Gnocchi
500 grams ricotta-drained or pressed
450 grams 00 flour + more for dusting
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
hefty pinch of salt
First drain your ricotta by placing it in a strainer lined with cheesecloth and placing it over a bowl. Leave this in the fridge overnight to drain slowly. You can also spread the ricotta flat over a sheet of cheesecloth and line the top with another layer of cheesecloth and press firmly. Either way you want to remove most of the excess liquid.
After draining the ricotta combine the ricotta, egg, flour, nutmeg, and salt. Bring it together with your hands and once it becomes a dough, gently knead for 4 minutes. You want to develop some gluten but don’t think of this as making normal pasta.
Place the dough in a bowl and cover the top. Let this rest for 30 minutes to an hour to allow the flour to hydrate.
When you’re ready, divide the dough into equal portions and roll them them to shape logs. Continue rolling until you have a logs around 3/4” thick. Cut your gnocchi and go ahead and shape them on a pasta paddle. You can roll them on a fork or even your countertop. You don’t even need to shape them at all if you don’t want to and leave them pillow shaped. I place the cut side down on my surface and use my thumb to drag and roll the gnocchi to make the little pocket. Once your gnocchi are cut and shaped, lay them on a tray thats lightly floured.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and season with a generous pinch of salt.
Drop your gnocchi in the water and cook for around 3 minutes. I generally let them cook for 30 seconds after they begin floating.
You can use this gnocchi right away or if you’re going to save some for later, I lay them out on a clean tray and wait for them cool and dry then toss in a tiny bit of oil.
You can use these within a week or I like to freeze extra.
Corn set
2 cups Gnocchi (above)
2 ears corn
2 cups vegetable stock
1 shallot (brunoise)
1 clove garlic (minced)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2oz pecorino (parmesan will be fine)
squeeze of lemon juice
sexy chives
pinch espelette (any chili powder you enjoy will be fine)
salt to taste
This recipe makes two servings, to make more just go ahead and scale it up.
First clean your corn off the cob. Take the cob and just chop it up and place it into your vegetable stock. Place this on the stove and bring to a gentle simmer and let it infuse for 30 minutes while you do your other knife work. When it’s done just remove the corn and reserve the stock for the pasta.
Preheat a pan over medium low heat and add a tbsp of butter. Once the butter begins to foam add the gnocchi and brown them off on all sides. Swirl and toss the pan then let the gnocchi sit for a minute, then swirl and toss until the gnocchi are nicely colored.
Once the gnocchi are beautiful add the shallots and garlic. Saute for a minute then add the corn. Saute for an additional minute.
Add 4oz of your vegetable stock and turn the heat down to low. Add the remaining two tbsp of cold buttered swirl the pan until you have a creamy emulsion. Grate in the cheese and swirl once more until you have a cheese sauce. Add a small squeeze of lemon juice and taste now for salt.
Plate up your gnocchi and top with sexy chives, espelette, and some more cheese.
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