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Baked Ricotta Gnocchi (pronounced like this) are little pillows of dough covered in a hearty meat sauce. Perfect as a first course, main meal or side dish for your Holiday table.
Each Thanksgiving my M-N-L brings traditional Italian Gnocchi to our Thanksgiving table. This year she will be getting back from Florida just before Thanksgiving, so I will take on the task of making Gnocchi, except mine will not be the traditional type made with potatoes.
I will make mine with ricotta which creates soft pillowy gnocchi’s baked in a tomato meat sauce. The perfect side dish for the traditional Turkey dinner with an Italian flare. Hopefully this recipe will not put me in the doghouse with my M-N-L.
I love a good tomato sauce especially a Bolognese. I also really hate to waste things. My freezer is full of leftovers that I swear one week is going to be clean out the freezer week and I am not going to cook. Something that has always perplexed me when either making Bolognese, spaghetti or chili is what to do with the left-over tomato paste from the can. I don’t think I have ever made a recipe that called for a whole can of tomato paste. So into a baggie goes the extra and then I throw it into the freezer. But of course the next time I am ready to make a recipe using tomato paste I forget about the frozen and end up buying another can. Which of course I only use 1-2 tablespoons of and into the freezer it goes with the other bag. Ugh!
I was at Walmart the other day and I found a solution to my waste problem. Finally Hunt’s has come up with a genius solution. They make these awesome new Hunt’s Recipe Ready “Pre-measured 2TBS” Paste Pouches. What the heck took so long? No more wasting or freezing the extra few ounces that come in the can. 
The pouches are recipe ready, just like the can, and the content easily squeezes out, so no waste. I picked up a box which contains six two tbsp pouches.
Baked Ricotta Gnocchi with a bolognese sauce:
To make my Baked Ricotta Gnocchi sauce heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large sauce pan and add the garlic and onion. Cook until translucent. Stir in carrots and celery and cook for another 5 minutes. Add beef and pork, cook until browned. Drain off excess grease.
Stir in seasonings, tomato sauce, tomatoes, Hunt’s tomato paste and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce the sauce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
To make the Ricotta Gnocchi, place flour in a large mixing bowl and add eggs, ricotta, 1 cup parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix ingredients together with your hands to form a ball. Transfer dough to a lightly floured working surface and knead lightly for a few minutes, gradually adding flour if the dough sticks to the board or hands. The dough is ready when it no longer sticks but is still somewhat tacky soft. Using a knife, cut a piece of dough off the ball. Using both hands, roll out each ball of dough into a log about the width of your index finger. Cut each log into 1/2 inch pieces.
Store in the fridge, covered, until ready to cook. Add gnocchi in batches to the boiling water: Cook, uncovered over high heat, until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water, about 3 minutes. Remove the gnocchi to a lightly oiled casserole dish and add the Bolognese sauce, tossing to make sure the gnocchi are covered with sauce. Top with breadcrumbs, remaining parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
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- 4 tbsp . olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 1 lb . ground beef
- 1 lb . ground pork
- 1 tsp . salt
- 2 tbsp . Italian seasoning
- 1 28 oz . can of tomato sauce
- 2 14.5 oz . cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 pouch Hunt's Recipe Ready "Pre-measured 2TBS" Paste Pouches
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 3 1/2 cups of flour plus extra for work surface
- 3 large eggs beaten with a fork
- 32 oz . container part skim ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese divided
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese divided
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs
- Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large sauce pan.
- Add garlic and onion and cook until translucent.
- Stir in carrots and celery and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add beef and pork, cook until browned. Drain off excess grease.
- Stir in seasonings, tomato sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken stock. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
- While sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
- Place flour in a large mixing bowl and add eggs, ricotta, 1 cup parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Mix ingredients together with your hands to form a ball.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured working surface and knead lightly for a few minutes, gradually adding flour if the dough sticks to the board or hands.
- The dough is ready when it no longer sticks but is still somewhat tacky soft.
- Using a knife, cut a piece of dough off the ball.
- Using both hands, roll out each ball of dough into a log about the width of your index finger.
- Cut each log into 1/2 inch pieces.Store in the fridge, covered, until ready to cook.
- Add gnocchi in batches to the boiling water: Cook, uncovered over high heat, until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the gnocchi to a lightly oiled casserole dish and add the Bolognese sauce, tossing to make sure the gnocchi are covered with sauce.
- Top with breadcrumbs, remaining parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
First published by Quinn Caudill for dadwhats4dinner.com © 2016
Bring your recipes and DIY projects to Throwback Thursday’s every Thursday at 7:00pm est.!
I will be bringing my Baked Ricotta Gnocchi recipe to Freedom Fridays, Friday Favorites, Fiesta Friday, Weekend Potluck, What’s Cooking Wednesdays. Checkout my Link Parties page for other great places to find new recipes.
How will you use the awesome new Hunt’s Recipe Ready “Pre-measured 2TBS” Paste Pouches?
“Quinn is the author, photographer and recipe designer over at DadWhats4Dinner. He enjoys cooking for family and friends and being creative in the kitchen. He makes ordinary everyday food extraordinary. He lives just north of Cincinnati with his wife of 24 years, three kids and three cats. His kids have well-developed palates and his youngest daughter is now working with him on the blog creating recipes for her own page “Cooking with Ella“. Follow him on: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.”
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