Goat Cheese-Ricotta Gnocchi

Making cheese gnocchi is really quite simple in that it takes almost no extraordinary kitchen skills. I've taught school kids to make gnocchi, so if they can do it, you can do it. What it does take is feel and that is something that you gain by doing; you cannot learn feel from a recipe. After a couple of batches, you will begin to get the feel.

Boiled Goat Cheese Gnocchi

What I can distill from my restaurant experience of making a batch every afternoon is that a wetter dough is a better dough, to a point. In other words, have a very deft and light touch with the flour. Adding too much flour and kneading the flour makes for terribly heavy and unappealing gnocchi.

Recipe: Goat Cheese-Ricotta Gnocchi

A basic formula for cheese gnocchi, enough to serve four people, follows. You can scale this recipe as you like; I often make double batch to ensure six to eight portions.

1 pound of soft cheese*
1/2 cup grated pecorino romano
2 eggs
1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour, plus more to dust the counter and your hands

*In the photo below, I made a 2-pound batch consisting of 11 ounces (a single log of goat cheese) and the balance (15 ounces) of ricotta. If you are using goat cheese, make sure that it is at room temperature so that it is easy to work.

You can add salt to the gnocchi dough or not as you see fit. I think they have enough salt from the pecorino.

Bring a pot of water to a slow boil.

Mix the cheeses and eggs well. Then add 1/2 cup of flour and stir in. Next, using your well-floured hands, remove the very sticky dough to a well-floured counter. Sprinkle on extra flour as necessary to roll into logs of between 3/4-inch and 1-inch in diameter.

Using a floured bench knife or scraper, cut off a gnocchi-sized segment. Drop the gnoccho into the boiling water. In a minute or two, it will have cooked and floated to the top. It is possible that if you have not added sufficient flour that the little dumpling will have disintegrated. In that case, add flour by tiny bits and test until you have a dumpling that cooks successfully and floats to the top.

Now it's time to start making batches of gnocchi, a dozen to a dozen-and-a-half at a time. When they float, scoop them out, drain them well, and place on an oiled sheet tray until all the gnocchi are done.

At this point, you can sauce them as-is and eat right away. Or you can oil them, cover the pan with film, and place them in the refrigerator to firm to cook later. I recook mine in a single layer in a sauté pan in oil or butter and lightly brown them before saucing them. Sometimes to reheat them, I put them in a baking dish, drizzle on melted butter (or olive oil), sprinkle them with a little cheese, and pop them in the oven to warm and (if desired) brown on top.

Just be aware that with a high goat cheese content, the gnocchi are going to be very soft and tender when reheated (as the goat cheese melts), so handle them gently.