Growing up Italian, Gnocchi was frequently served at our house. It was normally made with potatoes and served with marinara sauce. But on very special occasions, we had spinach Gnocchi with mushroom sauce and I thought it was heavenly! This is how I remember it, but I use Porcini mushrooms for the sauce in place of button mushrooms. You’ll love this recipe!
Ingredients:
Serves 6
- 2 bags of fresh spinach
- 1 1/4 cups of fresh Parmesan cheese (divided use)
- 1 1/4 cups of flour (divided use)
- 1 1/4 cups of Ricotta cheese
- 2 egg yolks, room temperature
- dash of nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and 1/2 tsp of black or white pepper
- 3 Tbs of butter
- 2 1/2 cups of whole milk
- 1/3 oz of dried Porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water, drained on paper towels and chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°
Bring a large pot of boiling water to a boil, add the spinach and cook just until it wilts. Drain, and when it’s cool enough to handle, squeeze out all of the moisture and chop finely.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of flour, ricotta, egg yolks, nutmeg and the salt & pepper. Mix well.
Butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, add the butter, when melted, sprinkle in 1/4 cup of flour and stir. Slowly add in the milk, bring to a boil, stir continuously, til thickened. Remove from the heat and add the mushrooms. Add salt to taste.
Time to roll out the gnocchi, flour your work surface and working in 3-4 batches with well floured hands, start rolling your dough into a long, narrow rope.
Cut into 1 1/4 inch pieces and squeeze into shape a little with your fingers (rectangular pillows) You will use all of the remaining flour during this rolling process, keep your hands and your surface well floured.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the gnocchi, about 10 at a time to the pot, when they rise to the top, spoon them out with a spider or a slotted spoon, drain briefly on a paper towel, then add to the buttered casserole dish, continue until all are cooked and placed in the casserole dish, arrange so that they are very snug and in a single layer.
Pour the sauce over the gnocchi and sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly. 
Ready to serve! Crack open the wine! This is guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone’s face!
