Ricotta and kale gnudi. Perfecting a classic

It was the beginning of summer 2010, I had the blog for slightly more than one year and I was stuck in a daily job where gratifications were meagre. I was still at home with my parents and my family was renting the house where I live now for the holidays. A nice American couple who was spending the week here in the countryside asked me if I could refer them to someone for a cooking class.

I’m always slow to recognize opportunities, they often pass by like high speed trains, but that day, that day I caught my train.

I offered myself as cooking class instructor, boasting an experience and a self-confidence I did not have. We agreed for a day and a menu and as soon as I got back home after work I knocked on their door, bringing a bag of ingredients and trying to hide my quivering voice. There was tiramisu on the menu, something I was pretty confident about, a family recipe which I could make with a hand tied behind my back.

The main course was instead the result of too much enthusiasm and not enough thinking. I opted for gnudi, known also as malfatti, delicate ricotta and spinach dumplings which I had probably made a couple of times in my whole life.

There’s a crucial moment when making gnudi.

You pop them into a pot of boiling water and wait faithfully for them to float to the top. A couple of minutes separates you from perfectly shaped gnudi or from a mushy mass of ricotta and spinach.

I was gazing at the pot of boiling water for any sign of failure of success: that wait had the taste of eternity. I was wondering why on earth I had chosen gnudi while I could have easily made tagliatelle when I saw the first, plump and round gnudo floating gently to the top. Soon after an army of gnudi crowded the surface of the pot. I had succeeded in preparing the first meal during a cooking class.

After dinner, I walked back home with my heart fluttering in my chest. It was the first time my work had been sincerely appreciated, I felt invincible, I had found my place in the world, my mission, the job I wanted to make.

One year and a half had to pass before I could call it my job and my life, many failures, closed doors and disillusionments. But that gnudi, gently floating to the top, the proof of my success, were a constant reminder that I could make it.

Fast forward eight years, I’m still thanking that hazardous decision that made me choose gnudi.

I want to share with you this recipe which is now part of my culinary repertoire, something which is seasonal, humble and so versatile, as instead of spinach you can also use Swiss chard, foraged herbs or the king of Tuscan winters, cavolo nero.

Gnudi di cavolo nero – Ricotta and kale gnudi

There are two crucial ingredients here which can help you ease the anxiety while waiting for your kale gnudi to float tot the top: ricotta and cavolo nero, the Tuscan kale. Use a well-drained ricotta and squeeze very well the cooked kale. Once you make this, they will be your next success in the kitchen.

The kale gnudi in your cooking repertoire

After reading Cooking for Mr. Latte, by Amanda Hesser, I fell in love with the concept of having a cooking repertoire, and I decided to share here on the blog these recipes, staples of a Tuscan repertoire, analysing the ingredients and the process with plenty of details so that, if you want, you’ll be able to include them into your collection and make Tuscan cooking your signature style.

I chose these recipes not to impress, but to nourish, and because, using Amanda Hesser’s words, they would express my true sensibility as a cook, not my ambition.

All the recipes of my cooking repertoire

These are all the recipes I added so far into my cooking repertoire. This is an ever growing list, an always expanding collection which represents the way I live Tuscan food and cooking. Have you already tried something?

• Crespelle alla fiorentina. It is a handy recipe to learn as you can vary the filling according to the season: asparagus, artichokes and butternut squash are some of my favourites along with spinach and Swiss chard. You can mix the vegetables with fresh milky ricotta or add some béchamel into the filling. Cheese is a welcomed ingredient: Parmigiano Reggiano, Tuscan or Roman Pecorino, ricotta salata, or any other savoury aged cheese that you would happily grate over your pasta.
• Tuscan ragù. The Tuscan ragù is cooked with red wine, poured in little by little, and with tomato purée (just tomatoes that have been peeled and blended into a sauce), even better if it is your home made tomato purée, made during the heat of summer. To give more character to the ragù and have a more rustic sauce, sometimes I prefer to replace the passata with the same weight of peeled tomatoes, roughly crushed with my hands.

Main courses and side dishes

• Beef and eggplant meatballs. According to the season, you can substitute roasted eggplants with boiled potatoes, roasted butternut squash or breadcrumbs soaked in milk. I usually choose between grated Parmigiano Reggiano, aged Pecorino or Provolone to add flavour to the meat, sometimes adding brined capers, too. This time I opted for Parmigiano, along with a pinch of dry oregano to give a mediterranean touch.
• Stuffed turkey breast. One of the recipes that my mum taught me and that I immediately associate with Sunday lunches is the stuffed turkey breast, roasted on the stovetop and not in the oven. It is a humble dish, but it has an enormous potential.
• Baked eggplants. Colours and textures of that once loved recipe surfaced along with the ingredients: eggplants of course, either the round purple ones or those thin long ones, then breadcrumbs, parsley, capers, garlic and some grated Parmigiano. There it was, my forgiving recipe, thick slices of eggplants topped with boldly flavoured breadcrumbs, roasted in the oven until golden and crisp.
• Italian potato salad. So a potato salad, which I had overlooked for years, becomes a distinguishing element of a menu, especially if you dress it with an Italian twist, with wild fennel, capers and olives. You can find the same aromas in a roasted pork loin with olive oil and wine, or in the baked eggplants that you are planing to serve as an appetiser.

Desserts

• Apple olive oil cake. You can dress it up for a dinner party: serve a slice of warm apple cake with a scoop of vanilla gelato, a cloud of whipped cream or a drizzle of custard. Wrap in foil a slice of cake for a school break or an office break. Bake the olive oil apple cake on a Sunday and enjoy it for breakfast on the first days of the week with a strong coffee or a cappuccino.
• Coffee and vanilla pound cake. A versatile recipe to make a pound cake with the ingredients you have at hand, with a detailed explanation of the four macro categories of ingredients you can use, plus a recipe for a vanilla pound cake marbled with coffee, designed to wake you up in the morning. Use white farro flour, white sugar and dark cane sugar, Greek yogurt and butter.
• Ricotta crumb cake. I still have to decide if I prefer the cake warm from the oven, or after a few hours of fridge. This ricotta crumb cake is an unmissable summer cake, and I’ll let you decide when to serve it, if you are in hurry or armed by adamant patience.

Link love

• There are many recipes for gnudi here on the blog: spinach gnudi, with some musing about their name, and gluten free gnudi (including a video recipe!), to name a few.
• Amy’s recipe for spinach gnudi.
• Nigel Slater’s gnudi, made just with ricotta, which sound divine.

Related posts:

Tuscan kale and chicory malfatti Claiming my corner of freedom: home-made tagliatelle with Tuscan kale pesto Spinach and ricotta tortelli from Maremma Granda Menna’s Kitchen: malfatti or gnudi