Gnudi with Ricotta and Parmesan

You may not immediately recognise the name Nigel Slater, but this man is more important to our food than Jamie and Nigella combined. Jamie and Nigella themselves agree, by the way. His latest book is now in the shops, and you should make sure you get your hands on it as soon as possible.

In his Culinary Winter Diary, food writer Nigel Slater takes you through winter one meal at a time. Each day, he tells you what he is working on, but more importantly: what he eats. These gnudi with ricotta and Parmesan take a while to make—an absolute exception for Nigel—but they are more than worth it. Serve the soft Italian dumplings with a spinach sauce and, yes, even more cheese. A feast!

Method

1. Place the ricotta in a bowl. Grate over a little nutmeg and add a pinch of salt. Finely grate the Parmesan and gently stir it into the contents of the bowl. Prepare a baking tray with a thick layer of semolina.
Use a teaspoon to scoop up a generous portion of the gnudi mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands into a small ball. (Dust your hands with semolina; it helps.)
2. You can make round gnudi, but I prefer to shape them slightly oval. Drop the gnudi onto the baking tray dusted with semolina and roll them back and forth until they are coated with a layer of semolina. Make balls from all the mixture in this way. This should produce roughly twenty small gnudi.
3. Shake the baking tray so the gnudi are covered with the remaining semolina and place the tray in the fridge. Do not be tempted to cover it. Leave it overnight.
4. Bring a pan of water to the boil with a generous amount of salt, as much as you would add for pasta. Very gently drop a few gnudi at a time into the boiling water. They are cooked when they float to the surface. This usually takes three to five minutes. Serve with spinach sauce with pecorino (recipe follows).

Spinach sauce with pecorino

1. Wash the spinach thoroughly and let it soften in a large pan with a lid; steam the leaves in their own moisture for about two minutes, turning them once or twice. When the spinach is bright green and wilted, remove it from the pan, squeeze it as dry as possible and chop it fairly finely.
2. Bring the cream almost to the boil in a pan, stir in the chopped spinach and grated pecorino, spoon the sauce over the gnudi and serve, sprinkled with some pea shoots.

Title: Culinary Winter Diary
Author: Nigel Slater
Publisher: Fontaine
Price: €29.99