Is it redundant to top ricotta balls with ricotta? Perhaps. But that’s exactly what I did. An easy recipe, thanks to the The Pasta Queen, served with my favorite new salad of shredded veggies with a Caesar-like dressing and a glass of The Prisoner Wine Company’s Unshackled, a tasty red blend. (Missing from photo: fresh basil. Sorry, I was out.)
nota bene:
You should follow The Pasta Queen; she’s way more entertaining than I am and wears silk blouses and red lipstick when she cooks.
And, as an Italian-American, I’m ashamed to say that I thought I was preparing gnudi for dinner, but these are Calabrian Ricotta Balls (as the title states—pay attention, Lisa). Some other night, I’ll try ricotta gnudi.
RECIPES:
PQ’s Ricotta Balls: 400 grams ricotta, 90 grams breadcrumbs, 50 grams of Parmesan (recipe calls for pecorino which I didn’t have and at 50 g I got tired of grating), 1 egg, bunch of fresh parsley (used my home-recently-dried), salt & pepper to taste. Roll into no more than 1.5” balls.
My sauce: About 3 tbsp olive oil, same amount of butter. Heat. Mash in 2 anchovies, several cloves of chopped garlic—2 minutes. 1 tbsp tomato paste—darken. 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes (squeeze them in your hand to break them up before dropping into the pan, like my mother used to do), salt, pepper, a little onion powder (Hey, I’m from Long Island, not Italy). Add chopped fresh basil at the end, but like I said, I had none, so I used my own dried basil and added it with the other seasonings. Add another tbsp butter and simmer until tasty, breaking up tomatoes more as you stir.
Place ricotta balls into sauce, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Top with grated parmesan, fresh basil, and go crazy: more ricotta.
Salad: Use mandolin on setting “1” and grate 4-5 Brussels sprouts, a couple of cauliflower chunks, 1 fennel bulb, a few cremini mushrooms. Toss in dressing, shower with grated parmesan, and sprinkle with minced fennel leaves. Other veg options: radishes (that would have been pretty), red radicchio, cucumber, etc.
Mandoline from Amazon—the best $20 I ever spent
Dressing: (adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine) Mix 2 tsp garlic paste & 2 smashed anchovies or 1 tbsp anchovy paste. (I’ve tried using the side of a knife (BA’s suggestion) to mash 1 thinly sliced garlic clove with 2 anchovies, a mortar and pestle, and a mini-chopper, but garlic paste is most efficient) Stir in 2+ tbsp lemon juice (BA says 1/4 cup or 4 tbsp—way too much for me), 2 tsp Dijon, 2 tbsp mayo. Whisk in 1/2 cup good olive oil until emulsified. Stir in at least 3 tbsp grated parmesan. I double the recipe and keep it in a jar in the fridge.
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Serve and enjoy!
