All of our garlic grew this season so we had a glut of garlic scapes to cut and then use. I have scoured the net for new recipes and yesterday decided to try an experiment. So bear with me, my measurements may not be exact. I will do my best to remember how much of everything I added. They were fabulous, so delicious, yum!!!
Garlic Scape & Cheese Gnocchi
20 garlic scapes, chopped into one inch pieces
2 cups well drained ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 eggs
10 heaping tbsp. flour and more as needed for rolling
1 tsp. salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste4 to 6 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cook scapes in simmering salted water until they are crisp tender. Puree the cooked scapes in a food processor.
(I added the three eggs to the cooled scapes to help puree them).
In a fairly large bowl, combine the garlic scape puree with the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, flour, salt, and pepper. Stir the mixture vigorously until it is perfectly blended and lump free. Chill the mixture for at least 1/2 hour.
Using 2 teaspoons, form little gnocchi about the size and shape of a pecan (mine were much larger, more like a small egg). Scoop up a rounded teaspoonful of the mixture in one spoon, then with floured hands; shape into the oval shape. Drop into a bowl of flour. Roll it in the flour, dust it off, and put it down on waxed paper. Continue forming the gnocchi until all of the mixture is used up.
To cook the gnocchi, drop them carefully into a large pot of simmering salted water. Allow them to simmer (not boil) for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring them very gently once or twice with a wooden spoon to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot or to each other. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and drain them on a clean cloth (tea towel).
Pour half of the remaining butter into a large shallow casserole pan. Arrange the gnocchi in it in one layer. Pour the remaining butter over them and sprinkle them with the Parmesan cheese. Bake the gnocchi in a preheated 350 F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are hot through and the cheese is starting to colour.
For the sauce I grilled two containers of yellow cherry tomatoes, 2 red onions and one red sweet pepper on the barbecue. I pureed them and added them to a pot that I melted 2 tbsp. of butter in and then added 1/2 of heavy cream. I added salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper to taste. I let it simmer for the time I baked the gnocchi, it was delicious and very simple.
Enjoy!
