What can I say? Ricotta gnocchi is one of my favourite dishes… and for my birthday, I thought I deserved a triple treat! The classic way to serve ricotta gnocchi is with butter and sage, but I love them with lots of different sauces. Have I mentioned that gorgonzola is my favourite cheese? So, I had to make them with a gorgonzola sauce! Lately I have been experimenting a lot, so the orange cream sauce was a new discovery and one that has already conquered me and a place of honour in my recipe book! So, happy birthday to me and you guys enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 persons:
For the butter and sage sauce
50 gms butter
5-6 sage leaves, crushed
For the gorgonzola and pistachios sauce
50 gms gorgonzola
100 ml cream
8 pistachios, roughly crushed
For the orange cream sauce
1 orange (juice and zest)
30 gms butter
100 ml cream
1 pinch of salt
Finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano and ground pepper to serve.
Prepare the ricotta gnocchi as per the instructions in the Techniques page of this site, keep them aside and prepare the 3 sauces.
Butter and sage sauce:
Brown the butter with the sage leaves in a frying pan on low to medium heat.
As soon as the gnocchi start floating, they are ready. Remove them with a slotted spoon, put them in the pan with the browned butter and sage and mix well on low fire.
Serve with a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and ground pepper.
Gorgonzola and pistachios sauce:
Put the cream and the roughly chopped gorgonzola in a frying pan and let the cheese melt on a very low fire.
In the meantime, roughly crush the pistachios.
As soon as the gnocchi start floating, they are ready. Remove them with a slotted spoon, put them in the pan with the gorgonzola sauce and mix well on low fire.
Serve with the crushed pistachios, a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and ground pepper on the top.
Orange cream sauce:
Cut a small piece of the orange zest and slice it very thin to use as decoration. Keep it aside.
Grate or scrape the remaining zest from the orange. Juice the orange and keep it aside. Put the butter in frying pan together with the scraped orange zest.
Let it melt on a low fire. Then add the orange juice and let the sauce thicken.
Now add the cream and thicken the sauce again. Add a pinch of salt.
As soon as the gnocchi start floating, they are ready. Remove them with a slotted spoon, put them in the pan with the orange cream and mix well on low fire.
Serve with the sliced orange zests on the top and, if you like, some Parmigiano Reggiano.
Kankana says
wow!!! that looks amazingly interesting
Shari Wakefield says
Such a beautiful birthday dish – shame you had to cook it for yourself.
Shari from http://www.goodfoodweek.blogspot.com
Spinneys Cauldron says
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, hope its a great one for you. May many dreams come true & the beginning of a wondrous adventure.
Looks delicious, intrigued by the chosen flavours . . absolutely love all of them . . mmmm could juts eat it all now!!!! Please, I’m wondering does the orange specifically compliment the other cheeses, is it traditional to eat them together or is it just your party piece 😀 Looks lovely. Thank You for sharing.
Manu says
Thanks for your birthday wishes! 🙂 You can either make all three sauces together or just 1 at the time. The truth is I love them both with butter and sage and with gorgonzola (these 2 are traditional gnocchi sauces)… so I did not want to chose only one of them for my birthday. The orange sauce was a last minute thing. It is not a traditional sauce… but I liked the idea of adding a little colour to the dish. And the taste was very good too, so I was quite happy with the result! 😉
dakshachopra says
HAPPY BIRTHDAY :)) this ricotta gnocchi is looking realy nice, enjoy your day.
Manu says
Thank you so much!!! 🙂
Tiffany says
Manu, this is seriously the most delicious looking post I’ve seen all month! The pistachio-gorgonzola sauce! Um, I’m speechless! (p.s… happy birthday! and thank you for the award!!!!!!!)
Eugene @ FoodandScent says
I’m stealing your pistachio sauce recipe haha! Happy belated birthday! Just read that you live in Sydney. I was there from 2006-2009 and miss living there terribly. Good food, good produce and most importantly, good people.
Manu says
Go ahead! I am honoured! Let me know how it comes out… 🙂 I know, I love living here in Sydney! I am quite lucky! 🙂
sangeeta says
Loved all these three sauces for the gnocchi…my fave will be the sage and butter …err the other two are irresistible too:)
Priyanka Bhattacharjee says
Looks amazing and innovative 🙂