Diane's Food Blog

After recently updating my homemade ricotta cheese recipe, I ended up with a giant batch of ricotta to use up. I used some of it as a manicotti filling, put some in a small batch of lasagna, and used the rest of it making these delicious little pillows of ricotta gnocchi.

I used this recipe to make them, but added the “rustic” to the title to account for the oddly-shaped morsels I ended up with. Feel free to make them more uniformly shaped and “prettier,” but they will be equally delicious no matter how they look!

Rustic Ricotta Gnocchi
8 oz ricotta cheese
2 eggs
½ C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ t kosher salt
¼ t black pepper
¼ t ground nutmeg
1 C all-purpose flour, more as needed

In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until well combined. Mix in 1 cup of flour, adding additional flour if needed to form a soft dough. The dough will be just a bit sticky to the touch, but should not stick to well-floured hands.

Option 1: Roll out the dough and cut into pieces
Take about a golf-ball sized piece of the dough and roll it by hand into a thick cylinder. Place the rolled dough onto a well-floured surface and roll out into a ½” thick rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. If not using right away, place them in the refrigerator on a lightly floured baking sheet until ready to use.

Option 2: Place dough in plastic bag and squeeze out pieces
An easier way to make the gnocchi is to put the dough into a plastic resealable bag, and just snip off one of the corners (about 1/2 inch). Gently squeeze the bag to push out the dough, and use a knife to lop it off, right into the boiling water.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add as many of the gnocchi that fit without overcrowding the pot. Give a quick stir so they don’t stick to each other, and cook about 2-3 minutes until they float to the surface. Remove the cooked gnocchi with a slotted spoon and place them in a colander to drain. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.

Serving suggestions: top with marinara or other pasta sauce; melt butter with fresh rosemary or sage (or any other fresh herb), then toss the gnocchi with the melted butter in the skillet; top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

 

Step by Step Details

If you used my recipe for homemade ricotta cheese, gather a few simple ingredients together to transform it into gnocchi.

In a large bowl, stir it all together until well combined. Then mix in 1 cup of flour, adding additional flour if needed to form a soft dough. The dough will be just a bit sticky to the touch, but should not stick to well-floured hands.

Now you have two options for making the gnocchi: roll out the dough and and cut into pieces, or put the dough into a plastic resealable bag and snip off one of the corners (about 1/2 inch). Then you only need to gently squeeze the bag to push out the dough and use a knife to lop it off, right into the boiling water. I’ll show both methods below.

Option 1: Roll out the dough and cut into pieces

Roll about a golf-ball sized piece of dough into a thick cylinder. Place the rolled cylinders onto a well-floured surface and roll each into a ½” thick rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces.

Continue until all are cut to about the same size. If not using right away, place them in the refrigerator on a lightly floured baking sheet until ready to use.

Option 2: Place dough in plastic bag and squeeze out pieces

An easier way to make the gnocchi is to put the dough into a plastic resealable bag, and just snip off one of the corners (about 1/2 inch).

Gently squeeze the bag to push out the dough, and use a knife to lop each piece off, right into the boiling water. (The trick to use a piece of string across the pot (second photo) did not work well. Just use a knife or fork and save yourself the hassle.)

To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop in about half of the gnocchi, or as many fit without overcrowding the pot.

Give the pot quick stir so the gnocchi don’t stick to each other, and cook about 2-3 minutes until they float to the surface. Remove the cooked gnocchi with a slotted spoon and place them in a colander to drain.

Repeat with remaining gnocchi until all are cooked and drained.

Now comes the fun – eating them! One way to serve them is with marinara or other pasta sauce.

Another idea is to melt butter in a pan with fresh rosemary (or sage, or any other fresh herb). Bonus points if takes on an interesting shape as it melts.

When the butter is melted and lightly browned, add the gnocchi to the skillet and toss; serve topped with the browned butter and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

And for you gnocchi adventurers: grill them! That’s right: carefully skewer the cooked gnocchi pieces, bright lightly with oil, and grill to get grill marks on each side.