Butter and Sage Gnudi From 'Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food'

I, like so many others, fell head-over-pillowy-balls-of-cheese in love with gnudi at the Spotted Pig in NYC, where Chef April Bloomfield made them famous. Jamie Oliver's version in his new book, Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food, is much like his friend Bloomfield's, but with a few personal touches.

Nutmeg-laced rounds of ricotta and Parmesan cheeses are rolled in semolina, then left largely to their own devices. They sit uncovered in the fridge for at least 8 hours to form a skin, and then boil unprotected by the pasta armor the combo usually wears, resulting in bursting, creamy dumplings. If clouds were made of cheese, and naughty, they'd be gnudi. Oliver then tosses them with butter, more Parmesan, crispy sage leaves, and a spritz of lemon that wakes everything right up.

Why I picked this recipe: Once you've had gnudi, there's no way you'd pass up recreating that magic at home.

What worked: The finished dish, if you can get there in one piece, is heaven. The simplicity of the nutmeg, sage, butter, and lemon let the gnudi speak for themselves.

What didn't: Gnudi are temperamental, to say the least, and far, far from foolproof. For my first batch, I used a very nice ricotta that had a lot of moisture to it—too much, as it turned out. I couldn't form balls until the scoops had a decent coating of semolina, and even then they were incredibly soft. The boiling was almost too much for them, and the hot pan definitely was. They split wide open, and I was left with a heartbreaking, though delicious, pile of oozing gnudi. For my second batch, I drained the ricotta in a colander lined with a double layer of paper-towels for an hour, and then proceeded. What a difference! I could scoop and ball the ricotta with no problem, and the gnudi stood up much better to the rest of the preparation. (Though they are tender little things, and they're always going to be somewhat fragile, so handle with care.)

Suggested tweaks: If you can't scoop your ricotta into your hands and gently roll it into a ball, drain it until you can. (As to that ricotta, Oliver just calls for best-quality; I used cow's milk, and the gnudi were mild and milky, but Bloomfield uses sheep's milk, which adds funk and tang. Use whichever floats your boat.) And here's a few more notes on the recipe, to make it a bit easier on you: Oliver says to shape the cheese mixture into 1-inch balls, which worked out to be about a tablespoon each; I ended up with just about 50 gnudi. Lower the water from a boil to a simmer to reduce the risk of them falling apart, and try a test batch. If they still want to explode, give them a second roll in the semolina before adding them to the water—the skin will be tougher, but they stand a better chance of making it to the plate in one piece. You can try reducing the cooking time by up to a minute to further tip the scales in your favor.

From Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food by Jamie Oliver. Copyright 2014 Jamie Oliver. Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.