I used to think ricotta was very meh. I had only ever eaten that rubbery, watery, somehow grainy, overly-processed grocery store ricotta. Ick. About 5 years ago I started making my own ricotta on special occasions: mixing it with lots of chopped fresh herbs to serve on crostini or to dollop on top of fresh pasta. If you've read any other posts on my blog you can imagine where that recipe came from.
I particularly love recipes for items like ricotta that you might have never thought to make at home but are surprisingly easy and produce a satisfying end product. Gnocchi: those light, pillowy Italian dumplings, seemed like a good next project. Gnocchi are most commonly made with potatoes but that process can be somewhat time consuming and involves working with steaming hot potatoes. Not today, thank you.
I decided to try Mark Bittman's recipe for ricotta gnocchi on the NYT Cooking page (if you haven't been to their page, you are seriously missing out). I whipped up a batch of Ina's homemade ricotta and let it strain for a little longer than usual to get a really thick beautiful consistency that would be better suited to make into gnocchi.
Other than that I followed his recipe almost exactly. Instead of scooping each gnocco (does anyone actually use the Italian singular? It's like saying paparrazo... remember that 30 Rock episode with James Franco?) I added a little more flour and rolled the dough into logs and cut bite size gnocchi.
I cooked half of the gnocchi and served them with Marcella Hazan's classic tomato butter sauce - which has been a go-to of mine since first making it last year - and lots of freshly grated parmesan. They turned out so beautifully. I really can't think of a better word (or one I'm more guilty of overusing in this post) than pillowy to describe these tasty little treats. They are so light, airy, and soft. I froze the other half to save for a rainy day.
If you're like me and always want to order gnocchi when you see them on a restaurant menu, try making them at home! They are really easy and take a surprisingly short time to make, but your friends and family will be beyond impressed. As always, let me know how it goes! Happy cooking!