Gnudi recipe. Gnudi or malfatti, as they are also known, are a kind of gnocchi; balls and rolls of spinach and ricotta without any pasta covering them. So, naked ravioli.
Place the ricotta in a colander and leave to drain.
Rinse your spinach and place in a large saucepan, cover with a lid and leave to cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the spinach is cooked right through. Alternatively, place in a large microwaveable bowl and cook for 2-3 minutes until the spinach is fully cooked.
When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze any excess water out, either just using your hands or place in a colander and press down. Tip the spinach onto a chopping board.
Using a large, sharp knife, chop the spinach up fairly finely, see the images. Tip all the chopped spinach into a large bowl.
Add the ricotta in, along with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Using a large fork or ladle, mix it all in, breaking up the ricotta well and making sure everything is mixed in.
Add the egg, parmesan and flour in, and once again, mix everything thoroughly. I use my hands at this stage.
Tip half the flour onto a large plate. Take a baking sheet and generously flour it, leaving some flour in the bowl for your hands.
With well floured hands, form balls out of the gnudi dough. Roll each ball in the flour on the plate, shake off excess and place on the floured baking tin, until it's time to cook. Keep going with the rest of the dough.
If making malfatti, take a quarter of the dough and roll it into a long, thin log about 2.5cm/1" thick, on a well floured surface. Cut into 7.5cm/3" long rolls and place on the floured baking sheet until it's time to cook them. Pictures soon!
When ready to cook, bring a large pan of water to boil on high heat. Add 1 heaped teaspoon salt to it.
When the water is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-high, then slowly drop about 12 gnudi in at a time, depending on the size of your pan. Cook the gnudi for 2-3 minutes; they are done when they float to the surface. Fish them out with a slotted spoon/skimmer and place them aside and keep warm, while you finish the rest off.
Let's now make the sauce to serve them with.
Sage and butter sauce
Heat a large frying pan on medium heat and melt the butter.
Add the fresh sage leaves to the butter and stir for 1 minute.
Add a couple of ladles of gnudi cooking water to lighten and stop the butter from browning (unless you prefer a browned butter sauce).
Add a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
Add 2 tsp of freshly grated parmesan cheese, stir, lower heat and simmer for a minute.
Check seasoning and add more salt if necessary. The sauce is done.
Finishing our Recipe
Gently add the cooked gnudi in, and, give the pan a gentle couple of shakes to roll the gnudi in the butter, and cook for a minute to heat right through and absorb the sauce.
Lighten the sauce with more pasta water if necessary.
Serve the gnudi with more parmesan and some freshly ground black pepper.
Notes
Nutrition is based on 8 servings.
Prep and total time also does depend on the amount you are making. Halve the recipe, if you like.