Easy Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi with Lemon & Peas

Are there times when you look around your kitchen and wonder, ‘what the heck am I going to make for supper’? Sometimes I can’t made it to the store, or I’ve forgotten to put an Instacart order in on time, and my choices seem very limited. The jumble of ingredients I’m left with can start to feel like an episode of Chopped, where my internal monologue sounds like Ted Allen posing the challenge: “… you have 1 head of cabbage, a pack of chicken thighs, gummy worms, a kiwi… and… GO!”!

But, almost any dinner can be scraped together if you have eggs, potatoes, and flour. I always have that in stock, and with a little leftover ricotta from a lasagna (made earlier in the week), and a bag of frozen peas I scrounged from the freezer, something good is going to happen!

Feeling inventive, I added some lemon and garden herbs and created this quick & easy new potato-ricotta gnocchi recipe with the pantry staples found in my kitchen! This is an easy pasta dinner idea to keep on hand for those nights when take out isn’t the answer!

Traditional gnocchi is a hand made, pillowy soft, traditional Italian potato pasta. Rustic and humble, gnocchi – when boiled & pan seared – also brings a delcious toasty, buttery flavor to the table. I made my gnocchi extra fluffy with a little ricotta cheese, and added some green by incorporating some chopped fresh chives. After cooking the potatoes, (either in the microwave or plain old boiling water), you ‘rice’ the spuds into a mash, and mix with flour, egg, and ricotta. This is seriously the easiest from-scratch pasta dough ever!

Just before boiling the gnocchi, I whipped together a citrus & butter white wine sauce with plenty of lemon, shallot, and basil. Toss in the quickly blanched frozen peas, and the sauce is ready to serve!

Bright, fresh, and layered with ‘soft as a cloud’ gnocchi, this potato recipe is fabulous as a quick meal or planned dinner party dish! To add some extra saltiness and brightness, my pasta is topped with lemon zest and parmesan cheese, and then decorated with some onion & pea shoots. What started out as a “what do I make with this?” supper can sometimes become a “when can I make this again?!” recipe!

Note, this recipe for gnocchi makes quite a lot of pasta! I usually make the full pasta recipe, but only cook half the gnocchi for a dinner serving 4.

Luckily, this is an excellent make ahead meal! Shape your extra pasta, and then freeze on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Once frozen, place the gnocchi into a freezer bag, and make them as needed!

---

---

Ricotta Gnocchi with Lemon & Green Peas

sauce: makes 4 servings

pasta: makes 100 gnocchi (way more than 4 servings!

For the Pasta:

2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed

3/4 cup AP flour + more for rolling

1 egg

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons fresh chives, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper

In a microwave proof bowl, place your peeled and cubed potatoes. Add enough water to just barely cover the bottom of the potatoes. Cover with plastic wrap and cook in l the microwave on high for 10 minutes. If cooking on the stovetop, add enough water to cover the tops of the potatoes and cook on high heat until soft.

Prepare a large pasta pot filled halfway with water, and place on high heat. This will be to boil your pasta. Add a big pinch of salt, and splash of olive oil

After cooking the potatoes until soft, drain and reserve.

On a dry large cutter board or counter, sprinkle a little bit of flour.

Using a ricer, rice the potatoes directly onto the work surface. If you don’t have a ricer, you can mash the potatoes (your gnocchi may have lumps if the potato isn’t evenly mashed!)

Take a medium sized fine mesh sieve, and sift 3/4 cup of AP flour directly over the potato pile.

Now, make a small ‘well’ in the middle of the potatoes. Scramble an egg in a small bowl with a fork, and add to the well.

Next, add the chopped chives, ricotta cheese, salt, and pepper to the well.

We are now going to form the pasta dough. Be sure to have some extra flour on hand in case your dough is sticky.

Taking the potato & flour mixture from the outside to the inside, gently fold into the well. Repeat until the egg and ricotta are incorporated. If the dough feels wet, add a tablespoon or two of flour. Remember: ‘less is more’ when adding the flour.

Be careful not to over-knead this pasta – you want your gnocchi to be pillowy, and kneading adds chewiness.

Once you’ve incorporated the dough, and formed it into a rough circle, cut in half and wrap in plastic. You can store this extra dough in the fringe for a day or so, although I usually try to form all of the gnocchi at one time to prevent browning of the potato portion of the dough.

Cut the dough in half again, and place one piece aside (it’s otherwise hard to work with such a large amount at once). With floured hands, begin to roll the dough into a snake. You want it to be about as thick as your thumb.

Afer rolling with your hands, take a knife and cut the individual gnocchis into shape, each about an inch long. Place the gnocchi on a clean plate. Repeat with the next quarter of dough (and the rest of the dough, if you’re feeling inspired!).

After shaping, press gently on each gnocchi and make a small indention with your finger, The dent will help the gnocchi hold sauce!

After all of the pasta is shaped, you can decide to cook all of it, or freeze half (see the note above, but basically the recipe makes twice as much pasta as you need for 4 servings.)

To Cook

(If you’re cooking this as you read, please check the sauce recipe below – start the sauce before boiling the pasta, then toss in the 1/4 cup of pasta water to it right before you add the gnocchi.)

Make sure to have a large pot of boiling, salted water, a large skillet, and a sieve, or some other way to scoop up the cooked pasta!

Heat a skillet with a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil.

Place your gnocchi right into a pot of boiling water, and cook for 90 seconds, or until they all float. You can do this in batches if you have a lot of gnocchi!

When they are floating, fish the gnocchi out with a sieve, and place right into the hot skillet. Fry the gnocchi until golden brown on both sides (a couple of minutes). Pour the contents of the pan into the sauce (below) to finish.

---

White Wine & Lemon Butter Sauce with Peas

makes enough for 4 servings of gnocchi

note: begin the sauce before boiling your gnocchi

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 shallots (or, one LARGE shallot), minced

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup white wine (don’t break the bank on this one – any white will do!)

1/2 cup frozen peas, blanched and shocked in ice water

1/4 cup gnocchi pasta water

salt and pepper

handful fresh basil, torn

garnish: fresh lemon zest, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, fresh pea shoots, and onion sprouts. Microgreens such as radish sprouts, arugula sprouts, or radicchio sprouts will also work well.

(Make sure your pasta water is boiling)

First, blanch the frozen peas in the boiling water! Set up a small bowl with water and ice (our ice bath). reserve. Place the frozen peas into a sieve and hold in the boiling pasta water for a minute. Quickly “shock” the peas by dunking them in the ice water. Strain and reserve. These will be added to the sauce at the same time as the gnocchi.

Heat a medium skillet on medium high. Add the butter and olive oil. Let melt and become slightly foamy.

Next, add your garlic, shallots, lemon zest, and pinch of salt & pepper. Stir and allow to cook down until the shallots are slightly translucent.

Add the white wine, vegetable stock, and lemon juice. Allow to come to a boil.

Now, boil your gnocchi. They take 60-90 seconds to cook. When they are floating, take them out and start to pan sear as in the instructions above.

Add a 1/4 cup of the water, after the pasta has cooked in the water. We want to use the starches released from the pasta to help thicken our sauce.

Allow to boil until slightly thickened. Add the pan seared gnocchi, the peas and stir.

Remove from the heat and add the torn basil leaves. Stir. Adjust salt and pepper.

---

To Assemble

Pour out the contents of the pan onto a serving dish, and garnish with parmesan cheese, lots of fresh lemon zest, and micro-shoots.

Serve immediately.