Spring Onion and Ricotta Gnocchi Over Wilted Mustard Greens and Pak Choy

These ricotta gnocchi are tasty. The recipe comes from the cookbook "Simply Organic" by Jesse Ziff Cool. Here is a link to another website where the author has documented every step of the cooking process. I recommend preparing these on a rainy afternoon when you are not pressed to get dinner ready quickly. Enjoy the process and take your time.

I'm a big fan of the fork indentations on gnocchi which make them look really pretty and help them hold sauce. However, I did not take the time to do that- mainly b/c it just wasn't working out (the ricotta dough was behaving differently than the usual potato gnocchi dough does and I didn't want to add any more flour for fear of them becoming dense or overworked). I justified not making the indents by remembering that I was just cooking at home (even though I'm not just cooking at home since I should be making it pretty so I can present a nice photo to you). Oh well, I think I'll just call them "rustic". They look huge because I photographed them on a very small plate.

The author of the blog (that I link to above) interpreted the fork indent differently than I was taught, and in the end her gnocchi look really cute. I was taught to push the gnocchi into the fork and roll it so that the end product is a little cup shape with a fork design. Like these (bottom photo) except with fork ridges.

I was able to freeze half of the shaped/ uncooked gnocchi. Toss them well in flour and freeze them on a plate- make sure none of them are touching each other. Once they are frozen solid, place them in a freezer bag. When you are ready to cook them, gently boil them from frozen.

After I finished cooking the gnocchi in boiling water, I wilted some mustard greens and pak choy in a skillet with a little olive oil. I removed them from the skillet and then sauteed the gnocchi with a little more olive oil and garlic, until the gnocchi became lightly golden. I made a bed out of the greens and placed the gnocchi on top with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. The greens balance out the richness of the gnocchi.

My 2-year old loved the gnocchi. He can say: "More! Gnocchi! Please!"