Ricotta gnudi: Maria Gatt, Owner and Chef, Marelli Cafe 🥟

Chef Maria Gatt, from crowd favourite Marelli Cafe shares her recipe for ricotta gnudi. This comfort-food-type dish boasts flavours of rich guanciale and fresh spinach with a nutty texture brought about with the hazelnuts in the dish. The creamy textures of ricotta and finish of Parmigiano Reggiano make this a great cheat meal to share with guests or enjoy alone. 

All the ingredients you need to make Chef Maria's stellar ricotta gnudi.

Ingredients 

• 350g Ricotta 
• 50g grated Parmigiano Reggiano + extra shavings for finished dish 
• 1 egg yolk 
• Pinch of grated nutmeg 
• 200g semolina 
• 30g hazelnuts, skinned , toasted and halved 
• 50g guanciale cut into strips 
• Small bunch fresh spinach 
• Olive oil for frying 

Method

1. Start by draining the ricotta - place a sieve with small holes in a larger bowl and let it drain for as long as you can. If possible drain and store in the fridge the night before or a few hours before prepping this dish. Next mix the drained ricotta with the gratedParmigiano, egg yolk, nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. 🧂

Ricotta, egg and all that seasoning 🤤

2. Put thesemolina in a shallow tray, wet your hands and cover them with the semolina so it sticks to your palms. Grab a tablespoon of your ricotta mix and form a ball in your semolina covered hands, and then roll it through the semolina in your dish . 🥄

The perfect pre-rolled ball... soon to become the perfect bite size.

3. Gently place each ricotta ball on yoursemolina sprinkled baking sheet into another tray and when you’re done refrigerate overnight covered with plastic stretch and make sure not to squish them. 

Prep all your gnudi balls before you start to roll them out.

4. Bring a small pot of salted water to boil and gently lower thegnudi a few at a time, cook for a minute and a half and take them out of the water using a slotted spoon to drain excess water. Leave them on a plate and in the meantime heat two pans to medium heat, one for the guanciale and spinach and one for the gnudi. Cook the guanciale till crispy, remove from pan and drain on another plate with a paper towel underneath to absorb the fat. Cook the spinach lightly in the leftover guanciale fat and season with salt and pepper. In your other pan, put a little olive oil and once medium hot place a few gnudi at a time, depending on how big your pan is, and fry on each side till you get a nice golden colour.

And there you have it, final plating, ready to eat.

5. Serve with spinach at the bottom,gnudi and crispy guanciale, halved hazelnuts, Parmigiano Reggiano shavings and a little olive oil. 🌰