Garlic Chive Ricotta Gnocchi with Oyster Mushroom Browned Butter Sauce
For the gnocchi:
1/2 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (1 cups)
1 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
3 garlic chives, snipped into very small pieces
lemon zest, a couple of pinches
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated (I ended up using shredded because it's what I had)-although I halved the recipe I left this in it's original amount.
¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt), pepper
2-3 Tablespoons flour
More flour for forming the gnocchi
For the sauce:
1-2 cups roughly chopped oyster mushrooms
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
3 Tablespoons butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Step 1: Drain your ricotta in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or coffee filters like I used. Very wet ricottas should be drained over night. My ricotta was dry and only required 2 hours but apparently wet ricotta can be the doom of ricotta gnocchi, so heed this warning.
Step 2: Making the dough
To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon. As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible. I did push mine through a strainer. Add the lightly beaten egg to the mashed ricotta. Melt the tablespoon of butter and add it to the ricotta mixture along with. Add in lemon zest, garlic chives, parmesan, salt and pepper. Beat all the ingredients together very well. At this point I added a small amount of flour (2-3 Tablespoons) based on comments I'd read regarding other's experience with the recipe. You want the dough to be slighty sticky but not wet.
Step 3: Forming the Gnocchi
After watching a video on making gnocchi I chose a method where you roll the dough into logs then cut your pieces rather than forming one at a time using a small bit of the dough.
I then made light fork marks in each piece (don't mash) so that the sauce had something to rest in. You can also make a slight indention with your finger to make a little bowl.
Lay the pieces in a shallow layer of flour
Step 4: Cooking the Gnocchi and Sauce
At this point you should be prepared to eat soon (or refrigerate or freeze the gnocchi)! Coordinate so that your sauce is ready when the gnocchi come out of the water. For the sauce, brown butter and garlic in skillet then add mushrooms and cook down until mushrooms are beginning to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Remove to a separate bowl but don't clean skillet. For the gnocchi, bring a large pot filled with water to boil. Drop the gnocchi one by one in the water. Once they float to the top cook them for 3-5 minutes. You may have to bump them off the bottom of the pot. As the gnocchi were done I added them to the hot skillet with a slotted spoon and quickly browned them. I served them with the mushrooms mixture on top and added more chives for a little color.