Ricotta Gnocchi, Butter Poached Shrimp, Pickled Mushrooms, Herb Butter.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Butter Poached Shrimp and Pickled Mushrooms

Recently I started doing cooking classes with Classpop! I also do private cooking classes at your home, vacation rental or business, just contact me here at my website. Anyway, I have been promising to post the recipes from my Gnocchi class, so here they finally are!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

for the gnocchi

24 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese (drained over night)

3 tablespoons grated parmigiano reggiano, plus extra to finish dish

1 each whole egg

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out dough

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

a few grinds of black pepper

for the shrimp

1 pound head off shrimp

1 fresh bay leaf

zest of one whole lemon

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

for the pickled mushrooms

1 package of white or brown beech mushrooms, ends removed

1 cup cider vinegar

2 cups water

1/2 cup cane sugar

1/4 cup kosher salt

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

for the herb butter

4 ounces unsalted butter

1/2 bunch chopped chives

1/2 bunch chopped Italian parsley

a few sprigs chopped tarragon

Directions

for the gnocchi dough

In a bowl (this gets a little messy) mix together with a fork the ricotta cheese, Parmigiano

Reggiano, egg, salt and pepper.

Start mixing in the flour.

Once the dough starts coming together use your hands (dust them with flour first).

Once the dough starts forming into a ball and remains a little sticky stop mixing. If it remains very sticky, mix in a little more flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour or over night. Refrigerating the dough helps to hydrate the flour which will make rolling out the dough easier.

for the shrimp

Peel and devein shrimp. Dry cure the shrimp with kosher salt for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Use one teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of shrimp. You can use 3/4 teaspoon if you don't want to use too much salt. Dry curing before cooking will result in tender moist shrimp with a snap!

Mix shrimp with lemon zest (use a microplane if you have it) and fresh bay leaf.

Place shrimp in a zip lock bag with the 3 tablespoons of butter. Fold the sides of the bag down first so as not to get the seal end of the bag messy.

With your immersion circulator set at 135 degrees Fahrenheit and the top of the zip lock bag rolled back up, drop the bottom of the bag into the water and slowly push down so that the air comes out of the seal end of the bag and being careful not to get water in the bag, slide the seal of the bag closed.

This is called the immersion method, or as I like to call it the poor mans sous vide:). Alternately you can do this in a pot of warm water so not to burn your hands or use a vacuum sealer following the manufactures instructions.

Cook the shrimp for 25 minutes up to 1 hour.

for the mushrooms

Place all the ingredients except for the mushrooms in a pot and bring to a boil, simmer for 20 minutes, strain liquid into another pot with the mushrooms. Return pot to a boil, turn off heat once boil is reached and let mushrooms cool in pot. Place in air tight container and refrigerate.

for the herb butter

Let butter soften at room temperature. Once soft, mix in the herbs in a stand mixer or by hand. Place in air tight container or roll into a log with wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate or freeze.

rolling out and cooking gnocchi

Remove dough from refrigerator and place on a floured work surface.

Cut off a piece of dough about one inch wide and 5 inches long and roll out into a cylinder 1/2 inch wide. Keep ball of dough covered with plastic wrap while rolling.

Cut the cylinder with a bench scraper, metal spatula or knife into about one inch long pieces. You can gently squeeze cylinder with your thumb and index finger to mark where to cut.

Roll your pieces on a floured gnocchi board to create ridges to hold the sauce onto a sheet pan with parchment paper and flour. **If you like gnocchi board in the picture, I make them! Contact me on my website if you want one.

Place sheet pan in refrigerator uncovered for 30 minutes to one hour. This will help gnocchi keep its shape when cooking. You can also cover loosely with plastic wrap and cook them the following day. Just don't wait longer as they will get too wet siting in the refrigerator.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, place the gnocchi in the water being careful not to crowd them. Give a gentle stir, scraping the bottom of the pot, when the gnocchi float to the top wait one minute before removing from water with a wire spider or skimmer. Don't dump them with the water into a colander...they are too delicate and will be crushed! At this point you can finish them and eat them or freeze them to use at another time. To freeze, place gnocchi on a large plate or sheet pan and toss with olive oil, let cool before place in freezer. Once gnocchi is hard, remove from plate and place in zip lock bag and back in the freeze. Re heat in boiling salted water till they float.

to finish dish

Place hot gnocchi out of the water into a large sauté pan or bowl, toss with herb butter and pickled mushrooms that have been drained first. Top with fresh ground pepper and grated Parmgiano.