Gnocchi di ricotta di Fabrizia con piselli, fave e menta (Fabrizia’s ricotta gnocchi with peas, broad beans and mint)

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!