Spinach - Ricotta Gnocchi with Garlic Sauce

Lorac's Note:

Bread and Ricotta dumplings flavored with spinach and Parmesan cheese drizzled with a fresh garlic, basil, tomato butter sauce. Serve with fresh picked and sliced tomatoes and cucumbers and ice cold Pinot Grigio for a great meatless summer meal. Prep time includes chilling the gnocchi mixture for 1 hour.

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Gnocchi

• 4 slices white bread , crusts removed
• ½ cup milk
• 1 lb frozen chopped spinach , thawed,drained and squeezed dry
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 2 ounces grated parmesan cheese
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• ¼ cup flour

Garnish

• parmesan cheese , shavings

Sauce

• 6 tablespoons butter , melted
• 2 cloves garlic , pressed
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 medium tomato , diced

Directions:

1. Gnocchi: Add milk and bread to a shallow dish, let bread soak 10 minutes, then squeeze excess milk from the bread.
2. In a medium bowl, combine bread, spinach, ricotta, eggs, grated parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Fold the flour into the spinach mixture, flour your hands and roll heaping tsps into balls.
4. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil, add gnocchi in batches, cook 2 minutes or until gnocchi rises to the surface, transfer to a serving plate with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
5. Sauce: Combine ingredients in a small saucepan, cook over medium heat 3 minutes or until the butter is lightly browned.
6. To serve, drizzle sauce over gnocchi and top with shaved Parmesan.

Reviews

[Latchy]

This is an excellent recipe, I used fresh spinach as I had it already. I did have to use a little extra flour but that is maybe because I did not squeeze the water out of the spinach enough. The mixture just felt as if it needed it. The sauce is just so tasty, 2 people asked me for a copy of this recipe, so it wasn't just my opinion. I certainly will be making this again