The Daring Cooks: Lime and Black Pepper Ricotta Gnocchi

Welcome to the inaugural Daring Cook challenge! To kick things off, Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice have chosen Ricotta Gnocchi from Judy Roger's The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Cue cheers from the Italian Stallion Mr S!

I'm not much of a gnocchi person and any that I've eaten have been based on the stodgy potato version. And as I've mentioned countless of times, I'm not fully down with the cheese. But then I tasted homemade ricotta. Oh. My. I should've been churning out the curds a long time ago!


For this gnocchi recipe, homemade ricotta is best as the cheese is much drier than the ones you buy. Also because of the ease in making it, it's not that much more effort than driving out to the supermarket to buy a tub of cheese! I've read numerous concerns about hard it was to form the gnocchi and cook it without it breaking up, simply because store bought ricotta couldn't be drained dry enough (or without using a whole roll of paper towels!). This will render a gnocchi mixture that is too wet.

Adding lime zest to ricotta mixture

With homemade ricotta, you will have no such problems. After making the ricotta and draining it for an hour, tie the cheesecloth into a bag, place it on a sieve over a pot (lined with a couple of paper towels), and leave the whole thing in the fridge overnight. The ricotta was practically stone dry at the end of the night, which made it oh so easy to form and handle the gnocchi the next day. And it cooked beautifully to a light and fluffy mound.

Forming the gnocchi

The ricotta recipe here will make just about exactly the amount of cheese you'll need for the gnocchi. It is more than enough for two for one night. Any leftover gnocchi I had, I placed in a plastic container sprinkled with flour and refrigerated it until the next night. You can of course freeze it.

Storing gnocchi for the next day

Because I'm such a noob at all things gnocchi, I decided to keep the flavours simple. I seem to be obsessed with limes lately, ever since we received a big bag of homegrown citrus from a loved one. So to the gnocchi recipe I added the grated zest of one lime and a handful of cracked black pepper. It was just enough to give it a refreshing zing without overpowering the delicately flavoured ricotta. For the sauce, less is more and so to the butter sauce I added sliced shallots and a few cloves of chopped garlic (I love my garlic so feel free to decrease the amount). If you use salted butter for the sauce then you shouldn't have to worry about extra seasoning.

Coating cooked gnocchi in sauce

You can of course, replace the lime and black pepper with any flavour, herbs or spices you wish. You can even add extra ingredients to the gnocchi such as spinach but be aware that the gnocchi is a slightly delicate mixture so it might not handle such competition! As for the sauce, you are only limited to your imagination but I imagine a ricotta gnocchi would be sublime with a light tomato based sauce (my dinner for the weekend sorted!).

A big thanks to Lisa and Ivonne for launching The Daring Cooks. Be sure to check out The Daring Kitchen if you wish to join!



ZUNI RICOTTA GNOCCHI

Recipe and notes are adapted from the original notes by Lisa and Ivonne.
Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)
Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.

Videos to help you:

Judy Rodgers Gnocchi Cooking Demo
Making Fresh Ricotta by Gourmet
How to make Ricotta Cheese Gnocchi

Ingredients

For the Lime and Black Pepper Gnocchi:

1 pound (454 grams/16 oz/2 cups) fresh ricotta (recipe here)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce or 14.5gm) unsalted butter
grated zest of one lime
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
¼ teaspoon salt
cracked black pepper
plain flour for forming the gnocchi

For the Garlic and Shallot Butter Sauce

114gm (4oz / 1 stick) salted butter, sliced
2 teaspoons water
a few shallots, finely sliced
chopped garlic (the amount is up to you)

Step 1: Making and preparing the ricotta

Freshly made ricotta

After making the ricotta, wrap it in a dry cheesecloth and tie it into a bag. Place it on a sieve over a bowl or pot, lined with a couple of sheets of paper towel and leave in refrigerator overnight to dry. You can change the paper towels later in the night if it's soaked through.

For store bought ricotta:

If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2: Making the gnocchi dough

To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.

Mashing up the ricotta with a fork

Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.

Melt the tablespoon of butter and add to the ricotta mixture.

Adding the butter and egg to ricotta

Add in the lime zest, black pepper, Parmigiano Reggiano and salt.

Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi

Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.

In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.

With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.

Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.

At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.

Forming the gnocchi

Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

Cooking the test gnocchi

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

The test gnocchi

Testing the guinea pig gnocchi

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.

Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi

Cooked gnocchi

Have a large skillet or pan ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.

In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.

Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.

Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).

When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

Place a skillet or pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. Add the shallots and garlic and gently fry in the butter. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.

With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

Freezing the gnocchi:

If you don’t want to cook your gnocchi right away or if you don’t want to cook all of them, you can make them and freeze them. Once they are formed and resting on the flour-dusted, lined tray, place them uncovered in the freezer. Leave them for several hours to freeze. Once frozen, place them in a plastic bag. Remove the air and seal the bag. Return to the freezer. To cook frozen gnocchi, remove them from the bag and place individually on a plate or on a tray. Place in the refrigerator to thaw completely. Cook as directed for fresh gnocchi.

Original Tips:

• If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.
  
• Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.
  
• When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.
  
• If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. If you let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.