15 Minutes to Fame - Gnocchi for Beginners. And for Braggarts.
May 19th, 2009

I just don’t know where to start. Sometimes a proper introduction to a recipe is so far out of reach & the spark just won’t catch – not so today. Too many options, which one to choose? I could tell you about bad timing. Or about my friend Ulrike, who mastered this recipe and how she inspired this post’s headline. Or about my dear friend Hande, who I consider the most knowledgeable person when it come to both food and wine – yet it took me forever to convince her to finally make her own gnocchi. Or about the old myth, that homemade gnocchi have to be labor-intensive and time-consuming. See?! How could I possibly make up my mind and choose just one single introduction? I feel like a little kid wanting to tell you all about a great day in 2.5 seconds.

090519-gnocchi03

First things first, and most importantly: These gnocchi are heaven in a bowl… velvet-like cushions to your bite… a revelation to your tongue… I could go on and on and on. Having mastered potato and pumpkin gnocchi many times in my own kitchen, I didn’t expect another sort of gnocchi to take my heart by storm. But Ricotta gnocchi, where have you been all my life? This variation is even easier to prepare than the former two mentioned, taste-wise open to all kinds of flavors, and – I kid you not – they take less than 15 minutes to prepare before you can release them for a little swim in softly bubbling saltwater.

090519-gnocchi01

This is why I chose this recipe for a little cooking get-together in our kitchen two weeks ago, my ulterior motive: could I convince my friend Ulrike to take home this recipe and give it a shot herself? I had completely forgotten that she is the queen of crafting and her skillful hands bake the neatest cookies, therefor her little gnocchi of course looked perfect, from start to finish. Asked if she thought that this would qualify as a beginners’ recipe she cheekily replied: “For beginners… and for braggarts – I’m going to impress my parents with it on our next family reunion!

090519-gnocchi05

Armed with a new serving of confidence I called my friend Hande in Rome the other day. We chatted about this and that – this being food and that being another planed food-related trip – before I placed my tempting appetizer: “You simply have to try my newest gnocchi recipe – they take no more than 15 minutes.” A short hymn of praise and she gave in to prepare her first gnocchi ever. I promised to mail the recipe over the upcoming weekend and she added Ricotta to her shopping list.

090519-gnocchi02

Meanwhile she and her husband not only called to report back – Hande was totally delighted with her gnocchi results and couldn’t stop raving – she made them in less then 10 (!) minutes and said a few more things that made me blush and happy… So when she offered me her wine expertise on this dish (she’s a fantastic sommelier by profession), I couldn’t say YES! fast enough:

Hande on these gnocchi and the perfect wine:
Oh, Nicky makes it sound as if it was a piece of cake selling me the idea of making my own gnocchi – you should know: I don’t do doughs. I don’t make any pie doughs. I don’t make my own pasta. And I sure don’t make any gnocchi! I live in Rome, where thursdays is the official gnocchi day – I just need to go out of my house and fall into any of the 27(?) trattoria around me. The only thing that made me give it a shot was the hope (or should I say dream?) that I just might replicate the fluffy, cloud-like gnocchi we once had in a secret trattoria somewhere in Italy.
Ok, there was a second reason, too: I wanted to find the perfect wine match for the gnocchi she was talking about. You know, for me a good meal becomes a perfect meal when it is matched with the right wine. So tonight it took me a whole 8:39 mins from weighing my ingredients to carrying the plates to the table – and about as long to try 1 bubbly and 3 wines (all Italian of course, we are talking gnocchi here!) to find the perfect match: The verdict – the ricotta and the sauce, especially if you are using the roasted pepper pesto, have a distinct acidity, followed by a creaminess and a persistent taste that lingers around for a long time. You want a wine that has as much persistence but not more. It also definitely has to be soft. Neither too much acidity (common to North Italian wines, which will taste like water if you match them here), nor too much minerals (the salty/briny taste you have with southern Italian wines, that will completely overpower the gnocchi), the perfect wine is central Italian, like a Trebbiano or Grecchetto, with enough fruity, flowery and spicy aromas, oily and pleasant in your mouth.

Now what about bad timing? Have you heard about the newest food blogging event, the Daring Cooks challenge? No? Me neither, but I have several good excuses. The best: this monthly event is brand-new (short explanation for non-food bloggers: every month a different host picks a challenging recipe, which the group members will cook and document on their blog). So when Hande sent me a note with said link to the Daring cooks’ first challenge (Ricotta gnocchi!) I was ready to skip my gnocchi recipe and file it under bad timing. But on a second though I changed my mind. When my gnocchi cravings kick in, it’d be ridiculous to assume I could possibly wait another 25 hours the Zuni Cafe cookbook recipe requires… That’s like putting a nice piece of beef tenderloin in front of a hungry lion and telling him, tomorrow you can have it. Ain’t happening! My recipe is made for the impatient cook, who wants to have instant gratification and delight… (which doesn’t mean I won’t give the Zuni recipe a try some time soon, simply to appease my curiosity… ;) Anyway, if you have never prepared your own gnocchi, this is the time to conquer the world or at least your kitchen, don’t chicken out – just give it a go!

090519-gnocchi04

Discard any excess liquid that the Ricotta’s packaging may contain, then add Ricotta cheese, egg yolk, salt and freshly grated Parmigiano into a large bowl. Mix well with a wooden or regular spoon. Now add the flour and stir in briefly, just until combined – the dough will still be quite sticky. (Of course you can add more flour at this point, but keep in mind, that the more flour you use, the denser the gnocchi become in the end. And you want them to be as light & fluffy as possible, with a velvet-like texture.)

Forming these gnocchi is the slightly tricky step, this is the technique that works best for me: Generously flour a board, take a big tablespoon of the dough and scoop it onto the board. It gets dusted with flour (dust your hands generously, too!), before rolling it into a finger-thick roll. Cut it into little pillows (stick the knife’s blade into the flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough). Then place each gnoccho on a floured board or parchment paper lined baking tray. Continue quickly with the next step, otherwise they will get soggy and stick to the paper/board anyway.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt and reduce heat until the water bubbles lightly. Add the gnocchi and stir once, so they don’t stick to the bottom – then let cook until they start floating on top. Depending on their size this may take 2 to 4 minutes. Take out with a skimmer and serve immediately. I like to serve them either with a simple tomato sauce (like this one or this one), browned butter with fresh sage or any kind of pesto (my current favorite: roasted peppers, toasted pine nuts, Parmigiano and olive oil).

090519-gnocchi06

Quick Ricotta gnocchi

Recipe source: own creation, inspired by many others

Prep time: ~15 minutes

Ingredients (for 2):

250 g Ricotta

1 egg yolk (M-L)

1/4-1/2 tsp fine sea salt

30 g Parmigiano (or Pecorino), freshly grated

50-75 g all-purpose flour, extra for dusting the dough/board

serve with tomato sauce or any kind of pesto

Comments

May 19th,
2009

maureen

May 19th,
2009

Dorle

May 19th,
2009

May 19th,
2009

Emi

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

Helga

May 20th,
2009

Mary

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

Juli

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 20th,
2009

May 21st,
2009

Gina

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

May 21st,
2009

erika

May 22nd,
2009

May 22nd,
2009

May 23rd,
2009

shy

May 23rd,
2009

Eva

May 24th,
2009

Lisbeth

May 24th,
2009

May 24th,
2009

May 24th,
2009

Esther

May 24th,
2009

Stephanie

May 24th,
2009

May 25th,
2009

May 25th,
2009

Juliana

May 25th,
2009

Caryn

May 25th,
2009

May 25th,
2009

Nicky P.

May 26th,
2009

May 26th,
2009

May 26th,
2009

andy

May 26th,
2009

May 26th,
2009

Melanie

May 27th,
2009

Melanie

May 27th,
2009

May 27th,
2009

Natasa

May 27th,
2009

May 27th,
2009

Eszter

May 28th,
2009

Sini

May 29th,
2009

Karen

May 30th,
2009

Anna

May 30th,
2009

silvia

Jun 1st,
2009

Jun 1st,
2009

Jun 1st,
2009

Carolina (vienna, austria)

Jun 2nd,
2009

derf

Jun 2nd,
2009

Lena

Jun 2nd,
2009

Jun 2nd,
2009

Jun 3rd,
2009

Jun 5th,
2009

Jun 5th,
2009

Jun 5th,
2009

Kirsty

Jun 7th,
2009

Shy

Jun 8th,
2009

Jun 10th,
2009

jay

Jun 11th,
2009

Jun 11th,
2009

Jun 13th,
2009

Jun 14th,
2009

Helen

Jun 15th,
2009

Stefanie

Jun 15th,
2009

Jun 15th,
2009

Jun 16th,
2009

andy

Jun 16th,
2009

Jun 17th,
2009

Jun 18th,
2009

Jun 19th,
2009

Jun 22nd,
2009

Jun 24th,
2009

Torsten

Jun 24th,
2009

Jun 25th,
2009

Stephanie

Jun 25th,
2009

Undine

Jun 29th,
2009

ula

Jun 30th,
2009

Nick

Jun 30th,
2009

Susanne

Jul 7th,
2009

Jul 7th,
2009

Mark

Jul 9th,
2009

Krista

Jul 13th,
2009

Mary

Jul 15th,
2009

Sterling

Jul 23rd,
2009

Shelley

Jul 27th,
2009

Jul 31st,
2009

Aug 10th,
2009

Aug 10th,
2009

Laura B

Aug 15th,
2009

Nancy Piccioni

Aug 21st,
2009

Aug 28th,
2009

catapillaGirl

Sep 1st,
2009

I_am_toast

Sep 5th,
2009

Mai

Sep 14th,
2009

Sep 28th,
2009

patty

Oct 14th,
2009

Oct 20th,
2009

terry

Oct 22nd,
2009

Nov 11th,
2009

Cathy Parrilli

Dec 8th,
2009

Jan 1st,
2010

Sylvia

Jan 15th,
2010

Jan 27th,
2010

Sophie

Feb 28th,
2010

Dimaria

Mar 9th,
2010

Mar 13th,
2010

elec

Mar 27th,
2010

Birgitta

Apr 12th,
2010

May 2nd,
2010

May 20th,
2010

Jun 27th,
2010

Yadda Yadda

Jul 3rd,
2010

Anne

Jul 7th,
2010

kate wigley

Jul 9th,
2010

Cleon Romano

Jul 10th,
2010

Jul 16th,
2010

Julie

Jul 28th,
2010

Aug 19th,
2010

Aug 25th,
2010

Sep 6th,
2010

Sep 7th,
2010

andrew

Sep 17th,
2010

elliott

Sep 24th,
2010

Jennifer

Oct 9th,
2010

Oct 13th,
2010

Henning

Oct 13th,
2010

Oct 25th,
2010

Oct 27th,
2010

Nov 1st,
2010

Lou

Nov 22nd,
2010

Rita

Dec 6th,
2010

gaberdiye

Dec 8th,
2010

Dec 17th,
2010

Dec 18th,
2010

Robert

Dec 25th,
2010

Canadian

Jan 1st,
2011

Jan 6th,
2011

ErichKD

Jan 13th,
2011

Jan 18th,
2011

Jessie

Jan 19th,
2011

Capt. Kenny

Jan 30th,
2011

Jan 31st,
2011

denise stone

Feb 3rd,
2011

Kathryn

Feb 26th,
2011

Martin Sauvageau

Feb 27th,
2011

Martin Sauvageau

Feb 27th,
2011

Laila

Feb 28th,
2011

Elle

Mar 7th,
2011

Mar 22nd,
2011

priti

Mar 22nd,
2011

Alexa

Apr 4th,
2011

Anita

Apr 28th,
2011

May 4th,
2011

Jayne Oyler

Dec 15th,
2011

Petra

Mar 6th,
2013

Jon C

Mar 21st,
2013

Nina

May 20th,
2014

Angelika

Jan 18th,
2015