Daring Cooks Inaugural Challenge…Ricotta Gnocci!

Our Adaptation: Goat Cheese Ricotta with Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This month marked the first Daring Cook’s Challenge at the The Daring Kitchen! Yay! It was a long time waiting, but hopefully this month’s challenge was worth it…ricotta gnocci! We had never made gnocci or even heard of it being made with ricotta (let alone using our own homemade ricotta)…it was definitely a challenge and we completed it (albeit not fashionably…).

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook.

Equipment required:

- Sieve (we didn’t end up using one)
- Cheesecloth or paper towels (Cheesecloth used)
- Large mixing bowl
- Rubber spatula
- Tablespoon
- Baking dish or baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Small pot
- Large skillet
- Large pan or pot (very wide in diameter and at least 2 inches deep)

Gnocchi (we halved the recipe):

• 8 oz  fresh ricotta (1 cup; see recipe below)
• 1 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
• 0.5 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
• 1/4 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (freshly grated)
• all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

Goat’s Milk Ricotta:

• 1 quart Goat’s Milk (full fat)
• lemon juice (we used ~2 lemons)

Tomato/Red Pepper Sauce:

• 16 oz can of San Marzano Tomatoes (whole)
• 1/2 jar Roasted Red Peppers
• 2 cloves Garlic (minced, more to taste)
• 1/2 yellow onion (diced)
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• Basil (for topping)

Night Before…

Making the ricotta…

We decided to do something different, and rather than using cow’s milk for our ricotta, using tangier goat’s milk for our base!

To make the ricotta, pour the milk into a large pot and heat very slowly over low to med-low heat until the temperature reaches 195F. This can take up to two hours, so be sure you plan ahead. We actually had to wait a day after we wanted to make it because we ran out of time one evening. Once it reaches 195F, add the lemon juice slowly until it curdles. You can substitute vinegar for lemon juice. We will next time we make a savory ricotta. However, the lemon juice makes an excellent dessert ricotta!

Pass the curds through a cheesecloth and let sit overnight in the fridge to drain. The texture of our ricotta was pretty thick and we only yielded about a cup of ricotta.

Day 2…

First the sauce…

I made a simple Roasted red pepper and tomato sauce with fresh basil. So simple in fact, that I was wary that it would taste good…I was (thankfully) wrong, it wasn’t just good…it was great! So great, that we saved the rest and used it for a simple marinara for a quick pasta night Wed. night (our climbing night).

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Heat a pan on medium heat and place ~1 tsp of olive oil to lightly coat the pan. Saute the onion for 1-2 minutes and add garlic. Saute until onions are translucent.

While the onion is sauteing, prepare a large food processor and add a 16 oz can of whole San Marzano (or your favorite substitute) tomatoes to the food processor.

After onion and garlic are sauteed, add to food processor. Process well or to your desired smoothness.

Transfer mixture to sauce pan and add oregano and red pepper flakes. Keep on low heat until ready to use (keep an eye on it though to make sure it doesn’t boil). Add fresh (coarsely) chopped basil before serving.

Now for that all of that is out of the way…on to the main event…

Making the gnocci!

First you want to make the gnocci batter. We used our freshly made ricotta and smoothed it with a spatula and added one lightly beaten egg. Once smooth, we added a half tbsp of melted butter and mixed well. We didn’t try to add anything else to our gnocci batter, the lemon taste was strong enough in our gnocci to carry it (we thought…maybe it was too strong…).

We prepared a baking dish with a good 1/2″ of APF (*gasp* I used APF!) for the gnocci coating and started a large pot on boil. We took a tablespoon and dipped it into the gnocci mixture and carefully placed it into the flour.

Generously cover with flour and work the gnocci until it is firm enough to transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Carefully place gnocci onto the baking sheet before preparing to cook…

They don’t look too exciting, but it was truly a difficult task (for us) to get this far…

Carefully place finished gnocci into simmering pot of water and cook for 3-5 minutes after they rise to the top…

Carefully place the finished product on the plate…we made fun designs with ours!

and serve with sauce…

We weren’t very impressed with ours and likely won’t win any style points for this one…but we completed it!

Plus, we got to spend some time together in the kitchen trying something new…which is always fun…

Lessons learned:

• Don’t try to half a recipe that requires such exact measurements
• Don’t try to go exotic on your first attempt without a test batch
• Do experiment more with simple sauces…it doesn’t need to be fancy to taste great

Can’t wait until the next challenge…bring it on!