Chef Darin Leonardson

Ricotta Gnocchi in Basil Olive Oil

Potato gnocchi are a project. Ricotta gnocchi are a Tuesday. There is no boiling, no ricing, no waiting for potatoes to cool — you mix a soft dough, roll it, cut it, and it is in the water inside twenty minutes. The trade is that the dough is delicate, and delicate dough punishes a crowded work surface.

Flour the tray before you shape a single one. Fresh gnocchi will fuse to bare metal in under a minute, and a tray dusted well enough that the pieces slide is the difference between forty individual dumplings and one large dumpling. Roll ropes about the thickness of your thumb, cut them short, and press each one against the tines of a fork if you want ridges.

Basil Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a splash of Red Onion Vinegar make the whole sauce. No cream, no long reduction — just butter, oil, a little of the starchy cooking water, and enough torn basil that the bowl smells like the garden before you taste it.

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Details

Entrée

4 servings

1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-milk ricotta, drained overnight
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• Dust and flour the tray before you shape them
• Then roll and ridge the gnocchi
• 3 Tbsp Basil Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp Red Onion Vinegar
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

1. Dust a sheet tray generously with flour and set it aside before you start mixing.
2. Stir the ricotta, egg, Parmesan, and salt together, then fold in the flour just until a soft dough forms. Overworking it makes the gnocchi tough.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured board and cut it into six pieces. Roll each into a rope about 3/4 inch thick.
4. Cut the ropes into 1-inch pillows and move them to the floured tray as you go, pressing each against a fork if you want ridges.
5. Boil in well-salted water in batches. They are done 30 seconds after they float — about 2 minutes total.
6. Melt the butter with the Basil Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a wide pan over medium heat.
7. Lift the gnocchi straight from the water into the pan with a spider, add a few spoonfuls of the cooking water, and swirl until the sauce clings.
8. Off the heat, add the Red Onion Vinegar and the torn basil. Toss once and serve immediately.

Basil Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Red Onion Vinegar

$24.95 USD

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