spinach and ricotta gnudi – cooking favorite

Although spinach gnudi—soft, chewy cheese balls fried in brown butter and sage—are traditionally more of a spring or summer food, I’m here to make the case that we should be eating them now, in nice soup-and-sweater weather. Because you heard the part about the hot cheese? the puddle of brown butter? the earthly sage? It’s a symphony of delicious fall things and if you tell me you don’t want to curl up on the plate and take a nap in it, fine, I’ll believe you but I think you’re in denial.

Gnudi literally means “naked” in Italian – think of them as spinach and ricotta ravioli without the pasta wrapper. I think they’re better in every way because you get all the chewy, cheesy filling, without the pasta which can seem leaden together. Typically, gnudi are made with fresh greens that have been blanched and finely chopped, but I’ve been on a mission over the past year to give more love to (reliable! economical! unseasonable!) frozen spinach, especially when all I planned to do with the fresh stuff was cook it and feel helpless when it was gone. Frozen spinach saves me that grief, and here we use a whole can, which also saves us a math headache.

From there, it’s just a few simple steps to prepare—mix with ricotta, parmesan, egg, seasoning, and a small enough amount of flour that I bet a gluten-free flour would work as a swap—form into balls, boil them briefly until they float like marbled green clouds, and brown them in a pan with butter and sage. The result is decadent and cozy and while I briefly considered stating that they’re not as heavy as one might expect, you know, with cheese fried in butter (they’re not!), I’ll instead say that they are the completely correct level, that is, effectively warming and delicious but not sleep-inducing (you know, unless you give in to that nap deal).

Looking to make this a bigger meal? You can add hearty bread, a simple soup, or a roasted fall salad.

PS Don’t miss the recipe for grilled ricotta gnocchi and pistachio pesto in my third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers. They’re spinach-free and pan-fried only and essentially become nuggets of cheese browned, then drizzled with an arugula and pistachio sauce, brightening everything up.

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