Every once in a while, I see a recipe on FoodTV that is completely new to me. Gnudi is one of those recipes. It is an Italian dish made of ricotta cheese. Gnudi is tremendously easy to prepare and delicious.
I looked around for recipes and found the following to be the basic ingredients and method. This recipe is adaptable: add spinach, savory seasonings, shallots or other ingredients. I used the brown butter sauce seen on TV but would think a tomato or basil sauce would be yummy.
Basic recipe:
1 container ricotta cheese (about 15 oz)
⅓ C parmesan cheese
Pinch nutmeg
Lots fresh ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
½+C flour
Stir all of the above together until the mixture is thick enough that small balls can be formed. Be gentle and add more flour if needed.
Form small, equal sized balls – maybe ½ the size of a golf ball. Place balls on a floured surface and refrigerate until ready to cook, at least ½ hour but many hours is fine.
When ready to cook, add balls to slowly boiling, salted water and boil until they rise to the top. This takes a couple of minutes.
When cooked, add gnudi to sauce and gently stir.
Take off heat and sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.
Serve.