GNUDI DI RICOTTA

YESTERDAY, NOT FOR WANT OF ANYTHING BETTER TO DO, I decided to make gnudi (pronounced: NYOO-di), those tiny, bite-sized pieces of gnocchi (pronounced: NYAWK-ee). I suppose one could call them gnocchetti if one wanted, but for our purposes, let us call them gnudi. Before I begin on food, though, let us consider pianos for a moment if you will. 

The apartment is being made ready for the great event next week, when my Steinway LR (the R is for reproducer) will be removed to have a complete overhaul - new pin block, strings, and hammers and anything else that comes up along the way. Trying to purge can be a daunting task; especially if you're attempting to sift through 30 years of your life. For a pianist, it is an alarming - and in this case, very expensive - situation to be sans instrument! I contemplated renting something for the interim, but since the job at hand only requires 4-6 weeks time, it seemed improbable that I would be able to rent an instrument for such a short period of time. Time will tell how I fair depending on the kindness of strangers! There have been offers, don't get me wrong - I do have a fan base, you know! - and it surely will come to pass that I will need to have some consistency in practicing but for the time being I'm happy to form a new sort of discipline requiring the actual removal of self from said dwelling space to venture forth to a new work space somewhere in Manhattan to work and play at the piano. It might become habit forming and force me to stop cooking!

So, as I said, I made gnudi yesterday. I've been making these morsels on a larger scale (two to a customer vs. 6-8 per person) for many years. The first time I ever had Gnocchi di Ricotta was many years ago - in 1982 to be precise - in Rome at a little trattoria behind Piazza Navona. They were served two to a plate with only burro fuso (melted butter) and grated Reggiano-Parmigiano with a dash of nutmeg. I will never forget it as long as I live. I can still see myself experiencing that first bite of warm cheese oozing with butter and more cheese and the padrona looking on serenely as I savored each curdy morsel. My dining partner, who instigated this excursion to the other side of Rome from where I was living, was prodding me on with each bite. Dai! Dai! Forza! Mangia pure! Only in Italy!

Gnudi di Ricotta

See ricotta recipe at the end of this entry  

2 cups fresh ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Grana Padano

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

4 egg yolks

1/8 tsp. salt

Several dashes of nutmeg

1/4 cup minced mortadella (optional)

You can also opt to make these with ricotta and spinach or arugula or even parsley

You will need 1 cup of the chopped greenery, cooked and squeezed completely dry before adding to the ricotta mixture.

Once all ingredients are incorporated into a thick paste, refrigerate for an hour in a plastic container or a bowl with a firm seal of plastic wrap over it.

Dust a cookie sheet with flour.

To form gnudi, take two demitasse spoons or two small teaspoons and form an oval dumpling - something akin to the shape of a quenelle - and place each one on the cookie sheet. Keep forming until you have a substantial quantity or you've used up the mixture. You should have anywhere between 30-50 gnudi. These don't freeze well at all so you will either need to cook them immediately or you can refrigerate them for up to 5 or 6 hours, but they should be loosely covered with a tea towel. If you don't use all of the mixture, you can use whatever ricotta you have left for another use, such as filling for ravioli or tortelloni. In my case, I'm going to add my own home made fish paste made from cod and stuff them into black squid ink pasta dough and make tortelloni and freeze them for a dinner party not too far in the distant future.

Fill a very large pot with cold water and bring to the boil. Add a handful of Kosher salt. Drop the gnudi in the boiling water and reduce heat to medium. You don't want to stop the boiling but you don't want it boiling like crazy either. The gnudi will rise to the surface as they cook but allow them to cook for about 5-6 minutes. Remove to a serving casserole dish lined with melted butter and tomato sauce, cover with more sauce and place in a 200º oven for about 10 minutes to allow them to absorb some of the sauce. Serve immediately with Reggiano-Parmigiano.

Basic Tomato Sauce

I've been using hot pepper flakes quite a bit lately and this sauce is delicious with or without the heat.

Olive Oil
1 or 2 shakes of a red crushed pepper container (optional)
1 small onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 12 oz. can chopped tomatoes
1/2 12 oz. can tomato sauce
18 basil leaves sliced into chiffonade
Salt and pepper
Pinch of sugar (optional)

Heat the olive oil and sprinkle the pepper flakes into the pan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onions become transparent and soft. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn down heat, add salt and pepper to taste and the basil as well as the sugar, if using. Cook at a low simmer for about 20 minutes and turn off the heat and keep covered while cooking the gnudi.

Ricotta Cheese

3 1/2 quarts WHOLE Milk

2 cups half and half

1 cup heavy cream (optional - I like it creamy)

3/4 cup white distilled vinegar

Use a stainless steel or heavy enameled pot (Le Creuset is ideal) large enough to hold all liquids. Once you stir in the vinegar, you will see the milk products start to separate (sometimes I've had to use more than a cup of vinegar to get more curd out of the liquid; experimenting to find your own way and method is key here). Place the pot over moderately high heat and bring to a simmer (just short of the boiling point (180º F). Gently stir occasionally so the milk doesn't scald and stick to the bottom of the pan.. You don't want to disturb the curds. I use a rubber spatula instead of a wooden or metal spoon to get in the corners at the bottom of the pan. 

While the milk is heating, place a double sheet of cheesecloth or a tea towel under water and then squeeze out water and unfold over a colander. 

Large clumps of curd will form and float to the top of the pan. When the temperature reaches 180º, remove the pot from the heat. Place the colander in a large bowl and start removing the curds with a slotted spoon (do not pour all the contents of the pan into the colander). Once all the curds have been removed, and if the whey is still very cloudy, you can bring the liquid back to the boiling point to see if more curds will form. If so, place those in the colander as well.

Let the ricotta drain in the colander for at least one hour. You want a dense mass of ricotta cheese, so, the longer it drains, the denser the cheese will become. You can place the cheese in plastic storage containers and refrigerate for up to a week but it is best when at its freshest. In my experience making ricotta, there is always a lot of residue which can't be retrieved with a slotted spoon. After I have extracted as much cheese as is humanly possible, I pour the liquid into the colander and let the liquid drain while keeping the last vestiges of cheese in the colander. This recipe yields about 4 cups of cheese and is very delicious.

As I've said before, fresh ricotta will keep for about a week to 10 days if left undisturbed in the refrigerator, but it really should be used as soon after making it as possible.