Ricotta Gnocchi

Last Monday we decided to go meatless for dinner. So I looked through my cookbook, "29 Minutes to Dinner Volume 2", and found the meatless section. After flipping past recipes for soup and tofu which I just did not feel like making, I found a recipe for "Ricotta Gnocchi". At first glance I was sure this recipe was far too fancy and difficult to make.

But it sounded so good and the picture was so tantalizing, I read the ingredients and there wasn't anything too fancy... then I read the instructions and I was amazed at how easy it was going to be to make this beautiful, fancy dish in just 23 minutes. I'm not kidding, it really took less than 30 minutes to make dinner!

So we set out for the grocery store for the two ingredients we did not have on hand: ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese (block). That's it. Everything else I had on hand: flour, butter, olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and 1 egg. I left a couple things out, because that's how I roll. And I hate lemon as you may know, so I feel I had good reason. I picked up spinach because spinach is delicious and it sounded good.

Then Monday dinner time arrived. I began by preparing the simple dough in my batter bowl. I grated the parmesan, measured the ricotta and mixed them with the egg and flour. I used my Small Scoop to make the cutest little dough balls. I heated butter and olive oil in my non-stick pan and scooped the dough directly into the pan. I cooked each for two minutes and flipped them with my chef's tongs (coated in silicone to keep the pan safe) and cooked them another two minutes. As they cooked they flattened just a bit and looked kind of like small scallops when they were finished.

I removed them from the pan, added garlic and red pepper, and then tossed in a couple handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, just to coat and wilt a bit. I made a wilted spinach salad with our cheese gnocchi. Truth to tell, I had this ulterior motive since I purchased the spinach when we went out for cheese.

It was ridiculously delicious! My husband tried to confiscate mine and has requested this dish again and soon. I was so impressed with how simple and elegant this dish was and how quickly it came together.