Tuscan Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings

It was my good fortune recently to spend a week in Tuscany on a culinary tour, assisting a friend of mine with some cooking classes. Of course, I was as much a student as a teacher, and I learned a ton as we banged around from town to town. One of the recipes that especially impressed me was gnudi (in English, we’d pronounce it like “nude”). These scrumptious little dumplings are built out of leftover ravioli filling — usually ricotta, spinach and cheese (pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano) — combined with a bit of egg and flour, rolled into a ball and poached, then served with a brown butter sage sauce. But why “nude”? Because basically they are ravioli that are stripped of the pasta with which they are generally clothed.

Although gnudi are very similar to the venerable Italian potato dumplings called gnocchi, they’re much easier to make and lighter in texture. If you have a little extra time on your hands, you can drain the ricotta in a sieve to remove excess water, then pat it dry — a step that concentrates the flavor and decreases the amount of flour needed for the recipe. Here I’ve skipped that step to save time. The dough will be quite wet, but with the help of a bit of flour coating, it will still be very easy to shape.

As mentioned, gnudi are usually served with a butter sauce flavored with fresh sage. But I wanted to top my gnudi with something lighter, a sauce that would provide an acidic counterbalance to the natural sweetness of the dumplings. (The source of that sweetness? The milk sugar in the ricotta.) So I went with marinara. You can make your own or opt for your favorite store-bought version.

These dumplings can be cooked ahead, drained, chilled and refrigerated for two to three days. To revive them, simmer them for a few minutes in a pot of boiling water, then top the gnudi with the heated marinara. A glass of Chianti — Tuscany’s justly celebrated signature wine — is the perfect beverage to drink with this dish. Saluti!