Grandma's Ricotta Gnocchi

Simple, Wholemade, Authentic Italian Gnocchi

Pasta is definitely my favourite dish. I love the different shapes and sauces you can make to keep each meal unique and delicious. A long held family tradition in our house is whole made ricotta gnocchi every Christmas Eve. Our quite large Italian family gathers around two tables and looks forward to these little dumplings all year. Today I will share my Grandma's secret recipe with all of you. Its a dish that she has been making for over 25 years and it always reminds us of family and bringing loved ones together. So in the spirit of togetherness, we wanted to feature this on twotocook for you to cook together. We hope you enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

What makes this recipe great is its simplicity. To a mixer, combine ricotta, eggs and cream until a smooth mixture is formed. This is the base. You might be wondering, where are the potatoes? Well, this gnocchi recipe contains none of those starchy vegetables. Not only does the omission of potatoes make the gnocchi lighter and more airy, but it also cuts out a lot of the work (and hours of prep) that potato gnocchi require. For beginner pasta makers, these gnocchi will be a great start.

Then on a clean surface make a mound of your flour with a well in the middle. Add in the ricotta cream mixture and a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese. Now for the fun (and messy) part! I like to first incorporate the mixture with a spatula and then with my hands. Kneed the dough until it forms into a smooth ball.

Here's where this recipe really becomes a job for two! Each gnocchi is made by hand so you can imagine all the time (I mean love) that goes into each dumpling. That's why this recipe is perfectly tailored for a team of cooks. It makes the process go faster as well as making it more enjoyable with company in the kitchen. I recently made this dish with my grandma the twotocook way and it was such a fun and productive way to get several batches of gnocchi done in lieu of the Christmas Eve feast! So whoever you decide to make this dish with, whether it's your grandma, mother, sibling, best friend or significant other, remember to enjoy the time together rolling out and shaping these gnocchi. Here at twotocook, we believe that the time spent together is the secret ingredient to more than half the fun!

Now back to the technique. With a knife cut off a small piece of dough and roll it out into a half inch thick log. Feel free to get creative with the shape of the gnocchi. Some people like to use a wooden board to add striped indents to the gnocchi. For the same effect, you can also roll the gnocchi across the teeth of a fork. However my grandma has to make so many batches that she is all about efficiency. She likes to take a floured pastry cutter or knife and cut the rolled out log of dough on an angle to make diamond shaped gnocchi. Not only can you churn out more gnocchi per minute using this method, but they are also quite beautiful!

Once you have made your gnocchi, its best to put them on a floured baking sheet and freeze them. This is to ensure they don't become mushy when you boil them. If cooking them immediately after making them, freezing for 10 minutes will do the trick. If you are also making extra you can freeze on the tray and then transfer them to a ziplock bag to remain in the freezer until the next time you feel like whole made gnocchi. It is our opinion that when making the mess in the kitchen, you might as well make extra.

With this classic recipe, we think it is best served with some simple tomato sauce. To make the gnocchi, simply boil for a few minutes until the dumplings float. Drain and transfer to some sauce of your choice and top with a generous serving of parmesan cheese. After all the labour of making these gnocchi, you two will reap the rewards of enjoying a satisfying plate of pasta. We hope you enjoy making this recipe together!

The Recipe

How this works?

For those of you that are new to the twotocook family, our recipe structure deserves a little explanation. (For those of you who know the drill, skip on ahead :) The idea behind twotocook was to design recipes for a fun game-like experience. The idea is you and your partner decide who will be chef 1 and who will be chef 2. Following your selection you will be brought to your individual instructions. We will start with a split grocery list for those that maybe want to split the shopping and come together for the meal. Then you will find the recipe steps are written per person rather than chronologically. For example, one person can chop vegetables while the other is sautéing onion. The idea is for the recipes to be structured so working together in the kitchen is a seamless experience (and fun too!). We have game-ified cooking from start to finish (including clean up duty!).

If you guys try out this activity please let us know in the comments your experience doing it! We would love to hear from our twotocook community.

For those of you that prefer a pdf of the recipe with traditional structure of instructions click the link below:

Step 1: Pick your role!

Alright it's time to start. Between the two of you, decide who will be chef 1 and chef 2. It will be a surprise what tasks you will have to do and which lucky (or unlucky haha) winner will be on dishes tonight. Its all part of the fun!

Step 2: Grocery List

Step 3: Cooking

Thanks for making this recipe! We hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear your thoughts on our game-ified cooking adventure. Tag us on instagram and add in the comments your experiences making the dish. We hope you enjoyed my grandmas traditional gnocchi!

Until next recipe!

- twotocook