Cheat's Ricotta Gnocchi

It is really hot and I am not complaining. Our winters here are cold and long, so I am enjoying every minute of this gorgeous weather. We had a busy weekend, my dad is leaving soon, so we decided to visit Niagara On The Lake. The town is very charming and with so many farms and wineries and gorgeous food around it makes me want to move there! As soon as we reached the countryside with its open fields, orchards and grape fields, I remembered my home and how I used to spend the hot summers away from the hustle and bustle of the city.


I stocked up on fresh Ontario peaches and cherries, only $2 a basket! Some herbs, more flowers to plant in my garden and some wine of course. We did not cook a lot this weekend, we had a picnic with really nice Spanish meatloaf and grilled chicken in curry sauce sandwiches and some nutty couscous. On Saturday we went to little India and had Indian buffet and last night we threw some Polish sausages on the grill, I whipped up a potato salad and baked a Mexican tres leches cake. All recipes coming soon but for now I want to share this super easy gnocchi recipe. I came across it at one of Donna Hay's books, and I found it very interesting. I always buy ricotta, but only use it for sweet crepes or pasta dishes. So I was very happy to see this recipe. It actually reminds me of a dish found in Poland, in Wielkopolska, region I come from. We make it with pressed cottage cheese (twarog) and serve it with melted butter and sugar. Even though there are plenty of Polish stores and restaurants here I was never able to find this dish, and when I asked about it few times, people looked at my like I was crazy. Potato dumplings with cheese and sugar? Only pierogis, but not these gnocchi like dumplings that we loved back home when we were kids! They are tasty and so easy to make. I made them with cream sauce as in Donna's recipe but next time I will try the sweet version.

cheat's ricotta gnocchi

by Donna Hay

2½ cups (500g) fresh ricotta

½ cup (40g) Parmesan

2 eggs

1 cup (150g) all-purpose flour, sifted

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

1 tablespoon mint leaves

250g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup (160g) semolina

 1 cup (250ml) cream

½ cup (40g) Parmesan

 sea salt and cracked pepper

Place the ricotta, eggs, flour, lemon rind, mint and spinach in a bowl and mix well to combine. Turn out onto a surface sprinkled with the semolina and roll into 4 x 30cm-long logs. Cut into 2cm lengths. Cook the gnocchi, in batches, in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 2–3 minutes or until they float to the surface. Remove and keep warm.
For the sauce place the cream in a large frying pan over high heat and cook for 1–2 minutes. Add the gnocchi, extra parmesan, mint, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Serves 4.


ENJOY!!!!!









Thank you for reading my post and as a good bye gift a good song :)


 Greg Laswell Days Go On