Crispy Ricotta Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Spring Peas for Invite a Blogger to Your Table

I am always cooking up something here on these pages at More Than Burnt Toast. This time around I am bringing you along for the ride if you wish. I don't know about you but I love to challenge myself. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges to infuse new life into my cooking adventures for a few years now. Even every day food should always be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and back on track and I am once again inspired.

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to "Invite a Blogger to Your Table"! This is a fun event and an outlet for us each to challenge ourselves and create stronger bonds within the blogging community. Nothing is more intimate, or more effective at creating friendships than cooking and sharing meals together, even it is virtually. But hey, if you live in the same area as another blogger what's to stop you from gathering in your own kitchen for this challenge. With this ongoing event I will challenge myself and one blogging friend at a time throughout the year as the seasons change. I hope this inspires you to make new friends in the blogging community as well as create something you have been itching to try.

Your choice of recipe can be anything you would like it to be. Is there something you have been wanting to make and need feedback and encouragement from a friend to create on your blog? Is there a special dish that you just have to share sweet or savoury? Do you just want the fun of collaborating with other bloggers to come up with a tasty dish you feel you and your readers might enjoy. This is a fun event that creates friendships throughout the blogosphere. Invite someone you have followed for years or a perfect stranger. It is up to you! You will find the rules below.

This time around I invited Gloria of Canelas' Kitchen from Santiago, Chile. We have followed each others blogs for years and she is always one of the first people to comment and offer encouragement. She is one of those bloggers that will always be a friend.

I have made potato gnocchi in the past but came across several recipes for ricotta gnocchi where not only would I need to make gnocchi from scratch but also homemade ricotta too. The initial recipe from chef  Erin Eastland Spring Asparagus, Morel Mushroom and Ramp Cream Sauce with Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi  was the inspiration and what peaked my interest. I did make the ricotta using her recipe but the recipe used ounces of flour and pounds of ricotta as well as an ingredient that has alluded me...ramps. Enter a wonderful recipe from Michael Symon from a cookbook exchange at Eat, Write, Retreat in Washington DC. Within its pages I found a recipe for Crispy Gnocchi with Morels and Spring Peas using measurements I could relate to. As I often do when cooking I combined the two recipes and voila a dish made in heaven.

I loved the tartness of the homemade ricotta from Erin's recipe which was due to adding buttermilk to the equation. It came out light and was perfect for this recipe. When I made potato gnocchi with chef Darin Patterson at a cooking class at Bogners in the Spring one of his "science" lessons learned was to add only the yolk of the egg to the dough...... lesson learned.

So on to the recipe. Thank you for joining me on this adventure Gloria!!!!!You can find her take on the recipe by following this link!

**Crispy Gnocchi with Morels and Spring Peas**
adapted from Michael Symon's, Live To Cook

For the gnocchi:

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Zest of one lemon
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 cup whole-milk ricotta, drained overnight or at least several hours (recipe below)
1 large egg (separated, use yolk only as per Darin Patterson)

For the sauce:

4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 oz. dried morel mushrooms (reconstituted according to package directions, rinsed and gently patted dry)(I used 1 cup of fresh mushrooms instead)
1/2 shallot, thinly sliced
kosher salt
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/4 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup frozen peas, partially thawed
1/4 cup vegetable stock
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

To make the dough:

Combine the flour, Parmesan, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl. Add drained ricotta and egg (yolk). Mix with hands until the dough just comes together. (Overworking with cause the dough to toughen.) Scrape dough into a well floured-surface, and pat into rough square. Using a knife, cut the dough into thirds and then gently roll piece into foot-long ropes, flouring as needed. Place dough ropes on a floured plate and refrigerate for 5 minutes and up to 2 hours. After dough has rested, return the ropes to a floured surface. Cut each rope into 1/2 inch pieces, and set aside while you make the sauce.

To make the sauce:

Put 2 tbsp butter into a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, add the morels and saute for 2 minutes. Add shallot and saute, seasoning with a pinch salt. Add garlic and parsley, then reduce heat to medium. Add the lemon juice and peas, and saute for a minute or two. Turn off heat and set aside.

Heat remaining 2 tbsp butter over medium-high heat in a saute pan large enough to accommodate gnocchi without crowding (I used a non-stick pan.) When the butter becomes brown and fragrant, add the gnocchi to the pan and cook, turning as needed, until crisp and browned on all sides, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Pour the morel and pea sauce over the gnocchi, turning to coat. Add vegetable stock and Parmesan, and gently toss. Spoon into shallow bowl and serve immediately.

**Cube Homemade Ricotta**

8 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup cream
salt to taste

*To prevent the milk from scorching, rinse your pot with cold water first.

Combine milk, buttermilk, cream and salt to taste in a large, heavy bottom pot. Set to medium heat, heating the milk up slowly. Bring the milk to a light, light boil. Turn it down to a simple simmer. DO NOT stir once the curds start to form on the top. The “raft” will begin to form. This looks like puffy clouds of deliciousness. Allow the mixture to cook for 10-15 minutes, the “raft” will look very solid. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes off the heat.

Remove the raft with a spider or slotted spoon. Transfer to a strainer with a bowl set underneath. Should any ricotta cling to the bottom of the pan, gently remove it and add to the colander. Do NOT pour the hot liquid over your fluffy ricotta! Allow to drain overnight or at least one hour. The longer you let it rest, the dryer it will be.

Place finished Ricotta into a bowl and tightly seal, use immediately or store in refrigerator up to 3 days.

Makes about 1lb. ricotta

If you would like to join in, here are the "rules" as I see it for now.

1) Choose a dish to prepare and invite 1(one) blogger to create that dish with you. You can source your recipe from a cookbook, magazine, blog or any other source. Your dish can be sweet or savoury; easy or complicated.

2) Decide upon a date that you can both mutually post your recipe within a 4 week time frame.

3) Link back to More Than Burnt Toast http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com/ somewhere in your post as the caretaker of this event.

4) Please feel free to use the Avatar/Badge above "Invite a Blogger to Your Table".

5) Once you have made your dish with your blogging friend or friends and posted it, you can choose to STOP or CONTINUE on and "invite another blogger to your table" to make something DIFFERENT on a mutually agreeable date within the next 4 week time frame.

6) If you would like to please e-mail Val at bloggerstable(AT)gmail(DOT)com for no other reason than to let her know you have participated. She would love to see what you have accomplished.

7) Cut and paste these instructions into your post and contact a friend. Let magic happen and let's get cooking!!!

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.