Ricotta Dumplings with Asparagus and Green Garlic

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Ricotta Dumplings with Asparagus and Green Garlic

Once you get the hang of it, forming these dumplings is easy, but it may take a little practice at first.

Servings:

Calories: 427kcal

Author: Andy Baraghani

Ingredients

Dumplings

2 cups whole-milk ricotta
1 cup Grana Padano finely grated, plus more (for serving)
1 large egg room temperature
1 egg yolk room temperature
2¼ teaspoons kosher salt plus more
¼ cup all-purpose flour plus more

Asparagus and Assembly

8 ounces asparagus trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1 stalk green garlic pale green and white parts, or 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced crosswise
3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
2 tablespoons chives chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt
pepper freshly ground
Olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

Dumplings

Check the wetness of the ricotta before preparing dumplings. If the ricotta is sold in an individual drained basket, then all you need to do is pat dry and adjust the quantity to 1½ cups.
For ricotta that’s not drained, you’ll need to press it to drain any excess liquid. Line a colander with cheesecloth and set inside a large bowl (to catch the liquid draining from the ricotta). Spoon ricotta onto the cheesecloth and put a paper towel on top. Weigh ricotta down using cans or other heavy pantry items; chill for at least 4 hours and up to 24. The ricotta should be dry and crumbly. Measure out 1½ cups.
Pulse ricotta, Grana Padano, egg, egg yolk, and salt in a food processor just until smooth.
Sprinkle flour over ricotta mixture and pulse again until just combined.
Transfer dumpling batter to a medium bowl.
Dust a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet generously with flour.
Using a metal spoon, scoop out 2–3 tsp. dumpling batter and scrape spoon against the side of the bowl at a 45° angle to smooth batter.
Using your fingertip, push the batter off the spoon and let drop onto the baking sheet (this may take a few tries). The dumpling will slightly curve at each end.
Dust tops with more flour. (You should have about 65 dumplings.)

Asparagus and Assembly

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Add asparagus and cook until almost tender, 2–3 minutes.
Transfer to a bowl of ice water the pour into a colander to drain. Reserve pot.
Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a large skillet over medium heat; add (green) garlic
Cook, stirring often until the sauce has thickened and garlic has slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, return pot of water to a gentle simmer and add dumplings (one by one so they don’t crush each other), stirring occasionally, until they’re almost double in size and cooked through and tender, about 4 minutes (dumplings will quickly float to the surface).
Transfer dumplings to skillet; add butter
Add chives and lemon juice.
Season with salt and pepper.
Divide asparagus and dumplings into bowls.
Divide the sauce amongst the bowls, ladling over the dumplings and asparagus
Sprinkle with chives and grana padano and drizzle with olive oil.

Notes

Do Ahead: Dumplings can be formed ahead of time and refrigerated for up to two days or freeze on a baking sheet, then transfer to a resealable plastic bag once frozen. Cook from frozen about 6 minutes.

Refrigerated dumplings hold their shape better and were easier to work with.

The dumplings make enough for 4-6 servings, but the remaining ingredients work better for 2-3. If you want to serve 6, double the ingredients for the asparagus and sauce portion of the recipe. If you want to serve 2-3, you will only use half the dumplings and you can freeze the rest or refrigerate overnight, but you will still need to double up on the remaining ingredients before making the other half of the dumplings.

Nutrition