Pumpkin Gnudi (with Brown Butter Sage Sauce)

Let's get Gnudi!  Gnudi are little dumplings of love.  They are very similar to Gnocchi but where Gnocchi uses potatoes, Gnudi uses Ricotta Cheese for their base giving them a lighter feel.  For the autumn season we have given a twist to gnudi by adding pumpkin.  Usually gnudi calls for very little flour but because the Ricotta and Pumpkin Puree are both wetter ingredients these gnudi call for a little extra flour.  They still come out super light and with the combination of the sage browned butter, this is the perfect comfort dish for an fall day.

Pumpkin Gnudi
(with Brown Butter Sage Sauce)

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk Ricotta cheese**

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1 cup flour (may need extra)

1 cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated  

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

4 tsp unsalted butter

4 sage leaves, chopped

salt and pepper 

**Ingredient Note:  To try to get some of the moisture out of the Ricotta, a few hours before you are ready to prep (or the morning of) place the Ricotta in a cheese cloth and sit it in a colander that is in a bowl.  This allows the Ricotta to drain a little and you may not need to use as much flour.

1.  Fill a pot full of water and slat and bring to a boil.

2.  In a large mixing bowl combine Ricotta cheese, Pumpkin Puree, eggs, flour, Parmesan, and nutmeg (be careful as to how much nutmeg you use.  If you are using fresh nutmeg, just a few grates will be sufficient).  You want the consistency of the dough to be firm.  If your dough is still not firm after 1 adding 1 cup of flour, keep adding 1/4 cup at a time until the dough holds nicely together.  (A good test to see if your dough is ready, take a small spoonful of dough and add it to the boiling water. If it stays together than you are good to go.  If it falls apart then you know you need to add a little more flour)

3.  Fill a pastry bag with the dough (you will probably have enough to refill the pastry bag a couple of times).  Cut the end of the pastry bag about 2 inches from the tip (you can make the cut smaller or larger all depending on what size you want your dumpling to be).  Hold the pastry bag over the pot of water.  Squeeze the dough about 1/2 -1 inch out of the bag and cut with a pair of cooking scissors.  Keep cutting dough into the water until you have about 20 or so pieces or however many your pot can hold without cramming them together (be careful when doing this as the dough dropping into the water can cause it to splash.)  Once the dough rises to the top of the water (takes about 1 minute), they are done and can scooped out with a slotted spoon and added to the browned butter sauce.

4.  For the brown butter sage sauce:  add butter to a sauté pan.  Let the butter melt.  Once you see the butter start to turn brown around the edges of the pan, swirl the melted butter around the pan.  Add chopped sage leaves, salt and pepper and sauté for a minute to let the butter be infused with the sage.   Once the gnudi are done, carefully add them to the brown butter and toss in butter (I personally like to let the gnudi get a little brown on one side.)  Plate and shave some Parmesan on top.