Ricotta Spinach Gnocci

[Barbo]

Hey my spelling might be off?
This is a new recipe for me. I saw it made on TV and tweaked
a bit. DH thought it delicious and I could hardly wait for it to
come out of the oven. It smelled so good.

Ricotta Spinach Balls LC
Pre-heat oven to 350
Butter a 9x13" pyrex baking dish

1 lb. fresh baby spinach
8 oz. whole ricotta cheese
3 tbs. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk, beaten
4 tbs. butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Place baby spinach in boiling water for one minute.
Remove to an ice bath and shock to stop it cooking
Drain well, then squeeze it DRY. Chop it.
Place in bowl and add 2 tbs. butter and all the
rest of the ingredients.

Form into balls and lay in buttered dish.
Drizzle with the rest of the butter and sprinkle
with Parmesan cheese lightly

Bake 30 minutes.

Makes about 15 balls that will fill the baking dish without
them touching each other.

This recipe is very basic and much can be done with it.
Sauce, more cheese on top broiled, garlic. I hope that you
will try it, it's so very LC and yummy.
We used it as a side with steak on the BarB

[Jaded62]

WOW!! That sounds great. Thank`s.

[jigglenomore]

Oooooooh!! These look mahvelous!!! Thanks, Barbo!

[RubyJ]

I gotta try this! Thanks

[pooticus]

Good lord honey this sounds wonderful! Sounds like this may be my weekend project for me this weekend! Thanks!

[Barbo]

The cold ones were even good. I love this recipe and cannot wait
to do it again along with some Italian sauce. They are NOT
watery and they are fine to pick up with the fingers.

[Charski]

I saw that on TV too - who made these? I can't remember - but I DO remember thinking at the time, dang, THAT is easily low-carbed!

Glad you did the experiment, Barbo. They sound divine!

[Harlowma]

Yummy!!!! Going to try this!

[lindaokc]

Ok, another great Barbo recipe. I'll have to try this as soon as we can get to the store. We're kinda buried under a bunch of snow here, but it sounds so yummy and it has to melt sometime.

[magnamater]

Threadjack!

Hey, Linda, long time no see, as I'm awol--looks awful in OKC, stay in, stay warm!

[CarolynF]

Originally Posted by lindaokc

Ok, another great Barbo recipe. I'll have to try this as soon as we can get to the store. We're kinda buried under a bunch of snow here, but it sounds so yummy and it has to melt sometime.

We are sharing the storm, Linda..

Barbo: How about leaving the spinach out? My dh doesn't like spinachy dishes like I do?

[lindaokc]

Originally Posted by magnamater

Threadjack!

Hey, Linda, long time no see, as I'm awol--looks awful in OKC, stay in, stay warm!

Janie!! So good to "see" you again. Welcome back. It is pretty awful here, but better days are ahead.

Carolyn, hoping you can stay safe and warm also and not have to venture out in this. I think many states are suffering now.

[Soobee]

Carolyn, maybe if you dried canned pumpkin on paper towels ( I saw this on America's test kitchen) you could make pumpkin gnocchi.

[mojave]

Thanks for the recipe, sounds good!

[lindaokc]

Ok, got out to the store and bought some frozen spinach. Hoping it will work as well. Planning on making this for supper to go with some chicken, but also having grandchildren again....IF we get another snow day tomorrow.

[Barbo]

It was on the Cooking Channel. It's a new program called
"Extra Virgin" and the man who cooked this is from Tuscany.
He and his wife have a rather new show.

Linda, if you use frozen spinach I cannot guarantee it will be the same.
If you do use frozen, then cook it lightly and then squeeze it until it
is very dry. That is very important to the recipe. Then add your other
ingredients. When you make the balls they will stay together if
the spinach is dried out. There was no liquid at all in the baking
pan after they were cooked or even before. Sprinkle with melted
butter or olive oil and a little bit of grated parm and bake.

If someone does not like spinach, I wonder if they could cook broccoli
and squeeze it out? Guess we will have to experiment.

[lindaokc]

Barbo, just finished supper and everyone LOVED the lc Spinach balls!!! Tasted a lot like a spinach/artichoke dip that my DIL makes. Even my 13 year old granddaughter ate them like candy, lol. They were soooo good. The frozen spinach worked fine, I squeezed it dry first, after thawing, and then proceeded w/ the rest of the ingredients. There isn't any left over to try cold.

Thanks so much for the recipe!

[MsWoods]

Sub.

[hardrain]

The recipe sounds awesome! I'm finally able to get out today to rock up some spinach. Will be dinner tomorrow night. Trying to make things that husband will enjoy as well and these sound perfect.

[Linny]

Wow!!

[mistyjo1]

on my Barbo these are so good... thank you

[CarolynF]

I'm making these this week..Dh won't be home for dinner, so I can make and enjoy the spinach...

[hardrain]

Barbo- I finally made these tonight. Totally wonderful, they will be a regular dish around this house. Thank you!

[RubyJ]

I made these two night ago.
I did something wrong because they flattened out. (I used frozen spinach and I thought it was dry enough, might have needed to dry it more)

Anyway - It all turned out for the best. I layered the flat baked spinach gnocchi with meat sauce and sliced meatballs, sprinkled mozzarella on top and baked until cheese melted.
Tasted just like spinach lasagne!

[SCOTTSDALEJULIE]

Barbo, another winner. Just copied it into my Demy, and will try it soon. Thanks, Julie

[kristen777]

i was so bummed with my results, i followed the recipe perfectly and mine spread into one giant thin layer in the dish


i also followed another recipe on here for ricotta gnocci and it turned to mush

[katlj]

Oh WOW! These sound diiiiiiiviiiiiiine!!

I'm wondering if some folks are having issues with the spreading due to the ricotta they use? I know when I used to make lasagna it always ran when I bought what was available at the grocery. When I bought more premium ricotta at an Italian specialty store, I didn't have the same problem.

I can't wait to try these! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

[Barbo]

Whole milk ricotta is very thick.

You MUST wring that spinach DRY very DRY before you add
anything else. Did you plunge it into boiling water for one minute?
Then did you shock it with ice water? Then you drain it and
wring it out. You can use towels, but it really has to be dry.
You don't want it watery at all. It should not flatten out at all.

[Linny]

Did anyone happen to take a picture of these?

[hardrain]

I wish that I had taken a picture, they were pretty little green balls. I squeezed the spinach out probably three times. When I made into balls, they had a soft but firm consistency. I used just regular whole ricotta from the store. I say give it another try bc if I can do it, anyone can. They are worth it and I ate on them for probably four days.