Few years ago I visited homemade pasta workshop led by fantastic Angela Zicaro. Apart from pasta, we made great Focaccia and learned a lot about Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. There and then I desperately fell in love at the first sight in Italian classic Aglio olio e Pepperoncino a la Angelo.
Of course, Ricotta spinach dumplings are result of our gastro workshop as well. Simple to make, vegetarian, refreshing and no need to cook dish. Great if you want appetizer or light main dish. I enriched dumplings with sheep’s cheese while ricotta is very neutral in taste. I was very generous with lemon zest and nutmeg, and served them with roasted mini tomatoes with Mediterranean spices, homemade olive oil and chili.
Mediterranean cuisine is simple, honest, healthy, taste beautiful, colorful and you do not need to spend hours cooking. I am looking forward to present you more of them inspired with my favorite tastes of Mediterranean countries….stay tuned for some more Italy, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Marocco ….on my plate of course 🙂
Ingredients for dumplings:
500g ricotta cheese
150g baby spinach
200g buns with crust or any bread cut in small cubes
Lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
½ of onion, finely chopped
1 egg
Hart cheese (I used sheep cheese)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Parsley, finely chopped
Nutmeg, salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in a frying pan and sauté spinach, onion and garlic.
Mix with ricotta, bread cubes, egg, grated cheese, parsley, nutmeg, lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. Cover and place in fridge for one hour. If mixture is still too soft, you can add more bread.
Wet your hands little bit and form dumplings. Mixture is soft, but it was suppose to be so. Steam them few minutes (without lid on) until warm.
Do not cook them in water, while they do not have any flour and they would fell apart.
Serve them with olive oil from roasted tomatoes (it has great taste of chili, rosemary and thyme), roasted tomatoes and grated sheep cheese. Add some fried sage leaves.
You can eat them cold as appetizer as well, with some salad or homemade bread, grissini, ciabatta….
Ingredients for roasted cherry tomatoes:
Cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Chili
3 cloves of garlic
Rosemary and thyme
Sol, ground black pepper, red peppercorns and brown sugar
Put cherry tomatoes in baking tray with olive oil and sprinkle some brown sugar, ground black pepper and salt all over tomatoes.
Add thyme, rosemary, chili, garlic and red peppercorns and bake at 180 C until half baked (do not bake them too long, they are supposed to be still little bit firm).
Others:
Sage leaves, fried
-Croatian version-
Prije nekoliko godina bila sam na tečaju izrade domaće tjestenine kod sjajnog Angela Zicaro gdje smo u par dana ispekli i Foccaciu, naučili puno o mediteranskoj i talijanskoj kuhinji i gdje sam se fatalno zaljubila u talijanski klasik Aglio olio e Pepperoncino a la Angelo.
Naravno, i ove vegetarijanske knedle od ricotta sira i špinata rezultat su našeg gastro druženja i učenja. Jednostavne za napraviti, osvježavajuće, bez nepotrebnog kuhanja dobijete bogato predjelo ili lagani glavni obrok. Ja sam ih obogatila tvrdim ovčjim sirom jer je ricotta prilično neutralna okusom, nisam štedila na korici limuna i muškatnom orahu, a poslužila sam uz kratko pečene mini rajčice u domaćem maslinovom uljem, mediteranskim začinima i malo čilija.
Mediteranska kuhinja je jednostavna, iskrena, bogata prirodnim okusima i bojama te kratkim vremenom pripremanja. Stoga se radujem budućim receptima inspiriranim meni najdražim okusima Italije, Španjolske, Hrvatske, Portugala, a možda skoknem i do Grčke, Maroka…. kuhačom naravno 🙂
Sastojci za knedle:
500g ricotta sira
150g baby špinata
200g peciva s korom narezano na sitne kockice
Korica 1 limuna
½ luka, sitno nasjeckano
1 jaje
Tvrdi sir po izboru (ja sam koristila ovčji)
3 češnja češnjaka, sitno nasjeckano
Peršin, sitno nasjeckano
Muškatni orah, sol i papar
Špinat s lukom i češnjakom kratko dinstati na maslinovom ulju. Potom pomiješati s riccota sirom, kruhom, jajem, naribanom koricom limuna, krupno naribanim tvrdim sirom, peršinom i ostalim začinima. Ostaviti smjesu sat vremena u hladnjaku da se malo stisne. Ako je premekana za oblikovanje knedli može se dodati još malo kruha. Kod oblikovanja knedli malo namočiti ruke vodom (da se masa ne lijepi).
Knedle zagrijati na pari bez poklopca (s obzirom da ne sadrže brašno nije ih potrebno kuhati u vodi).
Poslužiti uz maslinovo ulje u kojemu su se pekle mini rajčice (ima sjajan okus po čiliju, ružmarinu i timijanu). Dodati nekoliko fritiranih listova kadulje.
Ove knedle mogu se poslužiti i hladne kao predjelo uz salatu ili omiljeni domaći kruh, grisine, ciabattu i sl.
Sastojci za pečene rajčice:
Mini rajčice
Maslinovo ulje
Čili
Češnjak
Ružmarin i timijan
Sol, mljeveni crni papar, crveni papar u zrnu i smeđi šećer
U manji pleh staviti mini rajčice te ih posuti sa soli, paprom i malo smeđeg šećera. Uliti maslinovo ulje da prekrije do pola visine rajčice. Ubaciti grančice ružmarina i timijana, čili i zrna crvenog papra. Peći na 180 C dok se kožica na rajčicama ne počne odvajati. Nemojte ih predugo peći, trebale bi zadržati oblik i ne biti premekane.
Ostalo:
Kadulja, fritirana
