Ricotta Gnocchi

This recipe came about in 2020 when one day, I wanted to make gnocchi but had no potatoes and it being mid pandy, did not want to venture out into the grocery store unnecessarily. I hope you’ll find it just as delicious and delicate as your favorite bowl of potato gnocchi but comes together much quicker and easier than the latter.

What you’ll need:

• 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

• *1 cup whole milk ricotta, strained through cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer (this step

  is very important so please have it strained the night before or a few hours before :) )

• 1 cup 00 flour or all purpose flour (can substitute gluten free flour if gluten free)

• 1/2 cup of 00 flour or AP flour to sprinkle on the dough throughout the process.

• *1/3 c finely grated parmesan cheese

• 1 tsp Olive oil

• 1/4 cup semolina flour for dusting

*If you are dairy free, you can substitute Cashew cheese for the ricotta and you can omit

the parmesan.

What you’ll do:

• In a large bowl, using a fork, mix together the whole egg, egg yolk, strained ricotta, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. Mix together so that it is completely combined and looks mostly like cheesy scrambled eggs. Sprinkle in the 1 cup of flour and mix together using a fork. Once the flour is mostly combined, pour the dough mix onto a clean, floured work surface (I like to use a silpat on top of my counter to avoid making a sticky mess of my counter). Lightly knead the dough, sprinkling in more flour as you go if the dough begins to get too sticky to work with. You don’t need to knead as hard as a typical pasta dough as this will be a much softer end result. Knead for about 5 minutes until all of the flour has been absorbed into the dough, the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Once done, sprinkle more flour onto the dough and cover with the bowl for 10 minutes to rest.

• Once the dough has rested, using a bench scraper or a knife, cut a thumbs width of dough off. Roll the piece of dough into a long snake so that it is about 1/2 an inch wide. The length of the snake does not matter, but try and keep the snake about 1/2 an inch wide throughout. Cut your snake into 3/4 inch pieces that I like to call pillows. If the dough becomes too sticky to work with as you are rolling and cutting, sprinkle a bit of that extra flour onto the piece you are working with.

• As you cut your pillows, add them to a floured sheet tray or large platter/plate. Try to keep the pillows from touching each other so they do not stick. If you’d like to eat your ricotta gnocchi now, bring a pot of salted water up to a boil. Cook your gnocchi on a high simmer for about 3 minutes until soft and delicate to your liking. Simultaneously, heat your sauce of choice (my favorite is my vodka sauce), in a separate pan as the gnocchi is cooking. Save a 1/4 cup of pasta water and add that to your sauce. Strain your gnocchi and add them to your sauce pan. Toss to coat lightly and plate in your preferred manner.

• If you prefer to save your gnocchi for tomorrow or a few days or even weeks from now, freeze your gnocchi flat on the sheet tray overnight. Once frozen, add them to a reusable container or reusable ziploc bag. When you’re ready to eat them, bring a pot of salted water up to a boil. Cook your gnocchi in the same way you would if they were fresh, only this time they will take closer to 7 minutes as they are cooking from frozen.