stuck together, rinse them under cold running water that remove the surface starch and produces nice slippery individual gnocchi. Sure, it will cool the gnocchi down a bit but if we are quick enough, their inner residual heat will be enough to keep them just right until sauced and served. If accidentally cooled down too much, popping them back into the cooking water or -once cooking done- rinsing them with the hot water to reheat them generally does the trick.
Once gnocchi is on the plates, it doesn’t matter if it was prepared with potato, ricotta or just water though. What matters is, how it can blend into the dish it is served with and lucky for us, ricotta gnocchi is excellent, not just standing out of the crowd but playing their part dishes too!
Ingredients
- 1lb / 500g Ricotta
- 2½ cups / 300g Flour
- 3 medium / 150g Egg (optional; use only egg yolk for extra soft gnocchi)
- 1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
How to make Ricotta gnocchi
- Some ricotta, especially in the States have more moisture than necessary. Drain it overnight or use a cheesecloth to squeeze the excess liquid out.
- Knead drained ricotta, flour, egg and salt. This is the time to add all sort of other ingredients, like spices and herbs.
- Flour hands, grab a ball of dough and roll it out on a mildly floured surface. Too floury surface will make it harder to roll the dough out while less flour makes it stick, so we have to find the optimal amount we can work with.
- Cut the rolled out dough into desired size. The cooked dough will at least double in size so count with that.
- Stripe the gnocchi with a fork or the special gnocchi board if desired. Place the gnocchi into boiling water.
- Cook until they come up to the surface. Sometimes they stick to the bottom so run a spoon around once a couple of them emerges to ensure nobody is left behind.
- Take gnocchi out and let drip. To avoid stick them together, rinse the surface starch off under running water. It cools them off a bit but that shouldn’t be a problem given that they have enough inner heat to last until plated.
Enjoy!
Gnocchi dishes
Butter fried gnocchi
- Heat butter in a skillet. Add herbs of choice or just salt and pepper.
- Fry gnocchi until golden brown on both sides.
Onion sour cream gnocchi
- Caramelize onion. This may take 15 minutes so it’s good to make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for occasions like this.
- Heat butter in a skillet then fry gnocchi until golden brown on both sides.
- Mix in caramelized onion, salt and paprika.
- Serve and top with sour cream.
Gnocchi soup
- Heat oil in a pot and caramelize diced onions, carrots and celery.
- Mix in salt, pepper, diced garlic and paprika. (If gnocchi is already cooked add flour to thicken up the soup a bit if desired.)
- Mix in vegetables of choice. Pull it up with water and cook until the vegetables are tender.
- Add in gnocchi. Cook until gnocchi comes up to the top.
- Take it off heat, let it cool a bit and serve.
Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ricotta
- 2½ cups Flour
- 3 medium Egg optional; use only egg yolk for extra soft gnocchi
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Some ricotta, especially in the States have more moisture than necessary. Drain it overnight or use a cheesecloth to squeeze the excess liquid out.
- Knead drained ricotta, flour, egg and salt. This is the time to add all sort of other ingredients, like spices and herbs.
- Flour hands, grab a ball of dough and roll it out on a mildly floured surface. Too floury surface will make it harder to roll the dough out while less flour makes it stick, so we have to find the optimal amount we can work with.
- Cut the rolled out dough into desired size. The cooked dough will at least double in size so count with that.
- Stripe the gnocchi with a fork or the special gnocchi board if desired. Place the gnocchi into boiling water.
- Cook until they come up to the surface. Sometimes they stick to the bottom so run a spoon around once a couple of them emerges to ensure nobody is left behind.
- Take gnocchi out and let drip. To avoid stick them together, rinse the surface starch off under running water. It cools them off a bit but that shouldn’t be a problem given that they have enough inner heat to last until plated.
Notes
Pin now, Enjoy later!
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