Gnocchi verdi 23 April 2007, 21:27

I said I would, back when I tried the potato gnocchi. This is one of those doozies from the Cuisine of Venice and Surrounding Northern Regions cookbook. I think this book is from 1978, and it comes with a load of outdated warnings about how “you can’t get these Italian ingredients here in the States.” Definitely post-Cuisinart, but very pre-mascarpone.

The other issue is with indistinct recipe narrative. Oh boy. It’s like the recipes are meant to be read, rather than followed. Or something.

The results here were somewhat odd. Tasty enough, but measured against some of the slavery of squeezing every drop of moisture out of all the ingredients, you have to wonder.

My translation of the recipe:

Gnocchi Verdi
Spinach dumplings

Ingredients (serves 6 as a primi)

2 packages frozen chopped spinach, or the equivalent fresh (ha ha ha! I mean, 12 cups fresh spinach, or one organic bunch plus a couple of stray plants)
1 lb skim milk ricotta cheese (do not sweat it if you can only get some other fatty one)
2 whole eggs
salt and pepper, freshly ground (what is freshly ground salt?)
1 pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated (1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup)
6 tablespoons flour, sifted (if you have not slaved sufficiently to squeeze the bejesus out of your cheese and spinach, you will have to add more; plenty more)
water (Boil them in WATER! Get it? First you talk down to me, then the tough love? Is that how it is?)
1/4 lb butter

Method:

  1. Dump ricotta into a cheesecloth, knot the top and place in a collander over a large bowl. WAIT “until all the liquid has dripped out.”
  2. Cook spinach (steam, nuke or boil in salted water) and allow to cool. SLAVERY QUOTIENT : “Taking a small amount of spinach at a time between your hands, squeeze out all the water.” Place the resulting half a cup of tiny, screwed-up wads of spinach on paper towelling (i.e. cheat).
  3. Sit down for a nice cry.
  4. Beat eggs lightly in a small bowl.
  5. Gleefully whizz spinach and ricotta in a large bowl food processor with shiny, spinning blades. “Taste the mixture” before adding RAW eggs (what is this, 1978?) “and add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.”
  6. Worry a bit about whether you have taste. Think a bit about how salty your parmesan is. Indulge in regrets.
  7. Add eggs, mix well, then add 1/2 cup parmesan.
  8. “Add approximately 3 tablespoons of flour or as much as the mixture will absorb, depending on how much liquid was left in the spinach,” [you despicable loser]. Or: Add 3 to 6 tablespoons of flour, add a bit more, and then give up.
  9. Wring hands.
  10. Sighing, Place mixture in fridge to chill for half an hour, or as long as it takes to live down the effort you’ve put into this recipe so far. Overnight okay.
  11. Spread “the remaining flour” (i.e. 3 tablespoons) on a board. Ha ha.
  12. THE SUSPICIOUS BIT : “With the help of a tablespoon, make round dumplings of the spinach mixture the size of a large walnut.” SURE, this will cook completely within one minute. Right.
  13. Think a bit more about the undercooked egg, and feeding this to the baby.
  14. Get online. According to the hail size spotter tip sheet of the National Weather Service of Great Falls, MT, walnut-sized means 1.5 inches. We’re talking a smaller version of Knödel type dumplings. A spinach meatball.
  15. Contemplate why we thought this recipe would be akin to potato gnocchi in the first place.
  16. Damn the torpedoes.
  17. “Roll [dumplings] lightly in flour without pressing down on [them]; they should remain as light as possible.”
  18. RECAP : Your dough was not overmixed, not too wet and needed no further flour or mixing. You have dropped nearly spherical balls of dough from your spoon, barely rolled each until perfectly spherical betwixt floured hands, and covered them with a light dusting of flour with a minimum of pressure.
  19. “In a heatproof flat baking dish (Pyrex or earthenware) large enough to hold all dumplings in 1 layer” nuke/melt half the butter.
  20. Boil gnocchi “vigorously” in salted water “1 or 2 at a time.” Use your largest (12 inch diameter) pot and you can proudly boil up to 6 at a time, and feel liberated.
  21. Gnocchi are ready when they rise to the surface of the pot (hard to tell when it’s a rolling boil whether they’re serious about surfacing or just being tossed about). At Edmonton elevation and refrigerating more than half an hour, this is a tad more than one freaking minute. Remove with slotted spoon to buttered baking dish and slave over next batch.
  22. “Melt the remaining butter and pour over the dumplings. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese . . . “ This is your sauce. Congrats. “. . .and place the dish under the broiler for about 5 minutes or in a preheated [400F] oven for 10 minutes.” Either/or? Oh, that’s crystal clear. If you’re afraid your dumplings aren’t fully cooked, do both.
  23. “Serve very hot,” avoiding burning baby.
  24. Pine for a gnocchi alla gorgonzola.
  25. Enter therapy.

You just don’t work fast enough, you know.

5 to 10 minutes before you’re done…

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