Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ricotta Dumplings

Ricotta Dumplings


For my post I have used these ricotta dumplings in a soup, but they could easily be sauteed in some butter and topped with tomato sauce or also used as a ravioli or tortellini filling. Feel free to play around with the vegetable additions, as I would imagine a pumpkin or other squash would go really well.

Ricotta Dumplings (makes about 24 large sized dumplings)

1 lb ricotta
2 eggs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (feel free to use another hard cheese)
3/4 cup finely chopped spinach, well drained (feel free to use frozen)
10 cloves of roasted garlic (about 2 tbs mashed up)*
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp finely chopped lemon zest
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

* to roast garlic, you can use a whole head or just as many cloves as you need, and wrap it in foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for approximately 40 minutes to an hour until very soft when touched. Either squeeze out the garlic from the skin or you can also peel the cloves to ensure maximum yield.

For the dumplings, mix everything together in a bowl. This can be made in advance before cooking, or once the dumplings are cooked you can hold them overnight in a covered container. To cook the dumplings, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop desired sized dumplings into the water and turn the water down to a simmer for 5 minutes. Make sure when forming dumplings (usually by using two spoons or a small scoop) that they are fairly tightly compact, because with the addition of the spinach the dumplings can fall apart if too loosely formed. Only cook about 6-10 dumplings at a time, so you don't crowd the pot. When done, using a slotted spoon, transfer dumplings to a bowl or plate. Bring the water back to a simmer, add the next batch of dumplings. I have put these into a chicken soup but you could also just saute them over high heat with a little butter or use as a filling for ravioli. If using in soup, I would keep them separate until serving, as storing the dumplings in the soup will probably make them begin to break down.

3 comments:

Vallie said...

This looks and sounds really yummy! I can't wait to try the recipe!

the wandering fork said...

Gosh, that is super pretty! And I bet delicious too!

Anonymous said...

Now I know why you haven't been blogging or cooking! Congratulations!