These gnocchi are made from fresh ricotta cheese that you make the day before. I don’t make just two cups that you need for the recipe. I make a big pot of the cheese and freeze the around 5 cups I have left for other use…like a lasagna. I do note that this is a more advanced recipe. It’s impossible to give you the exact amount of flour you need. The exact amount can differ for numerous reasons- humidity, the way the brand of flour is ground, the amount of moister in the cheese. Don’t worry this recipe will get you close…..It’s best to under the amount of flour over the amount of flour because you can do a sample gnocchi and adjust. But if you over do the flour you are done and will have heavy gnocchi. Well made gnocchi are described as very light pillows. They should melt in your mouth. Rolled gnocchi are a little heavier because they get handled with added flour. These fresh ricotta gnocchi get extruded with a pastry bag with a star tip. No rolling and extra handling with extra flour. These are the FORKING BEST ricotta gnocchi you will ever taste anywhere! Serve with home made marinara sauce. Don’t use packaged ricotta because it just doesn’t taste the same. Once you make your own ricotta you will never use packaged again. My picture again isn’t the best. It would have looked nicer with a thin smooth marinara sauce and a finer grated cheese so you could see all the perfect ridges….but I guarantee that the taste and texture is Forking Great!

Ingredients for about 6 servings plus about 5 extra cups of ricotta cheese

1 gallon whole milk

1 quart heavy cream (some brands are too processed with too much added stabilizer to work and cheese won’t come out.)

1 teaspoon course sea salt

3 lemons (about) just the fresh squeezed juice

2 cups fresh home made riccota cheese

1 cup parmesan reggiana – shredded

1 egg – beaten

1 1/4 cup flour (about – make sure you boil one sample gnocchi to check the texture)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

a few grates fresh nutmeg or a pinch of ground nutmeg

a small palm full or about a Tablespoon of sea salt for the boiling water

about 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil to sprinkle on the gnocchi to prevent them from sticking.

Directions

in a large pot on medium heat add the milk, cream and teaspoon of salt. This should take around an hour to get to a rolling boil…..around the time that the mixture gets to a rolling boil you have to lower the heat slightly so it doesn’t boil over. Once the milk starts boiling…VERY SLOWLY add the lemon juice…Again THIS SHOULD BE DONE VERY SLOWLY. Let it boil about 5 minutes. By now you should have lots of cheese curd. Use a wire strainer and scoop out the curd….but let the water drain out before you store away the curd. Refrigerate over night. The next day there will be a little water to drain. The cheese will seem very thick.

Make the gnocchi.

In a large bowl mix together the (2 cups) ricotta, parmesan, egg salt, pepper, nutmeg with a fork. Then mix in the flour with a fork. Set to the side.

Put a pot of water on to boil with a small handful or Tablespoon of salt. If desired add a string to the handle so you can slice the gnocchi off the pastry bag tip….(((but be extra careful to avoid the burner with the string or it can catch on fire)))

Use a disposable pastry bag and cut the tip. Place a star tip in the end and fold the bag down so you can easily add about 1/3 of the gnocchi dough.

Add 1/3 of dough and twist the end to hold in dough.

Squeeze some out from the end while slowly twisting the end to get out the dough and use string to cut off gnocchi or your finger to knock the gnocchi off.

The gnocchi will float. let them boil about a minute. Take them out with a slotted spoon or strainer spoon and let the water drain. The gnocchi go in a dish or a container and get sprinkled with a little olive oil so they don’t stick together. Repeat till done.

Fresh Ricotta Cheese Gnocchi with Ridges W/O being Rolled!

This is my husband’s favorite meal. If he had to pick a last meal this would be it. This is his favorite traditional gnocchi.

He happily ate this sample plate in-between meals….and was so happy he cleaned up all my pots!