Gnocchi di Ortica (Nettle Gnocchi) is a traditional Italian recipe for a classic accompaniment of cheese, egg, stinging nettles and flour dough cut into rounds and boiled in water until tender. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Italian version of: Nettle Gnocchi (Gnocchi di Ortica).
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Ingredients:
675g young stinging nettle tips
salt, freshly-ground black pepper and freshly-grated nutmeg, to taste
butter
240g Ricotta cheese
60g freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
90g plain flour
Method:
Wash the nettles, place in a pan and cook in the water that adheres to the leaves. Drain, press out any excess water and chop finely.
Combine the nettles in a pan with the Ricotta cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add about 2 tbsp butter and cook gently over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.
At this time, take the pan off the heat, then stir in the beaten eggs, the grated Parmesan cheese and the flour. Bring the mixture together, turn into a bowl, allow to cool and refrigerate for several hours.
After this time, turn the dough onto a floured work surface and roll out then cut into rounds with a 4cm round pastry cutter.
Bring a pan of water to a gentle boil, add a few gnocchi at a time and cook for about 4 minutes, or until they rise to the surface. Carefully remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a warmed, buttered, serving dish then scatter over a little grated Parmesan cheese. Keep warm in the oven as you cook another batch. Repeat the layering process, adding a little more Parmesan cheese with each batch of gnocchi.
When you are done, dot the top of the dish with melted butter, scatter over a little more grated Parmesan and serve.