Although spinach gnudi — soft, pillowy cheese dumplings fried in browned butter and sage — are traditionally more of a spring or summer food, I’m here to make the argument we should eat them right now, in prime soup-and-sweater weather. Because did you hear the part about warm cheese? the puddle of brown butter? the earthy sage? It’s a symphony of delicious fall things and if you tell me you don’t want to curl up on the plate and take a nap in it, fine, I’ll believe you but I do think you’re in denial.
Gnudi literally means “naked” in Italian — consider them spinach and ricotta ravioli without the pasta wrapper. I think they’re better in every way because you get all of the soft, cheesy filling, none of the pasta fuss that can feel leaden together. Typically, gnudi are made with fresh greens that have been blanched and finely chopped but I’ve been on a mission over the last year to give frozen spinach (reliable! economical! seasonless!) more love, especially when all I’d planned to do with the fresh stuff was cook it down and feel bereft when it vanished. Frozen spinach saves me this heartache, and here we’re using a whole box, saving us a math headache too.
From there, it’s just a few simple steps to make — mix with ricotta, parmesan, an egg, seasoning, and a small enough amount of flour that I bet a gluten-free flour would work as swap — form into balls, boil them briefly until they float like marbled green clouds, and brown them in a skillet with butter and sage. The result is decadent and cozy and while I briefly considered arguing that they’re not nearly as heavy as you’d expect from, you know, cheese fried in butter (they’re not!) I’ll say instead that they’re the exactly correct level, which is to say effectively warming and delicious but not sleep-inducing (you know, unless you cave on that nap offer).
Looking to stretch it into more of a meal? You could add hearty bread, a simple soup, or a roasted fall salad.
P.S. Don’t miss the recipe for toasted ricotta gnocchi with pistachio pesto in my third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers. They’re spinach-free and pan-fried only and they become essentially burnished cheese nuggets, then tossed with an arugula and pistachio sauce, brightening everything.
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