To make this recipe you need to have left over beef fat from something like a brisket that you saved. Or you can make it with butter instead. I made the recipe with very lean ground beef that was ground at home. Before I threw it in the oven I thought the beef mixture looked dry so I added a 1/2 cup of water. Depending on the meat you might not need to add the water. Anyway It came out amazing. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. This makes 4 servings to me.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

2 Tablespoons oil

1 large sweet onion – diced

2 carrots – peeled and diced

1 hot pepper – small dice – (I used a guero chili that is also known as a Mexican Yellow)

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste for microplane

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup peas

1 pound ground beef

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 cup beef stock

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons hoot sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot)

2 teaspoons dried thyme (fresh would be better)

4 oz leeks – cleaned and trimmed – sliced extra thin on mandolin

1 1/2 lbs poatoes – cleaned, peeled, quartered

4 oz beef fat

1 Tablespoon sea salt (this is for boiling the potatoes)

1 egg – beaten

non stick spray

water – if the meat mixture looks dry add up to 1/2 cup water

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray a casserole dish with non stick spray and set it to the side.

Get a pot on medium high heat with the oil. When oil is hot add the carrots, onions, hot pepper, black pepper and salt. Cover and stir occasionally. Vegetables should be soft in about 5 minutes. Shut off heat. Add the garlic, corn, peas. Transfer to a big bowl and put to the side. Fry up the beef on medium high. (I used the same pot…..) So I wouldn’t crowd the pot I shaped the meat like 4 burgers so I could brown them easy and then I broke the burgers up. Brown the meat. Put a small amount of salt and pepper on them. Add the beef stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire, hot sauce and thyme. Stir occasionally and let liquid reduce a little. Throw the leeks in at the end. You can combine this mixture with the vegetable mixture you have on the side.

While you are cooking you can make the potatoes. Add potatoes to a pot and cover well with water and salt on medium high heat. Your potatoes will be done in 15-20 minutes. Drain potatoes and hand mash with beef fat. Get it mashed and smooth and then add the beaten egg and mix well.

Assemble.

Put the beef vegetable mixture in the sprayed casserole dish. Top with potatoes.

Put in the pre heated oven till bubbly hot. (about 25 minutes)

ENJOY!

This recipe won’t come out right unless you follow the recipe. II would also not recommend this recipe to people with arthritis. It’s easy but you have to make your own ricotta cheese because you need the whey for the sauce. Also home made ricotta taste a million times better than store bought. Once you make your own and taste the difference you will never buy a tub of ricotta again. This recipe is easy but you also have to be able to hand mix the dough and be dexterous enough to use a pastry bag over boiling water. My idea of serving size most likely will differ from yours. This will make up to 8 very small servings. If you enjoy eating a big plate of pasta than it only makes three servings……see what I mean……but they are maybe the best ricotta gnocchi that you have ever had. This will come out best if you make the cheese the day before.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1/2 gallon whole milk

16 oz heavy cream (I do note some brands of heavy cream contain too many stabilizers for the cream to curd. No matter what you do these creams will not work for cheese. Stay away from anything marked manufacturing cream or cream for shelf use)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (for cheese)

2 lemons – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 1/4 cups fresh ricotta (this ricotta should be drained and very dry)

1 cup parmesan – shredded

1 egg – beaten

1 1/2 cups flour (this is always right for me but can differ slightly)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (to add to gnocchi dough)

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

few grates fresh nutmeg

Tablespoon sea salt for boiling gnocchi

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (to squirt on gnocchi for taste and also so they don’t stick)

3oz walnuts – crush

1 bunch of parsley (remove the stems because they are bitter (mine weighed .7oz)

.07 oz. celery leaves – chopped (use the same amount as parsley)

1 Meyer lemon (the juice and zest)

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

3 Tablespoons whey (or to desired thickness) you might want less or you might want more.

Directions

Put a medium/large pot on your stove with the milk, cream and 1/2 teaspoon of salt on medium heat. This needs to be stirred periodically. It takes a while to bring to a slow boil but once it starts it can boil over so you need to keep an eye on it. You might need to turn down the heat slightly. Once it comes to a slow boil then you SLOWLY add half the lemon juice…this will cool the cheese down and wait till you see it boiling again and then SLOWLY add the rest of the lemon juice. Slightly lower the heat and let it slowly boil for maybe 5 minutes. It should look like this.

Then you scoop out the curds with something mesh and shake out all the whey.

Put the curds in a tub…more whey(liquid) will come out of the cheese. You will have to drain several times. Save about a cup of the whey. You will use some for the Walnut Parsley Celery Leaf Pesto Sauce. The extra whey would also be good for thinning down other sauces or to add a cheesy taste to a soup.

The next day make the gnocchi dough.

In a large mixing bowl add the drained ricotta. (you should have a little over 2 cups of cheese…something like 2 1/4 cups). (If you don’t have around 2 1/4 cups of cheese some adjustments need to happen)….Add the parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon salt, white pepper, a few grates of nutmeg and the egg. Mix well. Now add the flour. It will seem too dry. You will get angry and think I screwed this up. But then like magic the dough turns out.

*****DO A TESTER GNOCCHI*****

Have a pot of water boiling…medium boiling. Pinch off a piece of gnocchi dough the size of a gnocchi. Once it floats let it cook about 4 minutes. Let it cool and try it out. If it is too soft you can work more flour into the dough. But just so you know a good gnocchi is suppose to be light and soft. You don’t really know until you taste one.

I don’t roll my gnocchi but you can if you want. It’s less time consuming and less mess to just squirt them out with a pastry bag.

This time I didn’t use a tip on the bag. (I usually don’t use a tip)

Then you fill it with a handful of dough.

Twist the end so the dough doesn’t spill out and push the dough.

Install a string so you can cut the gnocchi off easy…BUT BE FORKING CAFEFUL not to catch the string on fire.

I do about one bagful of gnocchi dough at a time. When I’m done I wait about 5 minutes to make sure the gnocchi are filly cooked. Then the gnocchi get lifted out with a slotted spoon. Try to drain off the water. Add the gnocchi to a container. Squirt a little olive oil on the gnocchi for added flavor and also so they don’t stick. Repeat till you are out of dough.

The rest is quick and easy!

in a container with a stick blender add the walnuts, parsley, celery leaves, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic olive oil, parmesan, white pepper and a Tablespoon of whey. Blend…till smooth. This will be thick add more whey (or olive oil if you prefer) till the pesto is the consistency that you want.

Toss with the gnocchi that you are serving now.

Serve right away!

Same gnocchi can be served with tomato sauce.

ENJOY!