Ricotta Gnocchi with Basil & Fresh Mozzarella
I started watching cooking shows on television at a young age, before Food Network (and man that makes me feel old). One of my early favorites was Mario Batali’s Molto Mario. I can still hear the perky operatic music at the intro… can you? If you can, you just might be my soul mate. But I digress just a tad. That happens sometimes.
Now, you might know that Mario Batali is one of the hosts of The Chew, a daytime talk show dedicated to all things food. And when I watched Mario make potato gnocchi (pronounced NYOH-kee, if you’re unfamiliar) from start to finish, I looked at the t.v. and thought “I can do that!” I followed his recipe and it was divine. Thanks to Mario, I was hooked on homemade gnocchi. So hooked in fact that I began craving it weekly. It just might be my new favorite thing.
After I had a couple of rounds of potato gnocchi under my belt, I came across ricotta gnocchi, an easier version of the rustic dumpling. I was intrigued, but I had my doubts. Could they possibly be as good? I pondered.
Ah, I was mistaken. They’re incredible. Slightly different texture and flavor, but equally as good. Tender, delicate pillows of comforting, steaming Italian goodness just waiting for the perfect sauce and toppings. Bliss, I tell you. Bliss.
Caution: when making this life-altering dish, don’t get distracted… chiffonade the basil, not your thumb. You’ll thank me when your thumb doesn’t look like mine. Occupational hazard. <wink>
Ricotta Gnocchi with Basil and Fresh Mozzarella
Ingredients
For the Ricotta Gnocchi:
- 1 lb whole milk ricotta
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 pinch kosher salt
For the Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- 15 oz. canned tomato sauce
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste *See notes
- 6 oz. fresh mozzarella cubed
- 2 tablespoons basil chiffonade
Instructions
For the Gnocchi:
- In a mixing bowl, add egg to ricotta and stir to combine. To that, add 1 cup flour and pinch of salt. Fold flour in gently until a soft dough forms. If dough is sticky, add more of the reserved flour by the tablespoon until it is no longer sticky. Do not knead or over mix the dough (this will result in chewy gnocchi).
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pinch off baseball-sized portions of dough. Using both hands in a back-and-forth motion, roll dough into a long rope, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. (the size of the dumplings doesn't matter as much as that they are uniform with one another so they cook evenly)
- Take a sharp knife and cut the rope of dough into 1-inch pieces. Repeat rolling and cutting steps with the rest of the dough.
- Place a large pot of water on the stove over high heat. Salt generously and bring to a boil.
- At this point, you can press your gnocchi down the tines of a fork or on a wood gnocchi board to achieve the groove marks. Or you can skip this step (some say the grooves help hold the sauce).
- When water is boiling steadily, carefully drop gnocchi in. Grab a large slotted spoon and don't walk away. As soon as the gnocchi float to the top, they are done (if you overcook them, they will turn into mush. Remove them promptly). As they float to the top, you can easily remove them with a slotted spoon, shaking off excess water, and put them straight into the pan of sauce.
For the sauce:
- In a large frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and pepper flakes, stirring, one minute, or until fragrant but without browning the garlic. Add tomato sauce to the pan, followed by sugar and salt. Turn heat to medium-low and allow to simmer while the gnocchi are cooking.
- Add cooked gnocchi directly to sauce, stirring to coat, and remove from heat. Toss in fresh mozzarella and basil. Stir gently to combine (the mozzarella will begin to melt, so don't stir much). Serve immediately.
Notes
- My tomato sauce had a fair amount of salt, so I didn't need much, maybe 1/4 teaspoon; some tomato sauces have less, so you may need to add more salt.
This sounds so good. I’ve always wanted to make gnocchi. Would you be willing to post your potato gnocchi recipe too?
Thank you for your question. I’m sure I’ll be posting potato gnocchi eventually (perhaps with a tutorial), but until then, you can find Mario’s recipe and video (which I recommend) here:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Holidays-Mario-Batali-Strangulapreti-Alla-Sorrentina
Hope this helps!
Potato Gnocchi require a food mill or potato ricer. When I first made it, I didn’t have either of these, so I used the smaller side of my grater.
Would this work with whole wheat flour?
Thank you for your question. I can’t recommend wheat flour in my gnocchi recipe simply because I haven’t yet tried it myself. My best advice is to give it and try and let me know how it goes. 🙂
FRESH and delicious….Wanna try this!
Made this about a week ago, the pasta was deliciously plump and soft, nothing like god-awful store-bought gnocchi. Sauce was a great compliment. I don’t believe I will ever be able to go back to cupboard pasta again.
Chris, I’m very happy to hear that this recipe turned out nicely for you! It’s one of my personal favs. Thanks for letting me know.
I’ve been searching for an easy gnocchi recipe for a long time…this is it! They were melt in your mouth delicious! Thanks!
Oh I’m so pleased you enjoyed the gnocchi! Thanks. 🙂
hear in Ontario we have a water buffalo farm. Use this ricotta with organic rye flour to add more flavour.
Great recipe! I had to use more flour than called for but it still turned out great. I also doubled the sauce and only had about 1/2c. left over. My family also loved it!