Left Over Ricotta: Herbed Ricotta Gnocchi

I have never liked ricotta growing up. My only encounters with it, was probably in American style lasagna. I thought it was too thick, too heavy, and for the most part, tasteless. I always wished that the ratio of ricotta to bolognese would be opposite...sigh.

It's only been a few years since I've really tasted ricotta, really tasted how light, fluffy, sweet and delicate it could be.

My favorite ricotta brand doesn't come in a two person serving size, so when I have any left over (other recipe to come), I always default to ricotta gnocchi. Ricotta gnocchi is 1 gazillion times easier to make than potato gnocchi. With potato gnocchi, you have to know how much moisture is in your potatoes and know how to work with the varying amounts of water in the potato.

This method ricotta method is practically fool proof and is a great recipe for a first timer in need of a confidence boost.

Herbed Ricotta Gnocchi

1 1/2 cups: ricotta, flour, parmesan cheese (preferably parmigiano reggiano or grana padano)

2 tablespoons of any left over herbs you have on hand, minced (I used a mix of sage, rosemary and thyme, left over from a poultry herb mix)

One egg

1 teaspoon or a dash of salt

1 teaspoon or a few dashes of nutmeg

1. Drained the ricotta in a sieve, on top of a bowl lined with a paper towel over night in the fridge. The paper towel will soak up the water from the ricotta, leaving you with a more workable cheese.
2. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand until well combined. I find that the scoop and fold method works best. You never want to over mix the dough. When you finish, the dough should be slightly tacky like Play-Doh, but stickier.
3. Wrap the dough and chill for 30 minutes, so it's easier to work with.
4. Cut the dough into four equal parts.
5. Roll the dough with the clean palm of your hands, until you get a symmetrical worm. It's fun, play with it. =)
6. Cut the dough into equal sized rectangles. You can see above that mine are not perfect. It's OK, I'm not perfect, neither are you.
7. Optional: Roll one side of the dough gently against the end of a fork to get the texture below.
8. At this point, you can cook or freeze them.
9. To freeze, place the gnocchi on a baking sheet lined with wax, parchment or silicon slipmat and freeze for 30 minutes. After they are firm, slide them into a ziplock bag and continue to freeze. This prevents them from sticking together.
10. To cook, place in a pot of salted boiling water (one hand full of rock salt to about 2 quarts of water). After they start to float, cook for another 2-3 minutes.
11. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and drain.
12. Mix with you favorite sauce and enjoy.

I will post the sauce recipe for this next.