Little spinach and ricotta dumplings, nestling in a lake of tomato sauce and topped with shaved Pecorino cheese (my favorite). They’d make a great vegetarian appetizer or you can add some bread and you’ve got yourself a dinner.
I recently started to introduce spinach into our diet, although hubby nor I am not a big fan of spinach. I wasn’t quite sure about what I’ll end up to when I prepared these, but the dumplings are really excellent and will definitely be found on our plate a few more times.
Ricotta Cheese and Spinach Dumplings in a Tomato Sauce
Little spinach and ricotta dumplings, nestling in a lake of tomato sauce and topped with shaved Pecorino cheese (my favorite). They’d make a great vegetarian appetizer or you can add some bread and you’ve got yourself a dinner.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
Tomato sauce:
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 can 420g; 16 oz diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Dumplings:
- 75 grams 1/3 cup; 2.64 oz fresh spinach
- 250 grams 1 cup; 8.8 oz ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 50 grams 3/4 cup; 1.76 oz grated parmesan cheese
- 180 grams 1 1/2 cup; 6.4 oz all-purpose flour + more for rolling
- pinch of salt and pepper
To garnish: shaved Pecorino cheese and basil leaves
Instructions
Tomato Sauce:
- Peel and chop the onion
- Heat the butter in a deep pot and cook the onion until translucent.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook 10 minutes with a lid on the pot. After 10 minutes remove the lid, stir and cook for another 3-4 minutes to thicken the sauce.
Dumplings:
- Bring a large, wide pot of salted water to a simmer.
- Put the spinach in a large bowl and separate it with your hands. Add the ricotta, 3/4 cup parmesan, the flour, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix with a fork to form a slightly sticky dough. Leave to rest for a few minutes. Spread some flour on a plate. Scoop out heaping tablespoonfuls of the spinach-ricotta mixture and roll into loose balls using floured hands. Gently roll the balls in the flour.
- Gently lower the dumplings into the simmering water and cook until they rise to the surface and are firm, about 5 minutes. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon, letting the water drain off, and add to the sauce. Gently toss to coat, then transfer to plates and sprinkle with pecorino cheese.
Notes
***In Croatia, we are using grams and milliliter. My every recipe has a measuring in cups, grams (milliliter) and ounces. I own cups and spoons measure utensils and I try to be exact when I convert weight into cups, but there is a slight possibility of deviation from the exact amount. Due to differences in measurement, I recommend that you use a kitchen scale, if you have one.
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