Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe

Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe
Little pillows
that melt in your mouth!

This Ricotta Gnocchi recipe belonged to my Father and before that his Mama made them, and before that, well I'm sure she got it from her Mama as well. I loved them so much when I was a kid I used to beg my Dad to make them for me.

They are exactly what you'd expect a ricotta gnocchi to taste like just by looking at them. They are like little pillows melting in your mouth.

The hard part is trying not to eat them as they come out of the boiling water!

You have to use a good quality ricotta so try to make a trip to a specialty store to buy a good one. I used Calabria Ricotta 100% milk fat. There is nothing diet about this food. So LIVE IT up!

I make a ton of them at one time, invite a bunch of people over and Mangia.

Try your homemade ricotta gnocchi recipe with pesto sauce or a tomato and rosemary cream sauce.

Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe Ingredients:

1 cups of 100% milk fat Ricotta cheese
cup of all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
teaspoon of salt
teaspoon chopped Italian parsley

Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix together. You can add more flour as you need to but not too much. You are looking for a consistency that is stiff but still slightly sticky.

It's not like making fresh pasta. You don't knead it.
YEAH!

Ricotta Gnocchi Preparation:

This is where it gets a little sticky!

Sprinkle flour on a large cutting board.

You'll need 2 spoons to shape your Ricotta Gnocchi dough. You won't be able to handle it with your hands.

With one spoon scoop a small portion and with the other you shape it as best you can into a ball. Half the fun is eating these strangely shaped pasta so don't worry if they aren't perfect. They aren't meant to be.

When you've gotten the gnocchi dough to the shape and size you want, take the other spoon and scrap it off onto the floured cutting board. Repeat this step until all the mixture is shaped.

Cooking the Ricotta Gnocchi:

Boil a large pot of salted water and add the gnocchi in batches. You can't crowd the pot or they might stick together or not cook properly.

How do you know when the Gnocchi is ready? Well much like making fresh pasta you'll see them float to the top.

But not so fast!

They still should sit in the boiling water about a total of 5-7 minutes even if they do float to the top. Make sure the Gnocchi doesn't have a sponge texture or look when you cut it in half. If it does then it's not done and it won't have that melt in your mouth pillow texture I've been promising you.

When they are cooked, take them out by gently scooping them with a straining spoon and set aside on a plate. The gnocchi expands in the water but after it sits for a minute it will shrink a little.

When you're ready to serve the Ricotta Gnocchi recipe you drain off the excess water in the plate and add them to your heated sauce in a saute pan. Cover them with the sauce gently and spoon onto a plate.

Now all you have to do is get creative with a really great pasta sauce. Such as a Rosemary Tomato cream sauce!

MMMmmmmmm!