Daring Cooks 1st Challenge – Ricotta Gnocchi with Caramelised Onions and Thyme.

The first Daring Cook’s challenge has finally come around! To be honest, I had no idea what to do. Ricotta gnocchi are so light and delicate that a heavy, complex, flavour punch kind of a sauce would overwhelm the little beauties, but also, I didn’t really want to do the classic browned butter and sage deal which is delicious, but ever-so played out. So I matched them with browned butter, caramelised onions and thyme, sweet and savoury complementing light and creamy. I think it worked, though when I recently told a food-obsessed Italian about it he was horrified. Aghast. I think maybe I am breaking some kind of law by making this dish. Come on! Live on the wild side, because sometimes breaking tradition has delicious consequences.

Ricotta gnocchi, well my ricotta gnocchi in any case, aren’t pretty, when puffed up and cooked they have a funny brain like quality going on. It feels a little funny in the mouth, but lends itself to light sauces that cover the gnocchi and pool in its little hollows and divets. So make sure your sauce isn’t too heavy, and that there is enough to fully cover the gnocchi. And come on, try a little harder than I did to make them uniformly sized ovals, jeez its not that hard.

But, even if you don’t they are delicious. Thank you Daring Kitchen for introducing me to the wonders of gnocchi made only from ricotta. I gotta say, F. didn’t really understand at first, he kept asking, “but where is the potato”, and “so, it just has a little bit of potato in it, right?”. Banish the potato, ricotta gnocchi is the way to go, and it is so much easier to make.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
From the Zuni Cafe Cookbook

450g fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled a little
a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg,
a few pinches of chopped lemon zest
20g Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

The original recipe says to start the day before and drain your ricotta through a cheesecloth-lined suspended sieve in the fridge. Luckily my lovely ricotta passed the wetness test (take a teaspoonful of ricotta and place it on a paper towel, if the towel gets a large wet ring surrounding the cheese after about a minute, then you will need to drain it.

Making the gnocchi is very easy, but for it to turn out light and fluffy the ricotta needs to be smooth. So I pushed mine through a fine seive, then mix in the lightly beaten eggs. When your mixture is smooth, mix through the melted butter and the flavourings, Parmigiano-Reggiano and salt. Stir the mixture until it is smooth and well incorporated, ensuring there are no streaks.

Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water. You will want to do a test run with a single gnocchi to ensure that your mixture is sufficiently dry to ensure it holds together during cooking.
When you water is boiling, take a wide, shallow bowl or tray and place some flour in the bottom. Take a teaspoonful of the ricotta mix and place in the flour. Roll it around so it is coated, then gently pick it up and shake any excess flour off, then shape it into an oval. Place in the boiling water and cook until it puffs up and rises to the surface and floats, about 3 – 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

The original recipe says to flour all the gnocchi, then store them for up to an our on a lined and floured baking sheet in the fridge. This didn’t work for me, they seemed to soak up all the flour, so I cooked them in batches as a floured the rest, and they turned out lovely and light and rich and creamy.

Caramelised Onion Sauce

2 or 3 large brown onions
1T extra virgin olive oil
1T balsamic vinegar
2t sugar
2T butter
thyme and oregano to serve

Slice your onions finely in half moon shapes. Heat a frypan to medium-low, add the olive oil and the onions. Cook for a long time, stirring occasionally until they have softened and are starting to get some nice colour. Add the balsamic vinegar, sugar and some salt and pepper and continue to cook until lovely and caramelised. You may need to add some water to prevent the onions from sticking to the pan.
When your onions are ready, and your gnocchi is cooking, heat another pan over medium heat, and brown your butter. When the butter smells nutty, add the onions into it and stir, then add the gnocchi and season.
Serve sprinkled with fresh thyme and oregano (if your herbs are older, ie, if the thyme has woody stems, pick the leaves and add them to the browned butter at the same time as the caramelised onions).
Serve immediately.