“Gnudi are kind of like if the inside of cheese tortellini had a baby with gnocchi. They are essentially little dumpling pillows of ricotta and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, with these ones getting an extra flavour bump from one of my favourite pantry staples, canned pumpkin. It may look fancy, but these pumpkin gnudi with a creamy blue cheese sauce are an absolute cinch to put together.” – Well Seasoned by Mary Berg
4ozmild blue cheesesuch as Gorgonzola or Danish Blue, divided
2tablespoonsextra virgin olive oil
½cupfinely chopped walnuts
Sage leaves
Instructions
Combine the ricotta, pumpkin, garlic, egg yolks, and sage in a medium bowl. Stir in the Parmigiano-Reggiano and nutmeg along with ½ cup of the flour, salt, and pepper. Mix just until combined. You should be able to roll a small amount of the mixture into a ball without it sticking to your hands too much. If it does stick, add another ¼ cup of flour and mix just to combine.
Heavily dust a baking sheet with an even layer of flour and, using a standard tablespoon or 1 oz cookie scoop, scoop out the gnudi. Roll them into balls, place them on the baking sheet, and press down gently to flatten slightly. Continue until all of the dough is used up. Set aside.
In a small saucepan or skillet, bring the cream to a simmer over medium-low heat and allow it to cook down for s minutes, stirring frequently. Crumble in about half of the blue cheese and stir until the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper and turn the heat to low to keep warm.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the gnudi, and cook in batches of about 10 pieces for 4 to s minutes. You want them to cook for about 1 minute after they float to the surface. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the gnudi to a clean baking sheet and toss with the oil. For crisp gnudi, warm the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet and fry the boiled gnudi until golden, about z minutes per side.
Crumble half of the remaining cheese into the warm sauce and stir to combine. Divide the sauce between four serving dishes and top with the gnudi. Serve sprinkled with chopped walnuts, remaining cheese, and a few sage leaves.