Ricotta Gnocchi

I love Gnocchi!  My favorite place to have it is at Fiorini, a fabulous Italian restaurant on 56th between 2nd and 3rd.   And although I adore the standard potato version, when we had ricotta gnocchi at Filomena’s in Washington DC, I came home wanting to try and make them myself.   And with a little trial and error, I found a great recipe.  So thought I’d share it with all of you!   I will confess I haven’t managed the art of using the fork to crimp the little “pillows”, but they taste awesome just thrown straight into the pot right after cutting.

Gnocchi Di Ricotta (Ricotta Dumplings)

Ingredients:

1 pound ricotta cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups sifted flour
1 tablespoon melted butter

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mix well. Knead until a dough is formed (if too
loose, add a little more flour).  Cover bowl and let stand one hour.
Sprinkle flour on your work board and hands; remove a tennis ball size of dough; roll gently with both hands to form a long rope about 1″ thick. Repeat until you have used up all the dough. Cut the rolls into 1″ long pieces and set aside on a cloth lightly sprinkled with flour (do not place on Formica or other hard surface).

Cook gnocchi in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water. Water should not stop boiling. After they rise to top, boil gently 2-3 minutes more. Remove with slotted spoon to a large bowl.  Toss gently with  sauce .   Serves 4-6.

We use Alfredo with garlic.  But your favorite will do.   Filomena’s serves their ricotta gnocchi with a creamy tomato sauce.