Pea Gnocchi Recipe - How to Make Pea Gnocchi at Home (2024)

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 4 people

Prep Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

OPTIONAL PEA BROTH

• ▢ About 2 pounds pea pods
• ▢ Green parts of 1 green garlic stalk
• ▢ 3 green onions
• ▢ Stems from a bunch of parsley
• ▢ Salt

GNOCCHI

• ▢ 1 cup peas, thawed or fresh
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 cup ricotta cheese
• ▢ A healthy pinch of salt
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon nettle or spinach powder (optional)
• ▢ 1 to 2 cups flour

SAUCE

• ▢ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 1/4 cup whey (see above)
• ▢ 1/2 cup pea or chicken broth
• ▢ 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• ▢ Salt and black pepper to taste
• ▢ 1 cup peas
• ▢ White part from a stalk of green garlic, or 1 large garlic clove, sliced thin

• To make the broth, bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add all the ingredients, and salt to taste. Boil this hard for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the broth steep while you make everything else.

• To make the gnocchi, buzz the peas into a puree in a food processor or blender. You might need to add a little broth (pea or chicken) to loosen things up. I push the puree through a fine-meshed sieve, but you don't need to. You will need 1/2 cup of puree. Put the puree in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients except the flour.

• Now add 1 cup of flour and mix with a spoon. The dough should be wet and tacky and not quite workable. Add just a little flour at a time until you can form the dough into a rough log about 1 inch thick. This is not pasta dough, so it should be very soft and very tricky to work with -- the key to great gnocchi is to add as little flour as possible to make the dumplings. Under no circ*mstances should you need more than the maximum of 2 cups.

• When you have your 1-inch-thick log of dough, cut it into 1/2 inch pieces. Very gently roll those pieces off the end of a gnocchi board or a fork; this creates texture that the sauce can adhere to. You can skip it if this freaks you out, though.

• Boil the gnocchi in a large pot of salty water until they float, then for 1 minute more. Drain and set in a baking sheet so they don't touch each other.

• To finish the dish, heat the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When it has melted, add the whey, broth and whisk in the grated cheese. When the cheese has melted, add the peas, green garlic and gnocchi and toss to combine. Turn off the heat, grind some black pepper over everything and serve. You can add a little more cheese if you want, and lemon zest is a nice touch, too.