Homemade gnocchi are a must in Italian tradition for Sunday lunch, although in the Rome area they usually represent the classic Thursday dish. Today we wanted to share a recipe for those who want to make gnocchi without potatoes for an equally soft and tasty variant: ricotta gnocchi! Delicious gnocchi without potatoes, but with the addition of fresh cow’s milk ricotta for an extremely delicate result! How do you prepare soft ricotta gnocchi? We reveal everything in the recipe card and invite you to season them with tomato sauce flavored with basil, to fully enjoy the taste of ricotta! It only takes a few minutes of cooking and your ricotta gnocchi will be ready, all that’s left is to sprinkle with plenty of Parmesan!
Ricotta Gnocchi
Ingredients:
– Cow’s milk ricotta: 500g
– Medium eggs: 2
– Flour 00: 200g
– Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese: 120g
– Fine salt: as needed
– Semolina (to dust the work surface): as needed
– Calories: Average
– Difficulty: Medium
– Preparation time: 30 minutes
– Cooking time: 60 minutes
– Servings: 6 people
– Cost: Low
– Note: +2 hours of draining for the ricotta
Preparation:
1. To prepare the ricotta gnocchi, drain the ricotta in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, covered with plastic wrap, until it loses excess liquid.
2. Prepare the sauce: pour the indicated amount of oil into a pan, add a peeled whole garlic clove and let it brown. Then pour in the tomato puree.
3. Adjust the salt, stir and then cover with a lid and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. At the end of cooking, remove the garlic and add the basil leaves.
4. Meanwhile, sift the drained ricotta and collect it in a bowl, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, the slightly beaten eggs, and a pinch of salt.
5. Finally, add the flour little by little, so as to regulate the consistency. Work briefly with a spatula to mix, once you have finished adding the flour, knead everything quickly with your hands on a board sprinkled with a little semolina, just enough time to obtain a homogeneous dough, otherwise the glutinous mesh will develop. Transfer the dough to a work surface.
6. Before starting to make the gnocchi, put a large pot on the stove with plenty of salted water when it boils.
7. Dust the work surface with semolina flour, and work a small piece of dough at a time to turn it into a small log about 2cm in diameter. Then, using a floured tines, cut pieces into 1.5 cm lengths and, as they are ready, transfer them to a cloth sprinkled with more semolina.
8. Once you have finished, cook the ricotta gnocchi in three batches, so as not to overcrowd the pan and to cook them perfectly. Then add a few to the pot with boiling water (boil gently so that the water simmer during the cooking of the gnocchi and do not boil vigorously) until they float to the surface; it will take a few moments, then drain them with a skimmer.
9. Turn on the medium-low heat under the pan with the sauce, then pour in the gnocchi as they are ready; stir and continue cooking to season, just a few moments will suffice. Once ready, serve the ricotta gnocchi quickly.
10. If you want to flavor your ricotta gnocchi, you could choose to add a little thyme to the dough or even a minced aromatic herbs.
11. A spicy touch? Add a nice chili pepper to the garlic and oil, your sauce will be even more flavorful!
12. Consume freshly prepared ricotta gnocchi, if there are any leftovers, you can store them in the refrigerator for up to one day. You can freeze uncooked gnocchi.