I am so in love with ricotta gnudi. I actually have another recipe on here for ricotta gnudi as well. It is slightly different and that one is made with breadcrumb. I will link it below. This one is slightly different and uses butter. I cannot get over the light as air dumplings though that taste like the inside of a ravioli!
I mean seriously, isn’t that the best part! Now you get to enjoy the best part of a ravioli with all different sauces. What??? It is a dream come true.
What is a ricotta gnudi?
Gnudi in Italian means naked. So, really it is just like saying it is a naked ravioli. It is very similar to a gnocchi as it is another type of Italian dumpling. Yet, it is just a bit lighter and made with ricotta cheese instead of potato. Also, it has a bit less flour in it.
What will you need for this recipe?
Ricotta cheese- For this recipe you will can swap out a low-fat ricotta, but you will get a slightly different texture. I like whole milk ricotta for this recipe.
Parmesan cheese- a good quality Parmesan cheese here since it is not being “covered up” by anything will really be nice. You will taste the flavor difference.
Egg- again as always when using eggs to cook, you want to use large eggs. Here you will just need one whole egg
Unsalted Butter- Almost 99.9% of the time you will want to use unsalted butter. That gives you the chance to control the salt in your dish. Here we are just using a couple of tablespoons melted to add texture, flavor and depth to the gnudi
Nutmeg- This is optional, but I love the “hmmm, factor”. It adds a really nice earthiness to the gnudi. I always recommend to use freshly grated nutmeg if you can versus the ground in a jar.
All purpose flour- We are using all purpose flour here. You don’t need anything fancy. You also don’t need a whole lot of it in here. Just to bring it all together.
Chef’s Tips-
To make gnudi is similar to making gnocchi. You do not want to over mix your dough. Mix until it is just combined. You can make these ahead and freeze them and then cook them from frozen. Either way, they only take but 1 minute after they float to the top of the water to be ready. Do not over cook, they will fall apart.
Make sure you salt your cooking water and finish your sauce with a little bit of the water. ENJOY!
Ricotta gnudi with Walnut Pesto Sauce
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 1- pound whole cow's-milk ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus more for serving.
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter melted
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- 2 large garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, the 1/4 cup of Parmigiano, the egg, butter and nutmeg. Sprinkle 1 cup of the flour over the ricotta mixture and fold it in. Dust the dough lightly with more flour and shape into a ball. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to a rope and cut it into 36 pieces. Gently roll the pieces into balls and transfer to a floured baking sheet.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, boil the gnudi until tender and cooked through, about 6 minutes; drain. Add the gnudi to the skillet and stir gently to coat with the sauce. Cook over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Spoon the gnudi and sauce into bowls. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with cheese and serve with the pesto below. ENJOY!
- Basil-Walnut Pesto
- Place the walnuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until coarsely chopped, about 10 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper and process until mixture resembles a paste, about 1 minute. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly blended. Add the Parmesan and process a minute more.
- *Use pesto immediately or store in a tightly sealed jar or air-tight plastic container, covered with a thin layer of olive oil (this seals out the air and prevents the pesto from oxidizing, which would turn it an ugly brown color). It will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.
