So, you want to learn how to make my famous ricotta gnocchi?
Okay, fine, I’ll share it with you.
It’s fairly straight forward, but it does take a little love! I’ll give you the weights for all the ingredients, but let’s talk method first, as it’s what will make or break it! The first step is to press the ricotta overnight. This is not a step you can miss! Your ricotta will be too wet and you’ll have to add way too much flour to the dough, ending up with super rubbery little bullets. The way I press the ricotta is with a line a strainer (in a bowl) with cheesecloth, put the ricotta in the cheesecloth, wrap the cloth lightly around the ricotta, place a plate on top with a weight (a large can of tomatoes or the like works great!)
Next day, it’s time for gnocchi!
First, get a large pot of water on and let it come up to a boil while you work. Make sure it’s salted, like the ocean! Dump the ricotta out into a dry bowl. Make a little “well” in the middle of the ricotta and add your egg yolks. Mix the ricotta and egg yolks until the yolks are evenly distributed and there are no “streaks” of yolk. Also, make sure you break up any lumps of ricotta! We want a nice uniform texture! Add ¾ of the flour and mix into the ricotta mixture. Knead the dough for a minute or two. We’re looking for a slightly tacky dough, not wet, not super dry. If you need, add the rest of the flour and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.
Kneading-lightly flour your work surface. Put the gnocchi dough on the counter. Push your palm down into the middle of the dough and away from you. Pull the dough back up onto itself (folded in ½) and turn it ½ turn. Continue this process until your dough holds together when a small piece is rolled out. Try not to overwork your dough or it will get too chewy.
Next up, it’s time roll “snakes”! Using a bench scraper, cut manageable chunks of dough. If it’s your first time, don’t cut them too big! Big is a pain in the butt! I’d say about a 2 cup size would be about right. Scrape all the flour off of the work surface, for the first few “pushes” of rolling out the gnocchi snakes, you want the dough to stick to the counter for “traction”. It’ll help get the shape of the snake started. Now, lightly flour your board and continue to roll out the gnocchi. You want to end up with “snakes” with the diameter of about a quarter, as in $.25. Continue until all of your dough is rolled out into “snakes”. Make sure you flour them liberally as to avoid sticking! Now to cut the little pillows of joy! Bring all of the “snakes” together close to the edge of your work surface. Using a long sharp knife, cut gnocchi’s about 1.5cm wide. Once all of the gnocchi’s are cut, add a little more flour and roll them around in it.Blanch your gnocchi’s in the simmering water (not boiling! boiling will break up the lovely little pillows!) Make sure to only do a few gnocchi’s at a time, so your water stays at a simmer and once the gnocchi’s float, let them cook for another minute or so. They are now good to serve! What we do at the restaurant though, is cool them on a tray tossed with a little oil. We portion them and to order we fry them off in a little brown butter until they are a lovely golden brown. Feel free to get creative with your sauce! At the restaurant, we serve them with whatever is seasonal! Currently, we do them with buttercup squash puree, crispy sage, and pinenuts. A really great Bolognese or tomato ragu would be great! Some sautéed mushrooms, sweet peas and roasted garlic would be killer! Anything with bacon is always a win! They are super versatile little fella’s, let your imagination do its thing!
Chef Matty’s Ricotta Gnocchi:
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 3 mins
Total time: 23 mins
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 kg ricotta, drained (see method)
- 2 egg yolks
- 225 g all-purpose flour
- Lots of love
Method:
Drain ricotta. Line mesh strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth and place ricotta inlined strainer. Wrap cheesecloth around ricotta and place a plate on top with something to weigh it down, like a can of tomatoes or beans. Let drain overnight in the fridge. In a large bowl, place drained ricotta and make a little well in the centre. Add egg yolks and mix until fully incorporated with no streaks of yolk remain. Break up any lumps of ricotta for nice uniform texture. Mix in ¾ of the flour into ricotta mixture by hand. Knead for a few minutes in the bowl until you have a slightly tacky dough. Not too wet, not too dry, add in remaining flour if needed.
Transfer dough to a floured work surface and continue to knead until dough holds together when a small piece is rolled out. Avoid overworking the dough since this will create chewy gnocchi. Divide dough in half, then take each half and divide into quarters for easier rolling. Roll into manageable snakes about 1-inch in diameter. Flour work surface as needed to avoid sticking.Line up snakes together close to the edge of work surface and using a long sharp knife, cut into gnocchi pillows about 1.5 cm in length. I find dusting the knife with flour helps gnocchi from sticking.
Once cut, place in a bowl and toss gently in flour, lightly coating each pillow. Cook gnocchi in 2-3 batches in simmering salted water. Once floating, let simmer for an additional minute, then scoop up with a slotted spoon or spider and serve any way you like. Fry off in a little brown butter, toss with your favourite tomato sauce or sauté with some olive oil, garlic, and sweet peas.
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