Ricotta Gnocchi

In our house, summertime means meals and food preparation have an altogether different pace.  We eat nearly every meal in the backyard on the patio instead of at our little kitchen table.  Most weekends involve some sort of food harvest and storage, stocking the freezer for the winter.  Our tiny fridge is filled with a constant rotation of bulky fresh greens from our CSA share that get cooked down at most meals to make more room for my kitchen experiments (sour-cherry-and-white-Zinfandel-ade, anyone?).

With the new addition of a huge jar of farm fresh milk to our tiny fridge rotation every other week, I cooked the milk down to ricotta and made this.  Soft, fluffy pillows of ricotta gnocchi.  You eat one of these little gnocchi dumplings and you immediately recognize that this is something you could never, ever procure ready-made in a grocery store and the multitude of tiny, loving steps that brought you to this moment were all suddenly so very worth it.

Try to use a great tomato sauce.  These little dumplings deserve to get dressed up nicely.

Ricotta Gnocchi
From The Splendid Table's How to Eat Weekends. 

1 pound fresh homemade ricotta (about 2 and 1/2 cups), chilled (recipe here)
1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling gnocchi
1 egg
1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan, plus additional for serving
1 Tbls. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Your favorite tomato or pasta sauce (or try this one)

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together, using your hands to mix and adding more flour as needed until the dough is slightly sticky.  Cover and refrigerate until cold, 1 hour or up to 2 days.

When ready to make the gnocchi, lightly sprinkle flour on a large cutting board and a rimmed large shallow pan. Transfer the dough to the floured board and cut into 4 equal pieces. Using your hands, roll on of the pieces on the board into a long log 1/2" to 3/4" wide. Don't worry if the dough isn't uniformly shaped and take care not to pick up too much additional flour or the gnocchi will be tough.  Use just enough flour to keep them shapeable, but still a little sticky.

Cut the log into 3/4" pieces and toss on floured sheet pan.  Repeast until all dough has been rolled and cut. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for 3-4 mins or until they rise to the surface and float.

Drain in a colandar or scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Toss gently in the skillet with the sauce until covered. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.