A Different Take on Ricotta Gnocchi à la the Smitten Kitchen from Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: You may already recognize that I am a fool for gnocchi. I’ve already made them here and also some potato gnocchi with Nikki Bonanni that I cannot find, darn it. But I wanted to try a recipe from the Smitten Kitchen. I own several of her cookbooks, but haven’t done more than admire things so far. I think it was the pistachio arugula pesto that pushed me over the finish line here. (See Smitten Kitchen Keepers for the original recipe.)

Ingredients for the gnocchi

2 cups whole milk, ricotta

One large egg

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (this is reduced from her amount, since I find the cheese, salty enough)

One cup all-purpose flour

Olive oil oil for frying.

Ingredients for the pesto.

1/2 cup shelled pistachios, mine were salted.

One small garlic clove (reduction, per me)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (reduced from 1 teaspoon)

Freshly ground pepper or red pepper flakes or both

One and a half cups arugula leaves, washed and dried

1/2 cup olive oil

To make the gnocchi, first drain the ricotta by scooping it out onto a paper towel or kitchen towel, covering it with a second one and patting it down. Leave it to dry while you prepare the next ingredients.

Beat the egg, the salt, and the Parmesan to combine. Beat in the drained ricotta. Mix in the flour until it is absorbed.

Scoop the batter onto a floured surface. Roll it out into a long rope and divide the rope into three-quarter inch sections freeze the pasta for 10 to 15 minutes to make for easier browning.

Meanwhile, blend the nuts, garlic, peppers, and salt in a food processor. Add the arugula and process until everything is roughly chopped. At this point, you can taste to see if you need more salt and add it as you see fit. Add a half cup of olive oil and blend that as well.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan (I added a couple tablespoons of butter too), and fry the little dumplings until they are browning. When all of them are cooked, add the arugula, pistachio pesto, gently stir, and grate more fresh Parmesan on top.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Next up...Rancho Gordo's polenta gnocchi, maybe with mushroom butter sauce?? Or possibly sweet potato gnocchi, what do you think?

Meanwhile, we hope you will be fools for Hayley Snow's 16th adventure, A DELICIOUS DECEPTION, coming July 14 at a bookstore near you!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.

Coming July 14--isn't it gorgeous?

Book 15 in the Key West series, THE MANGO MURDERS, is in bookstores now!

The trade paperback edition of A POISONOUS PALATE is out now! 

And the trade paperback edition of A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS is out now!