My Nonni's Ricotta Gnocchi

*Serves 6

• 1 ½ pounds fresh ricotta cheese or 3 cups packaged whole-milk ricotta
• cheese
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, or as needed, plus more for forming the gnocchi
• 24 ounces of My Nonni’s Italian Meat Sauce (2 pouches)
• Parmesan cheese for garnish

• Place the ricotta in a fine sieve over a bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Discard liquid in the bottom of the bowl.
• Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in large pot over high heat.
• In a medium-size bowl, pour in the drained ricotta.
• In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and 1 teaspoon salt until foamy.
• Stir the eggs, cheese, pepper and nutmeg into the ricotta with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended.
• Gradually add as much of the flour as necessary to form a soft and sticky dough. Ricotta-gnocchi dough is soft and sticky – work it as little as possible.
• Divide the dough into six equal pieces.
• Roll one of the dough pieces out with a back-and-forth movement till you form a rope about 1-inch wide.
• Flour your hands, the work surface, and the dough lightly, as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking.
• Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces.
• Use a fork to gently roll the pieces of gnocchi.
• Place on a baking sheet dusted with flour or with a floured kitchen towel and continue forming gnocchi from the remaining dough.
• At this point, the gnocchi must be cooked immediately or frozen.

  *To freeze, place baking sheets in a level position in the freezer. Freeze until solid, about 3 hours. Gather the frozen gnocchi into resealable freezer bags. Frozen gnocchi can be stored in the freezer 4 – 6 weeks.

• Pour My Nonni’s Italian Meat Sauce into a large sauté pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to low and keep sauce at a low simmer.
• Gently slip as many of the gnocchi at a time as will float freely in the pot of boiling water, stirring gently with a wooden spoon as you do.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until they float to the top and are tender, about 7 minutes.
• Scoop them out with a wire skimmer and drain, and then add them directly to the meat sauce.
• Cook remaining gnocchi, if necessary.
• Stir cooked gnocchis in sauce and heat for about 1 minute and serve hot.
• Garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

To cook frozen gnocchi:

• Frozen gnocchi must be cooked directly from the freezer.
• Cook as described above, sauce and serve as mentioned above.

print this page