Malfatti: Ricotta and Swiss Chard Dumplings

Do you ever read a cookbook, food blog, or food magazine, and a recipe just reaches out, smacks you, and screams, "You must make me!"? That's what happened to me with this recipe. I don't know why, but when I saw it in this month's Saveur, I instantly decided that I had to try it. And because these little dumplings are basically like ricotta gnocchi, I was finally motivated to make homemade ricotta the way I'd been planning to do for approximately 5 months. 

You can make a whole meal out of these little dumplings, or you can serve them as a side. As an added benefit, they freeze well, and you don't even have to defrost them--just throw them in a pot of boiling water the same way you would with the unfrozen dumplings.

The original recipe called for sage leaves to be gently cooked in some butter along with the boiled dumplings. I tried this and wasn't crazy about it, but I left the sage leaves in the pictures because they looked pretty. You can certainly try adding some sage leaves to the butter as the dumplings cook; if you try it, let me know how you like it. I was kind of thinking that rosemary might work well, and I was also thinking that olive oil rather than butter might be nice. But whether you use herbs or not, you should definitely add pine nuts; they weren't in the original recipe, but in my opinion, they made the dish. And one last change--I used less butter than the original recipe called for because the original recipe called for a total of 16 tablespoons, which I just couldn't do.

Malfatti:

Ricotta and Swiss Chard Dumplings

(Adapted from Sauveur)

• 1 pound ricotta
• 1 tsp Kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 2 bunches Swiss chard (about 2 pounds), tough inner stems removed
• 1 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (or two more bunches Swiss chard--that's what the original recipe called for)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 flour, plus more as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• A handful of pine nuts
• Optional: 24 sage leaves

Make your own ricotta and drain it well, or put store-bought ricotta in a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl and let drain overnight in the refrigerator. Measure 1 1/4 cups drained ricotta and reserve any extra for another use.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add chard; cook until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Drain chard and let cool. Squeeze chard with your hands to expel liquid. Place chard and spinach in a tea towel and squeeze to remove as much water as possible.

Transfer the chard and spinach to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer chard to a large bowl along with the ricotta, 1 teaspoon salt, melted butter, flour, nutmeg, egg yolks, and egg. Season with pepper and mix until smooth.

Test one dumpling--in a large pot of salted water, cook the dumpling until it floats to the surface. If it falls apart during this process, add more flour. Also taste the dumpling for seasoning, and adjust as needed. Using 2 spoons, shape 1 teaspoon at a time into an oval (like making a quenelle). Place the dumplings on a lightly floured baking sheet.

If you're not cooking the dumplings immediately, freeze them at this point. Later, when you would like to cook them, just throw them in a pot of boiling water--there's no need to defrost them first.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the pine nuts (add the sage leaves at this point if you would like to use them) and dumplings and cook, tossing frequently, until the pine nuts and dumplings are nicely browned. Serve.

Ricotta

For a while now, I had been meaning to make my own ricotta because I keep reading about how easy it is, and how superior home made ricotta is compared to the store-bought stuff.

Now, technically, this is not true ricotta, as ricotta is actually made  from the whey that's left over at the end of the cheese making process. Really, this is more like a paneer or queso fresco, but it tastes and looks like a ricotta, and can therefore be used in any recipe that call for this cheese, whether the application is sweet or savory.

I read a lot of recipes for home made ricotta, and found that vinegar, lemon juice, and animal rennet, when combined with whole milk and heat, can all create the desired curds. Some people claim that lemon juice, while effective, can lend the ricotta an acidic taste. Surprisingly, vinegar is less noticeable than lemon, and unsurprisingly, rennet makes for the best results.

Because rennet is not easy to find, I went with the vinegar option, and because I'm lazy, I microwaved the milk rather than stirring it forever in a pot on the stove. I mean, heating milk on the stove is tedious, there is almost always a hard to clean up boil-over, and the milk usually scorches on the bottom of the pot, which is also difficult to clean up. A microwave, however, leaves you with a nice, easily cleaned glass bowl.

You can make a lower-fat ricotta by using a reduced fat milk, but it's generally not recommended, as the resulting product will be rather anemic in taste and texture. And, of, course, you want to find the best possible milk.

I used my ricotta in some ricotta and Swiss chard dumplings, but you could also make lasagne, a ravioli filling, cheesecake, or anything your heart desires.

Ricotta

• 9 cups whole milk
• 9 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (use more if you want a salty product, and less if you want to use this in a sweet recipe)

Place a colander over a bowl, and line it with 4 layers of cheesecloth or two layers of food-safe paper towels.

Place the milk, vinegar, and salt in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until the curds have separated from the rest of the milk. I started with 5 minutes and continued to heat the milk in 1 minute increments until the milk separated; timing will differ based on the microwave.

The recipes I consulted suggested heating the milk anywhere between 165 and 200 degrees, so start taking the milk's temperature when it begins to separate, and continue to take it periodically until the milk is fully separated, and use the temperatures listed above as a rough guideline.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the curds to the lined colander, and allow them to drain until the desired consistency is reached, anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours.