Ricotta Gnocchi with Mint Pesto
Serves 4-6
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
Gnocchi
- 15 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup finely grated pecorino romano plus more for serving
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ -1.5 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
- Semolina flour for dusting
Mint Pesto
- 3 Tbsp toasted pistachios
- 1 garlic clove smashed
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
- ½ cup olive oil plus more for serving
- ⅓ cup freshly grated pecorino romano
- Zest of 1 lemon plus more for serving
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add ricotta, eggs, pecorino, salt and pepper. Mix until fully combined.
- Add 3/4 cup of flour to start and gently fold into the ricotta mixture. If needed, add 2-3 Tbsp more flour at a time until the mixture is sticky, but holds together when rolled gently between floured hands.*
- Using floured hands, form mixture into a ball and cut into 8 equal pieces.
- On a floured surface, roll each piece into a 12 inch log. Cut logs into 1/2 inch pieces. **
- Transfer gnocchi to a sheet tray dusted with semolina flour. Shake the tray gently to coat the gnocchi in semolina. Repeat with all the dough.
- Transfer gnocchi to the fridge until you are ready to cook them off. ***
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Heavily season with salt.
- While water comes to a boil, prepare the pesto. In a food processor, pulse pistachios and garlic until finely chopped. Add in basil, mint, and olive oil and pulse until a coarse paste forms. Add in pecorino cheese and lemon zest and pulse a few times to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Drop gnocchi into boiling water, and cook until they float. Once floating, let simmer for about 1 minute more.
- Gently drain gnocchi, and add them to a pan with a touch of pasta water and a few dollops of the pesto. Stir gently to coat, adding more pasta water as needed. Use as much pesto as you’d like. If you have extra, save it for another use.
- Serve topped with a drizzle of olive oil, more lemon zest, black pepper, and more pecorino.
Video
Notes
*Ricotta varies in moisture content so add flour in increments until the mixture holds together when rolled in your hands. It will be sticky but still “rollable”
**You can keep the gnocchi in this shape or you can add ridges with a fork or using a gnocchi board like I did in the video
***Gnocchi can be frozen at this point, spread out on a sheet tray. Once frozen they can be transferred to a bag and kept frozen. They can be cooked in the same manner as above from frozen
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Random question but where do you get your dinnerware?
so easy to make and so delicious!! much less trouble than making potato gnocchi and still had that fluffy, creamy texture. the pesto was amazing too but would start off with less oil next time, i think i could have used between .25 to .3 of a cup instead 🙂
This recipe was great; i made it and probably did some things wrong as it was my first time making gnocchi but made as written and super yummy and everyone loved it. Thanks hailee!