Lemon & Basil Gnudi

My baby girl is 11 months old and loves food just like her mommy. She is very interested in finger foods now and refuses to eat purees. I have to be creative to make dinner for the whole family that me and Matt will love along with our little munchkin. This lemon & basil gnudi dinner is loved by all of us and is so easy to put together. This dish also carries a seal of approval from Gisela 🙂

Gnudi are little ricotta cheese dumplings and are cousins to potato gnocchi. You can get creative and use your favorite sauce with them. I love mine with slow cooked tomato sauce or just simply dressed up with parmesan cheese, red chilly flakes and drizzled with olive oil. Share what sauce you love to eat your gnudi with.

Lemon & Basil Gnudi

recipe borrowed from “Fresh and Easy” by Jane Hornby
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups (500 g) ricotta cheese, drained of any liquid
1 egg
1 small bunch of fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 organic (unwaxed) lemon
3 oz Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp all purpose flour, plus plenty more for shaping
1/2 cup (25 g) fresh white bread crumbs
sea salt and black pepper

Used for sauce:
Parmesan cheese
Dried red chili flakes
Olive oil

Put the ricotta and egg into large mixing bowl. Add basil leaves, finely grated lemon zest and Parmesan cheese to the mixture. You can save some of your lemon juice for the sauce. Season with plenty of pepper and a little salt. Parmesan cheese adds enough saltiness so if you wish, you can skip the salt.

2. Beat the ingredients together until smooth, then sift in the flour and add the bread crumbs.

3. Stir the flour and bread crumbs into the ricotta mixture. Put plenty of flour in a large plate or a baking pan, and have another floured plate ready. Spoon a couple of teaspoons of gnudi mixture separately into the flour in the plate, then roll them around in the flour until well coated. Shape the gnudi with dry hands to make a smooth ball or oval. Put onto the second floured plate, then repeat with the rest of the mixture.

4. Chill the gnudi for at least 1 hour, or up to 24 hours. This will firm up the gnudi and make them ready for cooking.

5. When you are ready to cook, bring a large pan with water to boil and drop gnudi one at a time. They will rise up to the surface, cook for another 2-3 minutes. Lift out of water and onto the plates.