Hello Everyone!

Here I am with the Sunday’s recipe! Today I’ll show you a typical Tuscan’s dish (actually it is from Maremma): the Gnudi.

The Tuscan culinary tradition is made by “poor dishes”, easy recipes but with strong tastes. In my opinion Tuscan’s culinary tradition is one of the most variegated in Italy: you can think about the “Fiorentina Steak” and the “Caciucco” (Fish soup), you can also figure out the “Acquacotta” , the “Ribollita” and the typical “Schiacciata”but we have also a lot of sweets and cakes: “Panpepato”, “Cantuccini”… you really have a lot of choice in Tuscany!

I choose a recipe from my home town (Grosseto), a typical Maremma’s dish! The recipes in Maremma are strong and rich and they descend from a long story and tradition of pastoralism. Indeed our cows (Maremma’s cows) are famous all over the world.

But let’s talk about this recipe: the Gnudi. “Gnudi” in Maremma’s dialect means naked. And this name are perfect for this dish because the “gnudi” are a version of typical Tortello but without  dress made in puff pastry, in other words Gnudi are the internal part of the tortelli.

How I Made My Gnudi

Ingredients for about 45 gnudi

Time to prepare 30 minutes – Time to cook 15 minutes

• 700 gr of fresh spinach;
• 350 gr of ricotta cheese;
• 1 egg;
• 50 gr of flour;
• 50 gr parmesan cheese grated;
• 1 slice of garlic;
• extra virgin olive oil;.
• salt and pepper;
• 45 gr of flour for dust.

Ingredients for cooking:

• 100 gr of butter;
• pepper;
• sage;
• parmesan cheese.

Useful tools:

• big pot;
• frying pan;
• terrinas;
• colander;
• baking paper;
• Spoons.

Procedure

I washed and dried carefully the spinach, and I removed the biggest stems. I put in a big pot some extra virgin oil and a slice of garlic. After some minutes I put inside the spinach leaves and I covered with the top. I cooked gently the spinach for 10 minutes until they are withered.

I put the spinach in the colander and I pressed them with a spoon for removing the excess of  water (if your colander has too big holes, you can do squeeze with your hands) in a similar way I removed also the surplus of water from the ricotta cheese.

I put the spinach and the ricotta cheese in a terrina and I started to mix them. I added the salt and pepper and after the parmesan cheese. At the end I added the egg and, at last, the flour and I kept to mix them all. The flour was needed for keep together all the ingredients.

I mixed carefully until I obtained a uniform mixture. When it was perfectly uniform I took a little of it (almost 20/25 gr) and I made a little ball with my hands. I dust with flour the tiny ball and I put it on the baking paper. That’s it, the first gnudo was ready! I repeated  these last steps until the mixture was ended.

I chose to use some butter and sage on my gnudi, but they are great also with some tomato sauce and also with Italian ragú.

I put in a big pot some water, I salted it and I waited until it boiled. In the meanwhile I put some butter and some sage leafs and I melted all slowly. When the water boiled I put the gnudi inside. The gnudi are ready when the emerge on the surface of the boiling water. I removed one by one my gnudi from the water and I put them gently, in the frying pan with the sage and the melted butter. I mixed  carefully (in this step the gnudi are a little fragile).

After few minutes i put the gnudi in the dish and I added some parmesan cheese.

This is my final result!

Before cooking you can conserve the gnudi in the fridge for 12 hours. You can also freeze your uncooked gnudi, in this case when you want to cook them, you should put them still frozen in the boiled water.

As you could see the recipe is really easy but the gnudi have an amazing taste and they are really interesting to see.

Let me know, in the comments box below, what do you think about this recipe from my hometown! Show me your results if you try the recipe! Leave feedbacks, comments and suggestion for new recipes!

For another recipe we’ll see next Sunday!

Stay Tuned

Tricks in this post:
1. Tuscan's traditional dish;
2. A typical Maremma's dish: the Gnudi;
3. Gnudi: the recipe!