Gnocchi di ricotta con fiori eduli - Ricotta gnocchi with edible flowers

 

 

Start by mixing 500 g of ricotta with a few flowers and petals (I used cornflower, verbena and calendula). Add salt to taste and white pepper if you like.

Add 100 g of flour and mix well.

Shape into balls, no bigger than a golf ball, and flatten lightly.

Bring the water to boil, add salt, then lower to a simmer. Add the gnocchi a few at the time, moving them lightly in the water as they cook. Be gentle! When the gnocchi rise let them float for a minute or so and lift out with a slotted spoon and transfer into a pot with melted butter and sage.

Continue until all the gnocchi are cooked. Keep the the pot with the butter warm and turn over the gnocchi just once, very delicately. Dish and top with the melted butter, Parmigiano Reggiano, and some more edible flowers.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Gnocchi with asparagus and onion weed, and a garden full of colours

The recipe is very quick, since I used bought gnocchi (to make your own click here). Pick some onion weeds, remove the bulbs, wash them and chop them finely. Keep some flowers aside for decoration (and to eat, make sure they don't have the seeds inside yet, these are quite hard!). Wash the asparagus, chop off the very ends and then cut the stalks into bite size pieces. Keep the spears (tips) asides. Gently fry the onion weed bulbs and asparagus stalks with a little olive oil, then add a little vegetable stock, just enough to cover them, and cook until the liquid has reduced to half. Add the asparagus tips and cook for 5 more minutes.  Cook the gnocchi, when they are ready lift them our with a slotted spoon and place in the pot with the asparagus. Add a knob of butter and stir well. Dish and sprinkle with onion weed flowers.

And now a few images from my garden, and a couple of flowers composition for my Pinterest Board!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Super quick gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Sorry if I have not posted for a while, the Festival Italiano kept me busy!

And when I am busy I often use pasta or gnocchi from a packet (sorry Mum!).

Here I used Divella gnocchi and Mutti Passata, staples in my kitchen!

Boil a big pot of water, add salt (when it boils) and then the gnocchi, and stir. In the meantime heat the Mutti Passata in a large pan, add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. When the gnocchi raises to the surface of the water remove them with a slotted spoon and place them into the pan with the passata. Stir well then add pieces of mozzarella or bocconcini, fresh basil, more olive oil and a freshly ground black pepper. If you like you can cover the pot with a lid until the mozzarella melts (or place in the oven). It takes just a minute or two, but I like to serve immediately and then let the mozzarella melt in the plates with the hot gnocchi.

This is very yum, but my boy likes to add Parmigiano too... what do you think? I'll go for it :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Gnocchi di palate step by step

To make gnocchi you need big floury potatoes, like agria, wash them and boil them with the skin. Do not peel first! Peel the potatoes only after they have been boiled, then press with a potato ricer. This is very important, if you you a blender or food processer you will not get the right texture.

I added a bit of cooked pumpkin too (not necessary, but I had it!). Then salt, pepper and ground nutmeg. And then a bit of flour, enough to get a workable dough. There is no exact dosage really, it all depends on how floury are your potatoes, and adding pumpkin does require a bit more flour too.

Take a piece of potato dough and roll it into long strips, then cut off the gnocchi.

Shape the gnocchi with the help of a fork to make some incisions on the top.

The gnocchi is ready! Cook in salted boiling water and as they rise to the surface remove with a slotted spoon and place in the pot with the sauce of your choice (or just melted butter with sage!).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©