Every culture has a favourite dumpling and Italy is no exception. Across the whole of the country gnocchi in its many forms is their answer. While potato-based versions abound, cheese is also used as a base with plenty of regional arguement over naming conventions. Some profess only potato can be called gnocchi with cheese being labelled gnudi but when you cross over the next hill those rules might be thrown into the Mediteranean wind.
Whatever you name them spinach and ricotta is a classic mix, particularly in Tuscany where they’re labelled “Gnocchi Verde con Spinachi”. My spin far from convenient Italian markets is to make quick ricotta-like cheese curds fresh from whole milk and then mix them with spinach and plenty of Parmesan for flavour. While fresh spinach can be cooked down for this recipe, frozen produced nearly identical taste test results. In both cases, the moisture has to be removed to make the gnocchi hold together. First a vigourous squeeze followed by a quick pan-fry to dry it almost completely. It’s this drying step that makes the spinach manageable in the dough, otherwise you’ll end up with a large pile of creamed spinach for dinner
Delicious straight out of their cooking water, they can also then be finished in a myriad of ways as desired from pan-fried in brown butter to baked golden brown with crispy edges to well-sauced in tomato or pesto.
Spinach & Cheese Gnocchi
Yield: About thirty dumplings, one-inch each. Recipe can be safely doubled.
2 litres whole milk
3 tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice
300g chopped frozen spinach, thawed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced finely
1/2 teaspoon white peppercorn, freshly ground
1/3 of a whole nutmeg, grated just before use
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
30g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 – 4 tablespoons flour as needed to bind
Heat the milk in a large non-reactive pot to very near boiling. Remove from heat, add the vinegar or lemon juice, stir well, then leave undisturbed for ten minutes to allow curds to form. Drain into cheesecloth set into a strainer reserving the whey for other uses. Set the curds aside to continue to drain until needed.
Place the spinach into a tea towel to squeeze and remove moisture, roughly half the weight. Add the oil and garlic to a large pan over medium heat to warm fully. Add the spinach and fry to dry almost completely until little or no steam rises off the pan. Add the white peppercorn and stir completely. Move to a mixing bowl then add the cheese curds, nutmeg, egg, and salt. Mix lightly with gentle fingertips or a chopstick without overworking the dough. Add the Parmesan and only enough flour to allow one-inch dumplings to hold their shape.
In a deep pot of lightly-salted boiling water, hold formed dumplings on a slotted spoon in the water for ten seconds to set shape before releasing. They will sink to the bottom initially. Boil until they rise to the surface then cook for an additional minute before carefully removing to a dish to cool slightly. When hot and fresh from the boiling water the dumplings will stick together if not separated slightly so don’t crowd the dish. You have been warned.
Serve immediately piping hot or finish with one (of many) options that include:
- Pan-fried in browned butter & sage until slightly crispy.
- Settled into a dish of rich tomato sauce or tossed with pesto.
- Drizzled with melted butter and Parmesan then baked ten minutes to warm through at 175c (350f) before broiling two minutes for crisp exteriors.
In all cases, best served hot with wine, crusty bread, and conversation.
– msh, v.5.3
