One time, in college, I made fresh gnocchi for an Italian-American guy I was dating. He stood over me in the kitchen, wrinkling his nose and furrowing his brows at my every move.
“That’s not how my mom does it,” he’d say. “She doesn’t use a food processor. She does it all by hand. And her gnocchi are amazing.”
I ignored him and concentrated on the burdensome task at hand of peeling, boiling and mashing potatoes and mixing them with just enough flour so the dough could be handled—but not so much that it became dense. When the gnocchi were finally complete and we sat down at my lovingly-set kitchen table to eat, he took a bite, paused for a long time, and said, “these taste…different from my mom’s.”
Needless to say, it was our last date.
These days, I am wiser in many ways. I no longer date men who compare me to their mothers (to my face, anyway), and I make this quick, easy gnocchi with ricotta instead of laborious potatoes. I’ve paired these delicious tomato-ricotta dumplings with a simple parsley-garlic sauce, but they’d be great with pesto or marinara too.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup ricotta $4 for 15 oz.
- 8 sun-dried tomatoes, plus more for garnish $1
- 1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish $3 for 4 oz.
- 1 1/4 cups flour, plus more as needed Pantry
- 1 egg yolk $1.50 for 6 eggs
- salt and pepper Pantry
- 1/8 cup olive oil Pantry
- 1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped $1
- 2 cloves garlic, minced Pantry
Recipe Serves 3-4
Directions
- In a food processor, combine ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan, flour, egg yolk and a pinch of salt. Pulse to form a sticky dough, adding a bit more flour if necessary. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into several long snakes, about 3/4" thick. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 1" "pillows." Set aside on a clean plate.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a light boil over high heat. Add gnocchi, working in batches if necessary, and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until gnocchi float to the surface of the pot. Drain and return to pot.
- While gnocchi cook, heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, parsley, salt and pepper and cook just until garlic is very fragrant, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Toss gnocchi with olive oil mixture and a small handful of Parmesan. Serve garnished with a few sun-dried tomatoes, sliced if necessary.
