Spinach & ricotta gnocchi

Spinach & ricotta gnocchi

By Celia Brooks Brown
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(73 ratings)
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Prep: 40 mins Cook: 10 mins

Easy

Serves 4
These luxurious gnocchi are both light and spoilingly rich at the same time

Nutrition and extra info

  • Vegetarian

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal287
  • fat15g
  • saturates8g
  • carbs19g
  • sugars2g
  • fibre2g
  • protein20g
  • salt0.86g
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Ingredients

  • 200g young spinach, washed
    Spinach

    Spinach

    spin-atch

    Used in almost every cuisine across the world, spinach is an enormously popular green vegetable…

  • small handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
    Parsley

    Parsley

    par-slee

    One of the most ubiquitous herbs in British cookery, parsley is also popular in European and…

  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 140g ricotta
    Ricotta

    Ricotta

    ree-cot-a

    Ricotta is an Italian cheese made from whey and traditionally a by-product of…

  • 85g plain flour
  • 2 eggs
    Eggs

    Egg

    egg

    The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a…

  • 100g freshly grated vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese, plus extra to serve
  • freshly grated nutmeg
    Nutmeg

    Nutmeg

    nut-meg

    One of the most useful of spices for both sweet and savoury…

  • olive oil and rocket, to serve
    olive oil

    Olive oil

    ol-iv oyl

    Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…

Method

  1. Boil the kettle. Place the spinach in a large bowl and pour boiling water over it. Leave for 2 mins until wilted, then drain thoroughly. Leave to cool, then wrap a clean tea towel around the spinach. Hold it over the sink and squeeze out as much water as possible. Finely chop.

  2. Place the spinach, parsley, garlic, ricotta, flour, eggs, cheese and a generous grating of nutmeg into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Use a fork to stir very thoroughly until everything is completely mixed. Using wet hands, form the mixture into walnut-size balls. Place on a large plate or tray and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

  3. When ready to cook, heat the oven to warm and bring a large pan of water to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and drop in batches of about 8-10 gnocchi at a time. They will sink to the bottom, and when they rise to the top give them about 1 min more, then remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm while you cook the rest. Serve the gnocchi on warm plates drizzled with olive oil and scattered with rocket and more cheese.

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Comments, questions and tips

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KatOstrich
31st Aug, 2017
5.05
These were delicious with halved cherry tomatoes
susanna0195
27th Aug, 2017
4.05
Worked really well. Served drizzled with a tomato sauce and lemon oil. Think I will be making this again soon as we all enjoyed it, even my 2 year old
lasignora
22nd Aug, 2017
4.05
I think it needs a more intense sauce/coulis underneath to balance the subtle flavours.
dianamin
2nd Jul, 2017
5.05
Great recipe, made these this afternoon. As others have said this wouldn't serve 4, it did 2 generous portions for us. I also made a roast pepper and tomato sauce, think they would have been bland without this. Will definitely make again.
blobberboo
6th Apr, 2017
5.05
These were absolutely delicious and an incredible gnocchi recipe. I served it with homemade pesto, which went down a treat! We used cottage cheese, as we had trouble finding ricotta, but it still tasted amazing! The only issue is that this recipe would not serve 4, only 2-3 people if they are big eaters.
billiejo
19th Nov, 2016
5.05
Really delicious, added a homemade roasted tomato sauce as recommended, i took care of the gnocchi, husband did the sauce, a lovely few hours spent cooking together on a Saturday night. Cooked exactly as instructed with the exception of reducing the parmesan to 60g, and this was enough for us two (18 gnocchi balls all together) - i don't know how you'd serve 4 people this unless as a starter, or have people go hungry. You must really wring out the spinach otherwise the dumplings will be too wet and disintegrate, and wet hands are a must too (re-wet between each scoop). Next time i'll add some basil to the mix and reduce the flour a tad, but it really was lovely as-is.
Phoebe Louise O...
14th Oct, 2016
4.05
Great recipe for gnocchi but a bit bland with just olive oil - try with the tomato and spinach recipe!
sarahwebber
2nd May, 2016
Easy to make and SO delicious. I added some sage burnt in butter to serve - yum!
trepell
25th Oct, 2015
1.05
Ridiculous. Turned into inedible mush. Don't waste your time
jadebartolf's picture
jadebartolf
13th Aug, 2015
5.05
Great recipe! Surprisingly easy to make and tastes really indulgent. This is definitely going to be a regular on the menu.

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BillyG
4th Jul, 2014
I'm doing it for a main course at a dinner party but I don't know what to do with it. I was thinking like a tomato based sauce and some sort of salad on the side. Any suggestions?
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goodfoodteam
16th Jul, 2014
The gnocchi don't actually need an additional sauce other than the parmesan and olive oil but they would go well with a tomato sauce if you wanted to serve this as well, thanks. 
GMW1974
29th Jun, 2013
Can these be frozen?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
16th Jul, 2014
Yes they are ok to freeze, once made freeze them straight away, then cook straight from frozen. They may need an an extra 1-2 minutes cookig time but you can tell when they are cooked as they will float to the top of the water. Thanks.
CookingQueen87
11th Dec, 2013
Yes, I've frozen mine when I've made them. Just be sure to freeze them as soon as you make them, then drop them into the boiling water for cooking without defrosting them. Give them an extra couple of minutes, and they'll be perfect. :)
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