Better ricotta gnocchi with kale & pangrattato. Jump to recipe.
Ricotta gnocchi are easily the superior gnocchi. Maybe I’m biased, but I wouldn’t even bother with the potato version – the risk is far greater than the reward. Who wants to boil and peel and mash potatoes only to increase your chances of ending up with a stodgy end product? (That being said, Ottolenghi’s swede gnocchi with miso butter remain on my to-make list, but only because any recipe he touches turns to gold). Ricotta, on the other hand, are the light, delicate, easy but casual gnocchi. The throw-together-for-friends-on-a-weeknight gnocchi (when we can finally have friends over again – I’m READY).
This version is slightly different to the recipe I’ve previously published – it has the addition of parmesan and an extra egg yolk with a little less flour, which I think gives a lighter, slightly more decadent end result. The main thing with ricotta gnocchi is the type of ricotta you buy, because all ricotta is not one and the same. Some are very wet and creamy, others quite hard and crumbly – I like to buy something in between, but the main thing is that you want it to be quite dry, so if it is very damp, drain it in a sieve and lay it between a few layers of paper towels to squidge some of that extra liquid out. Usually the regular supermarket ricotta is fine for this recipe.
We’ve gone with a vibrantly green tuscan kale sauce (blanch the kale and use your favourite food processor/blender situation to turn it into a nutty lemony pesto) and crunchy sourdough pangrattato to top (toast with a decent slug of olive oil until golden and crispy, no store-bought breadcrumbs allowed). These crunchy bits also keep extremely well in the fridge to be repurposed wherever you see fit and texture is required – on top of salad, eggs, a shakshuka. Pinenuts, lemon zest and a hefty dose of extra parmesan and black pepper finish it off. You can practice it in lockdown to one day impress your friends, or just for yourself. Cooking gnocchi has to be an act of love.
- 420 g fresh ricotta
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
- 100-120 g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
- 1 bunch of tuscan kale / cavalo nero leaves removed from the stems
- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (save half of this for the end)
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
- 1/2 clove garlic
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- water to loosen if needed
- salt and pepper
- Sourdough bread enough to give you about 2 cups of crumbs. Fresh or day old is fine
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon zest
- red chill flakes (optional)
- lemon zest
- grated pecorino / parmesan
- remaining 1/4 cup toasted pinenuts
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Put a large pot of water onto boil. Toast the pinenuts and set half aside to serve at the end.
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Make the pangrattato: blitz the bread to fine crumbs in a food processor/blender (remove the crusts first if particularly tough). Toast with a few tbsp olive oil in a pan with generous salt and pepper for 5-10 minutes until golden brown and crunchy. Taste for seasoning. Add chilli/lemon zest if you like. Set aside.
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To make the pesto: blanch the kale in your boiling water for 30 seconds then remove with tongs and drain in a colander (leave the pot boiling to cook the gnocchi).
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Combine the kale in a food processor/blender with the remaining pesto ingredients and blitz to a smooth paste – add a bit of extra water to loosen if needed.
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To make the gnocchi: if your ricotta seems very wet/watery, press between a few layers of paper towels to remove as much of the excess liquid as you can (the less flour you have to add to the gnocchi, the lighter they end up)
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Stir together the ricotta, egg, egg yolk and parmesan with a fork until relatively cohesive and not lumpy. Season with salt and black pepper.
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Add 100g flour and gently stir to just combine. Add 1-2 tbsp extra flour if it seems particularly wet – you just need to be able to roll it out on a flour dusted surface.
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Divide it into 4 pieces. On a floured surface, roll each out into a long snake then cut into 1-2cm pieces with a sharp knife.
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In batches, add the gnocchi to boiling water and cook until they float to the surface (a few minutes). Scoop out with a slotted spoon and transfer straight into a large lightly oiled pan on low heat. When they’re all cooked, save a scoop of extra gnocchi cooking water for the sauce.
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Add the pesto to the gnocchi and gently stir to coat. Add a splash of cooking water to loosen if needed.
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Serve up with extra grated parmesan, lemon zest, toasted pinenuts and generous scatter of pangrattato.
This looks seriously amazing, I’ll try to do it tomorrow ! If I manage, I’m sure it will be a hit for everyone, toddler included 🙂 BTW, I have some mascarpone left, do you think it would work mixed with the ricotta ?
Hi Melodie apologies for late reply! I would stick with the ricotta only as mascarpone is a very different cheese and I’m not sure it would work very well. Would love to hear how it went!