Malfatti Recipe 465

Steps:

• Cook the fresh spinach in the water clinging to the leaves after washing, or cook the frozen according to package instructions. Drain over a bowl, squeezing out as much water as possible - do this in small handfuls so you can press out the most water - and chop. Reserve the water.
• Briefly soak the bread in the reserved spinach water plus enough hot water to cover and squeeze dry.
• Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Mix the spinach, bread, sautéed onion and garlic and put through the finest blade of a meat grinder or pulse in a food processor until chopped, then scrape into a mixing bowl.
• Add 1/2 cup of the dry bread crumbs, the cup of Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper and basil. Stir in the eggs. With lightly floured hands, gently shape the mixture into sausagelike links, 1 inch round by 3 inches long. If they do not hold together, add more bread crumbs. Lay on a baking sheet.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the links, one at a time, into the boiling water. Reduce the heat to let the water barely simmer and cook until the malfatti float to the surface, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and place in a greased baking dish, large enough to fit the malfatti in a single layer.
• Spoon the tomato sauce over the links, sprinkle with lots of cheese and broil to reheat.

Steps:

• Drain the ricotta in a sieve lined with cheesecloth overnight in the refrigerator. Measure out 1 1/4 cups.
• Bring a large pot of water, heavily seasoned with salt, to a boil. Trim the chard, removing all stems and large ridges. Add half to the boiling water and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Fish out and plunge into a bowl of ice water. Repeat.
• Squeeze out chard with your hands. On a dish towel, spread the chard in a circle the size of a pie. Roll up the towel and have someone help you twist the ends to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Pulse in a food processor until fine. Squeeze out in a dish towel once more, until very dry. (You will have about 1 cup.)
• Melt half the butter. Mix chard and ricotta. Add melted butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1 heaping teaspoon salt and nutmeg and mix again. Drop in egg yolks and egg, season with pepper and stir again. Sprinkle a cutting board with flour. Shape into 1 ounce balls, about 1 tablespoon each, dropping them on the cutting board. You should have 25 to 30.
• Put a teaspoon of flour into a narrow wineglass. Drop in a ball and swirl until it forms an oval. Repeat. (You may need to change the glass.) You may freeze them at this point.
• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the malfatti and cook until they float, about 8 minutes. (If frozen, 10 minutes.) Put remaining butter in a small sauté pan and heat until bubbling, shaking the pan. When it smells nutty, add sage and cook 30 seconds. Season with salt.
• Drain malfatti and place on plates. Spoon on the butter and sage. Grate Parmesan over each plate.

Steps:

• Note: I chopped the spinach finely in a food processor (only too about 5 seconds) then boiled it very briefly-about 15 seconds in boiling, salted water. Refreshed the spinach under cold running water in a fine mesh strainer and used a wooded spoon to squeeze out the excess water. The original recipes reads: Boil the spinach in well-salted water until tender, refresh under cool running water, and squeeze as dry as you can. Chop spinach finely (either in a food processor for evenly green dumplings or with a knife for a speckled appearance.).
• Mix the spinach with the ricotta and other ingredients except salt, pepper and tomato sauce to make a very soft dough.
• Season lightly with salt and pepper, but not with a heavy hand - the flavors are very subtle.
• Roll [1] golf ball-sized lump as round as you can in plenty of flour. The dough is so soft you will never manage a sphere, but that is why they are called malfatti. I used an oiled cookie scoop to shape the dough. I soon realized the less I touch the dough, the better. May take a few times preparing this recipe to get the hang of it.
• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil (the spinach water is fine if you still have it) and drop in the ball to make sure it is strong enough not to break up. If the ball doesn't break apart, roll the rest of your dough to make about a dozen dumplings. If it isn't, mix a bit more flour in, and then roll the balls.
• Cook at a gentle simmer for 10-15 minutes, counting from when they rise to the surface. You can take them out sooner if you like an oozing middle. I cooked the malfatti a solid fifteen minutes.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer the dumplings to a serving platter.
• Two topping options and I tested both: Topping #1. Serve malfatti on a bed of warm tomato sauce and top with grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese.
• Topping #2: Or fry butter with 12 sage leaves until the leaves are crispy and the butter nutty; pour directly on top of the malfatti. Serve with amount of grated Parmesan. However, I skipped the Parmesan cheese for topping #2.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and wilt the spinach, about 2-3 mins. Tip the spinach into a colander and press out any excess liquid using the back of a spoon. Leave to cool completely. Squeeze out any remaining liquid with your hands, then finely chop the spinach.
• Tip the chopped spinach into a bowl with the ricotta, breadcrumbs and parmesan. Add the egg and semolina or flour. Season and grate over some nutmeg. Stir to form an evenly combined, sticky mixture.
• Put a couple tablespoons of flour on a large tray and shake gently to spread the flour out. Spoon around ½ tbsp of the spinach mixture onto the floured tray and roll into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the spinach mixture, transferring the balls to a second clean baking tray as you go.
• Heat the oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in the malfatti (you may need to do this in batches) and simmer for 2 mins, or until they float to the surface. Scoop the malfatti out with a slotted spoon and drain well. Transfer to an ovenproof serving dish and keep warm in the oven.
• Make the sage butter by melting the butter in a small pan. Add the sage leaves and fry gently, stirring often until crisp. Pour the sage butter over the malfatti and top with more grated cheese.

Steps:

• Place the frozen spinach in a saucepan with the salt. Cook until thawed (15 min) over low heat. Drain squeezing out the water from the spinach and then mince until fine.
• In a large bowl, combine the spinach, breadcrumbs, the two cheeses, eggs, the herbs, the nutmeg and black pepper. Mix well and refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to make, form oval dumplings 3 inches long and about 1 inch in diameter. Roll each dumpling in the flour. Do not let them touch each other while they stand.
• Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop the dumplings into the salted water to form one layer. When they have risen to the surface, cook for 4 more minutes.
• Lift out the cooked malfatti, letting them drain well, and place into a well-buttered oven proof dish in a 250 degrees F oven while the other batches cook.
• To serve, toss with butter and serve. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and 1 cup marinara per person.
• NOTE: can be frozen after cooking. To serve, toss frozen malfatti in melted butter and Parmesan cheese, place in a well buttered dish and heat in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.