Baked Tuscan gnudi (malfatti) with homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella
In this baked Tuscan gnudi (malfatti) recipe, melt-in-your-mouth spinach and ricotta dumplings from Tuscany are cooked in a delicious homemade tomato sauce with mozzarella.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 400 g fresh ricotta ((14 oz) sheep or cow's ricotta)
- 400 g fresh spinach
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 100 g Parmigiano Reggiano ((3.5oz) grated or hard cheese without rennet for vegetarians)
- 60 g All purpose flour ( (2oz) or Italian 00 flour)
- 1 pinch nutmeg (grated)
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- 350 g Tomato passata ((12oz) I use Cirio rustica. It's chunkier.)
- 2 garlic cloves (peeled)
- 6-8 basil leaves
- 400 g fresh mozzarella ((14oz) )
- 6-8 sage leaves
- 100 g butter ((3.5oz))
Instructions
- 1
Wash your spinach and boil in a little salted water for about 8 minutes, then drain and leave to cool a bit, wring out well and chop finely.
- 2
Drain the ricotta of any liquid and put it in a bowl with the spinach, 2/3 of the grated Parmigiano, the egg, the egg yolk and the flour, after passing it through a sieve. Grate a little nutmeg into the mixture. Add salt and pepper as required.
- 3
Mix everything carefully with a fork. You can also use your hands but you don’t want to knead this dough, just make sure all the ingredients are well incorporated. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it to rest for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
- 4
Peel the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic, once it starts to soften add the tomato passata and basil leaves. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove the garlic cloves when the sauce is ready.
- 5
Drain the mozzarella and cut into small slices or cubes.
- 6
Place some baking paper on a tray and sprinkle with flour. Take about a flat tablespoon full of gnudi mixture and form into a ball. You can use wet hands to make the balls. I use an ice-cream/melon scope or a tablespoon to get the same quantity of gnudi mixture for each ball. Place the gnudi on the tray and roll a little to cover each ball slightly in flour.
- 7
Put a pot of water onto boil. Cook the gnudi in the boiling water for 2-4 minutes, when they come to the surface, allow a few seconds and then remove with a slotted spoon. The time it takes your gnudi to rise to the surface will depend on how big they are.
- 8
If you are serving with sage butter while the water is boiling and the gnudi are cooking, melt the butter in a skillet or frying pan. Add the sage leaves to the butter and cook until they start to crisp. Both the butter and the sage need to be a little brown but not burnt. Plate the gnudi and pour over the sage butter. Add some grated parmesan and black pepper if required.
- 9
If you are making baked Tuscan gnudi, put the tomato sauce into an oven dish. Place the cooked gnudi in the sauce. Add the pieces of mozzarella. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 ° until the mozzarella has melted and the top has just started to brown. 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately!