I love gnocchi and I bet anyone who has had well made gnocchi would too.
They are soft little pillowy dumplings of pasta that beautifully soak up whatever sauce that they are toss in and immediately start melting in your mouth. If I met someone who didn’t like the thought of that… I just wouldn’t know how to respond…
Traditional gnocchi are typically made with either potatoes or ricotta, but today we are adding a flavorful fall twist to a classic ricotta gnocchi by adding some pumpkin and parmesan cheese and you are going to absolutely love it!
Let’s get started…
The ingredients needed for make gnocchi are super simple and if you happen to have some leftover pumpkin purée or roasted pumpkin, this is a wonderful way to use it up.
Begin by gathering 1 cup of whole milk ricotta, 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin purée (or smoothly mashed roasted pumpkin), 1/2 cup of finely shredded parmesan, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and about 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour.
Start by whisking the ricotta, pumpkin, parmesan, salt and egg yolks together in a deep bowl until they are fully combined and smooth.
Add about a cup of all purpose flour and use a flexible spatula to combine everything. Add more flour, a little at a time, until you have a soft, tender dough that will hold it shape, but it still sticky. The less flour you use to bring gnocchi together, the softer and more tender it will be when cooked.
Gently form the dough into a ball and transfer it onto a generously floured surface. Use floured hands to press to dough out into a disk shape that is somewhere around an inch thick and then use a sharp knife or bench scraper to cut the disk into slices.
Shaping gnocchi is pretty easy. Simple take one of the slices of dough and gently roll it out into a long tube. Flour your hands if things get too sticky and try not to press down too hard when you are rolling it out. Compacting the dough can make it tough, so be gentle.
Use the knife to cut the roll of dough into even portions.
You have several options when it comes to finishing your gnocchi. You can cook them in their little squares that you sliced off of the initial roll of dough or you can roll them over the back of a large fork or gnocchi board to give them those classic gnocchi lines like in the photo above.
I like to use very little flour in my gnocchi to keep them super tender, but I will admit that this can make them a little difficult to handle. So, I like to cut my portions a little smaller and roll them several times over the gnocchi board. This creates about 2 inch long, narrow rolls of gnocchi with great lines. I slices these little portions in half, which gives me shaped gnocchi with lines even when they are very, very soft and tender.
In the end, whether you shape your gnocchi small or really small, give them lines or keep them au naturale, they will all taste wonderful, so make them as beautiful or intricately shaped as you want.
Transfer your shaped gnocchi onto a floured board and continue shaping them until all of the dough is shaped. Letting the gnocchi relax and dry out for a few minutes before cooking them is a great idea, so no need to rush the shaping process.
Cooking gnocchi is super easy, simply bring a big pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil and drop about a third of them in at a time.
Some important notes about cooking fresh gnocchi…
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- Do not salt the water. Unlike other pasta, gnocchi will soak up the flavors in the sauce you toss it in more than other pastas do and cooking them in salted water can make the gnocchi feel gummy, so no salt needed at this point
- Do not over crowd the pot. Fresh gnocchi only takes a few minutes to cook, so doing them in batches is still a very quick process
- Gnocchi will float to the top of the water when they are cooked, so it is super easy to tell when they are ready to enjoy
- Have your sauce of choice warm and ready to go before your drop the gnocchi into boiling water, so you can use a spider or slotted spoon to transfer them directly from the water into the sauce. Fresh, hot gnocchi will soak up the flavors of any sauce wonderfully, so timing is important when it comes to cooking and saucing your gnocchi
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Speaking of sauce, these pumpkin ricotta gnocchi pair well with a light sage butter sauce or simply some heavy cream, garlic and parmesan.
In a large skillet, sauté a little butter and garlic for about 60 seconds, add a cup of heavy cream and bring to a low simmer. Remove the skillet from the heat and whisk in a half cup of grated or finely shredded parmesan and transfer the freshly cooked gnocchi into this skillet, give everything a toss and be prepared to fall in love…
This pumpkin ricotta gnocchi is so flavorful, tender and fabulous. I love sprinkling a little more parmesan over everything and maybe some freshly cracked black pepper and dig in!
Each pillowy bite of tender gnocchi is pure heaven. Gnocchi is so wonderful and with just a couple minutes of mixing, shaping and boiling, you can create a delicious Italian dinner than is way more delicious than anything you would order at a restaurant.
Make this gnocchi and enjoy!
Pumpkin Ricotta Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 cup of whole milk ricotta
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin purée
- 1/2 cup of parmesan, grated or finely shredded
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2-2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
Instructions
- Combine 1 cup of whole milk ricotta with 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin purée, 1/2 cup of finely shredded parmesan, 3 egg yolks and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl
- Add 1 cup of all purpose flour and use a flexible spatula to combine
- Continue adding flour until you have a very soft dough that will hold its shape in the bowl
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and gently press it into a disk that is around an inch thick
- Use a sharp knife or bench scraper to slice the disk into equally sized portions
- Use floured hands to roll each slice into an evenly thick roll and then cut the roll into inch long portions (see photos above)
- Roll the portions of gnocchi over the back of a large fork or ridged gnocchi board and then transfer them on a floured board
- Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil
- Drop about a third of the gnocchi into the water and boil for about 2 minutes or until they begin to float to the top of the water
- Transfer the cooked gnocchi from the boiling water directly into the sauce of your choice using a spider or slot spoon
- If you are not planning to cook all of the gnocchi at the same time, transfer the raw gnocchi still on the floured board into the freezer until they are solid and then transfer them into a zip lock bag and freeze until you are ready to cook
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