This last week it has felt like spring has finally arrived, perfectly timed at the start of September. To herald the start of my favourite season, broad beans and peas have appeared on the shelf at the local green grocer – what a joy! I find podding beans and peas to be utterly relaxing – I listen to jazz on the radio and sip herbal tea (or wine…depending on the time of day) whilst I pod away, with a few green gems finding their way into my mouth every so often. They are deliciously fresh, especially the tiny peas that seem to go “pop” when you eat them. I posted a photo of the peas on Instagram last week and received great comments with suggestions for dishes (eg. pea and parmesan risotto, orecchiette pasta with peas). I was contemplating making risi e bisi but when I opened the fridge and spied a half-finished kilo tub of fresh ricotta (see my previous post for details of my ricotta addiction), I knew that it had to be ricotta gnocchi. So I pulled Fabrizia Lanza’s book “Coming home to Sicily” off the bookshelf- it has my go-to recipe for ricotta gnocchi.
What I love about the recipe (actually with all of her recipes) is that it is simple and speaks of the land. Fabrizia suggests to use fresh sheep’s milk ricotta and gets it from a local sheep farmer (…if only!). I use regular cow’s milk ricotta, the firm variety in its own draining basket. If you have never made ricotta gnocchi before, you will love how much quicker they are to make compared to potato gnocchi. I also find them less filling, so are ideal for a spring lunch. Once the ricotta gnocchi are made, the sauce is fresh and requires little cooking. I lightly blanch the peas and beans, and then drop them into a pan together with some melted butter and the cooked gnocchi, tossing them until they were well coated. It makes a lovely light dish and when accompanied by a glass of Sicilian Malvasia, it tastes like spring had well and truly arrived.
In case you have not heard of Fabrizia Lanza, she and her incredible cooking school are legendary. Here are a couple of links from people who have visited the school and written about it including David Leibovitz and Bea’ (La Tartine Gourmand). It therefore comes as no surprise that I am incredibly excited to be running a 5-day workshop at Case Vecchie with Fabrizia in September 2016 . If you would like to know more or are planning to be in Sicily in September, click here (on my site) for a description of the workshop and here to go directly to the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School site. And one of the days will even be devoted to ricotta (that same ricotta Fabrizia writes about) and other sheep’s milk cheeses including spending some time with the local cheese-maker!
Serves 4 people To make the gnocchi, put the ricotta and egg in a bowl and mash with a fork until the ricotta is creamy. Add the flour and parmesan cheese and stir. The mixture will be quite soft. Drop a small handful of mixture onto a working surface that has been well dusted with fine semolina. Work the dough into a long sausage shape and cut off 2-3cm portions. Roll individual gnocchi in semolina and set aside. Repeat with the remaining ricotta and set aside. To double-pod the broad beans, drop them in boiling water for couple of minutes. Drain then pop them out of their second shell. Wash them well (as they can be a bit sticky) and set aside, Blanch the peas for about a minute in boiling salted water (and refresh in iced water). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Drop in about half of the gnocchi so as not to over-crowd the pan (or use two saucepans). They will rise to the surface and cook in about two minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, draining them well. Whilst the gnocchi are cooking, heat the butter in a large frypan. Drop the cooked gnocchi into the melted butter, tossing them so they are well coated. Add the peas and broad beans, tossing them with the gnocchi and allowing them to heat through. Serve on warmed plates, scattering freshly ground pepper and salt to taste, lemon zest, baby mint leaves and plenty of parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.gnocchi di ricotta di Fabrizia con piselli, fave e menta
450g firm ricotta
1 large egg
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
fine semolina for dusting
100g butter, unsalted
couple of handfuls each of podded peas and podded broad beans
handful baby mint leaves
a small lemon, zest only
parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste
They look gorgeous! And so perfect for Spring!
thank you! I just had to celebrate spring busy cooking something that got me away from winter soups 🙂
They do indeed look gorgeous and sooo delicious. Just lovely in contrast with the green peas ?
one of the best things about spring is peas I think (as well as spring flowers and warmer weather of course!)
Indeed! Enjoy your wonderful spring and summer, as we are slowly easing into fall and winter! 🙂
Love your photos and the peas! Your dish looks so delicious!
thanks very much 🙂
You are so right, it looks perfect for spring – so light and green! I love how all the simple flavours complement each other – the homemade ricotta gnocchi, a bit of lemon, parmesan, mint.. so gorgeous! 🙂
thanks very much – spring is definitely my favourite season
Just divine. This gnocchi dish is just perfect for the new Spring season here in Australia too! It looks so fresh, light and delicious.
thank you – it is such a lovely celebration of spring!
This looks amazing! Wonderful pictures as well 🙂
I intend to bookmark this recipe for our spring.
Cooked it tonight. Absolutely delish. Tip for me for next time – I think for a family of four that I might add the gnocchi to the pan of butter in 2 batches. The few that managed to get a little caramelisation on the sides were super delish. Cant achieve that if I overcrowd the pan at the end. Bookmarking this one again for the future.
This dish really reminds me of the type of thing we’d find in small trattorie in Tuscany. This would be fantastic with homemade ricotta IF I could ever get my recipe to work!
Your gnocchi looks amazingly delicious!!!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I found you via Bea’s blog, and I’m here to stay! I made this yesterday for Easter, and used Edamame as that was on hand. I think this would be great and look beautiful with fresh peas and pea tendrils and with a touch of tarragon, which I will try next time I make these amazing dumplings. I assumed that you sprinkle the mint after cooking but I threw some in the butter just in case. My husband and I were ooohing and aaahing as we ate – my husband said “This is a keeper!”
Again – thank you!
Oh thank you for your sweet words Lisa, the pea tendrils would look just beautiful. So glad you liked the recipe & it turned out well X