It’s less than a month away from Christmas and many of you are in the holiday mode with parties, work functions and thoughts of Christmas with family and friends.
Some of your early birds have already begun shopping for gifts. The foodie in you (or your friends) always has room for another good cookbook. Why not make it a Greek cookbook? There are a few cookbooks I will recommend for this holiday season but I would like to once again highlight Michael Psilakis’ “How to Roast a Lamb”. The book combines storytelling by Michael and many, many recipes that were inspired by the Greek food Michael ate as a child.
One of Michael’s more popular dishes are his ricotta dumplings, very much like Gnudi. His dumplings are often ordered from the Kefi menu and after having made my own batch, I now understand the popularity behind these fluffy pillows of cheese. The book includes his Bon Appetit Recipe of the Year (2006) with sausage, dandelions, sun-dried tomato and pine nuts but I’m going to share my own creation, using Michael’s ricotta dumplings.
Here, I slice some dry Chorizo sausage, fry it up until crispy and throw a party in the skillet with some oyster mushrooms, some shallots, garlic and fresh sage. The other cheese used to make the dumplings is a Graviera from Crete. This cheese is firm and moderately briny. A firm Gruyere would work fine as well.
Sage is a hardy herb that resists a light autumn frost and it survives the cold Canadian winter. I have sage in my garden and I recommend you plant some next Spring as well.
Ricotta Dumplings Recipe
(Approx. 30 ricotta dumplings)
2 cups of strained ricotta cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, as much as needed (approx. 50 gr.)
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated Graviera cheese (or firm Gruyere)
3/4 tsp. of sea salt
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
all-purpose & semolina flour for the baking sheet
- If you have a wet ricotta (this recipe requires dry fresh ricotta), place the ricotta in a metal sieve with a pot underneath and strain overnight. This way, you will not need as much flour and therefore you will have light and fluffy dumplings.
- Liberally dust your working surface with flour. Assemble all your chilled ingredients. In a large metal bowl, combine the ricotta, beaten egg, grated Graviera, salt and pepper.
- Use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients well and squeeze down on the ricotta to break it up while mixing. Scatter a small handful of flour around the edges of your wet mixture and again with your spatula, gently bring the flour and part of the wet mixture (scoop, lift and overturn) towards the middle. Once everything is mixed, place another handful of flour on your work surface and transfer your dough.
- With a light hand, add some flour to the top of your dough and lightly work the flour (pressing) into the mixture. Keep on adding flour (slowly and lightly) until the mixture holds together and it is no longer tacky (sticky).
- Cut the dough in half and again in half, leaving you with four equal pieces. Treat your hands with flour and roll the dough into a sausage that is about 3/4 inch thick. Now cut into 1-inch pieces and place on a baking sheet that has a bed of some mixed all-purpose and semolina flour. Your dumplings will look like small pillows.
- Chill the dumplings for 20 minutes before cooking.
NOTE: Michael Psilakis’ original recipe is for 90 dumplings. Increase this recipe 3-fold to make a large batch. To freeze, lay out on flour & semolina covered baking sheets and keep them out (uncovered) room temperature for 6 hours before freezing in zip-lock bags. Good for a month.
Ricotta Dumplings With Crispy Chorizo, Mushrooms and Sage
(serves 4)
1/2 a dried Chorizo sausage (or 1/2 cup) thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 shallots (or 1/2 cup) finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of Oyster mushrooms, hand torn (or fresh mushrooms of your choice)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
1 tsp. of fresh thyme
1 Tbsp. of fresh sage, thinly sliced (chiffonade)
1 cup of baby spinach, washed and patted dry
salt and pepper to taste
Shaved Graviera cheese (Romano would also work well)
- Place a large pot of boiling water on your stove-top over high heat. Bring to a boil and add a good amount of salt. When the water returns to a boil, add your dumplings. If fresh, the dumplings will be cooked when they float to the top (a matter of 3-4 minutes). Frozen dumplings will take a litter longer to cook.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add your mushroom and sliced Chorizo (but no oil). Saute your Chorizo and mushrooms until until they take on a nut-brown colour. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.
- In the same skillet, add your olive oil over medium heat and add your shallots and garlic and saute while stirring for about 3-4 minutes. Now add the wine, your fresh thyme, sage and reduce on medium-low until the liquid has reduced to half. Add your Chorizo and mushroom and toss to coat. Season with some salt and pepper and reserve and keep warm.
- As soon as your dumplings have cooked, use a slotted spoon to scoop and transfer the dumplings to the skillet. Place the skillet over medium heat, add the spinach and toss to coat the dumplings with the sauce and to slightly wilt the spinach.
- Divide and plate. Drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil, crack some fresh pepper over each serving and finish with shavings of Graviera (or Romano) cheese. Serve with a Chardonnay, like the Babatzim Chardonnay.
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at https://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
© 2007-2009 Peter Minakis
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38 Responses
This year will be a less abundant Christmas as I am not currently working..this means no gift giving to family members (they understand!!) and no fancy menus or festivites at my home…Truth be known, I’m never one for “being in the Christmas spirit,” in fact, I would rather hibernate starting December 1st and wake up in April – LOL!
I love doughy foods like gnocchi and pierogies…and these dumplings are no exception…mind you I would probably eat all of them and that is a not good! It all looks delicious Peter – Bravo!!!
p.s. I had no idea that sage can withstand our winters…thanks for the gardening tip :)
ricotta dumplings – i love the idea, it sounds novel
I’ve never heard of these before but they look really really tasty! The combination of the dumpling and the sausage must be amazing.
Sound delicious, Peter. It blends my 3 favorite cuisines…Italian, Spanish and Greek since it comes via 2 Greek chefs, you and Psilikis. I know I’m getting a copy of his book for Christmas and looking forward to spending some time with it turning the pages.
I made gnudi a few years back – they were a great success, I must revisit them.
Got to love anything with chorizo! The dumplings look amazing, love dumplings!! Great recipe:)
peter peter, this is right up my craving-alley. Love this!
That looks so amazing. What isn’t good in this recipe? Nothing! YOu have a perfect combination of ingredients.
I’m excited about these dumplings because I had amazing gnudi at MP’s Mia Dona restaurant about a year ago. I can still remember how they tasted like little clouds of ravioli. I’m sure this variation will be equally wonderful.
dumplings is a magical word, isn’t it–it just trigggers hunger and drool. add in some cheese and sausage and i don’t stand a chance against it.
I just had ricotta dumplings at the restaurant I went to last night and was saying to Jeff that I need to make them. So this is perfect timing, Peter. Thanks!
Throw a party in a skillet! You should have invited us too. :) Those dumplings sound really delicious.
Oh Peter, this sounds amazing!
This dish looks absolutely delicious, Peter! Such an awesome combination of flavors!
I’ve never tried making ricotta dumplings before but these look so easy! I love the “sauce” you used for this…love the chorizo!
What is not to love about this? Dumplings? Sage? Mushrooms? CHORIZO? Whip me up a plate of this!
This looks absolutely delicious, Peter. You would have had me at mushrooms and sage, but you’ve also included two of my other favorite foods. Heaven!
I have this book but haven’t had chance to cook from it yet — love the feel and photography of the book. can’t wait to learn more about Greek cooking.
Amazing Peter! I can see the flavors jumping out at me
Ricotta dumplings and chorizo sound so good together, a lovely dish!
Great info, and yeah- Michael’s pretty much awesome. I also appreciate your being so active. I check your site daily.
This would def get my kefi revved up! I love the sage too!
I love this! I will definitely be making this. Thanks, Peter.
Love everything about this dish! The combination of flavors must be incredible!
Wow, I so want to make this! I think my homemade ricotta which is quite dry would would perfect for those dumplings.
I did see this book at our local Chapters and have it on my wish list.
I will have to put this book on my list. My cookbook list is always growing it seems!
Another stellar photograph and recipe, Peter. You always amaze me with the appeal of your dishes. That chorizo is taunting me….I am going to have to buy some soon.
Oooh, great dish Peter! NEver tried ricotta dumplings but look forward to doing so. Lovely fall/winter flavors.
Gosh, that is super pretty! And I bet delicious too!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this! I’ve eaten at Kefi a couple of times (including the evening my now-fiance and I got engaged), and simply adore those ricotta dumplings. And of course, I’ve wondered how to make them. I love the idea of serving them with chorizo. I’m pretty excited about his cookbook too. Perhaps you can tell me: does it have instructions for his feta appetizer? I’ve put together versions of that on my own, but it would be nice to see the original as well.
another mouth-watering recipe! I am going to try making these dumplings one of these days they look too good to pass up!
These look so good, but I doubt Psilakis had them as a kid :-)
Oh sweetie, this looks totally delicious!
I have his book on my wishlist, looks like a good one!
Peter, you are killing me! Whenever I come here I want to dive into the pictures and eat the food. This looks fabulous and it’ll be added onto the must-make list right behind your gnocchis! Wonderful!
ggggooooodddd. ok, now this dish… awesome. i can almost taste how light those gnudi must be (sorry, ricotta dumplings). i love his idea too – i really do need to pick up his book. can you believe i have no greek cookbooks? shame on me.
Alright, I was so inspired by this recipe that I tried making it! Here’s my post about it:
http://cookingromanian.blogspot.com/2009/12/making-greek-ricotta-dumplings-and-then.html
The result was delicious, so I’ll thank you again for the post!
Crispy chorizo, mushrooms and ricotta dumplings…..I want to eat that now!
These look fabulous! Are they sort of the same as ricotta gnocchi? We made those for the daring cooks months ago and I did think they were hard to make!
What an amazing recipe!!! I cooked it this evening, and I have to say, it is a superb recipe. I made just a few small alterations suitable for the South African “availability” options.
1. Substituted red onion for the scallions (not available at present)
2. Used a LOT less olive oil (for dietary reasons)… found that about 1 tablespoon was plenty.
3. Used about double the quantity of english spinach and chorizo.
4. Used 1/2 the garlic (It was a small MOUNTAIN of garlic after I finished mincing it).
5. Made the dumplings slightly smaller.
Other than that, I followed the recipe and it was STUNNING!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing it.