Ricotta Gnocchi with Guanciale and Peas

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While I love a classic potato gnocchi, it is a little bit more time consuming than I’d like, given the need to cook and mash the potatoes before you can make the dough itself. My favourite thing about making pasta fresh at home, is the speed at which I can do so - a quick dough, a hand cut tagliatelle - 1 hour end to end if I’m in a rush. For some this might be a touch too far, but for me - 1 hour for freshly made pasta produced by my own two hands is kind of iconic.

This is where ricotta gnocchi comes in. Quite possibly the quickest dough you can make - far quicker than a regular egg dough, too. You can create the most soft and plump pillows in a short space of time, ready to be tossed in any sauce you throw at it. In the case of today’s recipe, that’s a silky and vibrant green pea sauce. I’m telling you - spring vibes in autumn is the new way to go for us southern hemisphere folk.

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Ricotta Gnocchi with Guanciale and Peas

Serves 4

Ingredients 

Ricotta Gnocchi

• 500g traditional ricotta, drained for 30 min to remove extra moisture

• 2 egg yolks

• 50g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 200g tipo 00 flour (plus extra for dusting)

Peas sauce

• 200g frozen baby or garden peas (you can also use fresh if you have access to these)

• 100g pea shoots

• 2 garlic cloves

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp mascarpone

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Finishing touches

• 100g guanciale, cut into small pieces

• 100g snap peas, finely sliced

• Parmigiano Reggiano, to serve

Method 

Ricotta gnocchi

1. In a large bowl combine the drained ricotta, egg yolks, salt and Parmigiano cheese and use a fork to combine.

2. Tip the ricotta mixture onto your work surface and spread out using a bench scraper.

3. Sprinkle over the flour and using a bench scraper and a cutting motion, incorporate the flour into the ricotta until just combined.

4. Use your hands and a little extra flour if it feels necessary, to bring the dough together until it’s in one large ball.

5. Divide the ball into several pieces.

6. Roll each piece out into a rope 2-3cm in thickness.

7. Dust well then cut 2-3cm pieces in each rope to form your gnocchi.

8. Dust with flour and set aside on a baking tray dusted with flour until ready to use.

NB: You can also store these loosely covered in the fridge for a few hours before cooking. Like potato gnocchi, I think these are best made and eaten same day. While you can freeze them before cooking, their texture can become compromised in the process and resulting gnocchi can become gummy and fall apart when cooked later.

Pea sauce

1. Bring a saucepan of water to boil and season with salt.

2. Blanche the frozen peas, pea shoots and garlic cloves for one minute before transferring to an ice bath.

3. Drain any water, then add this all to a blender (I like to use a Nutribullet to ensure a really silky and smooth sauce), along with the olive oil, mascarpone and lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste and blitz until completely smooth.

4. Pass the sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove any fibrous bits from the pea shoots, then cover and set aside until ready to use.

Finishing touches

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt generously.

2. In a cold pan, add the guanciale and nothing else. Place this over a low heat and allow the guanciale to slowly render, releasing its fat as it does so.

3. Once the guanciale starts to crisp up, add the sliced snap peas and sauté for a few minutes.

4. While this is happening, cook the ricotta gnocchi in batches for a couple of minutes or until they start to float, before scooping these out and adding them directly to the guanciale mix.

5. Add the pea sauce, a generous amount of pasta cooking water and toss to marry.

6. Serve with extra grated Parmigiano Reggiano.