Recipe for Spinach Gnocchi

I was intrigued when I saw a recipe for Spinach Gnocchi in the New York Times Health section.  It sounded like one of those too good to be true recipes...good intention but bad result.  Not True!

These turned out really tasty and, although labor intensive to make, worth the work.  I modified the recipe slightly.

Time: about 30 minutes, active plus 2 hours rest time
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 10 ounce box of frozen spinach, defrosted and wrung out in paper towels until very dry
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup AP flour, divided
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more (coarsely grated) for serving
• Marinara sauce for serving
• Salt and pepper

Method:

• Saute the spinach in the oil and butter with the nutmeg and a pinch of salt and pepper.
• Once warmed, add half of the flour and all of the ricotta and stir briskly for 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and beat in the Parmesan and eggs.
• Let cool briefly and then cover and place in fridge for 2 hours.
• Place a large piece of parchment down on the counter and put a large pot of salted water on to boil.
• Warm the marinara sauce to a gentle simmer.
• While the water comes to a boil, flour your hands and the parchment well and take handfuls of the dough and roll out into tube shapes.
• Snip or cut the tubes into 1 inch pieces (they are sticky, use plenty of flour).
• Drop the gnocchi into the gently boiling water in batches and set the timer to 4 minutes once they rise to the top.
• Once each batch is cooked, keep warm in an oiled bowl (I kept mine in the microwave, turned off).
• When all are ready, serve topped with sauce and the coarsely grated Parmesan.

These turned out much better than I had hoped and were very satisfying.  I had expected them to fall apart in the water and to taste doughy-neither was true!  They keep well in the fridge to be warmed gently in sauce the next day.

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