Spinach and Feta Gnudi in Mushroom-Saffron Broth

Gnudi are one of the many wonderful Italian fresh pasta innovations, and except for a few pots and pans and a strainer, you really don’t need any special equipment to make them from scratch. As someone who consumes a lot of cheese, gnudi occupy a special place in my heart, since they're almost entirely made up of cheese of some kind.

What Are Gnudi?

Gnudi are sometimes said to be related to gnocchi, but whereas gnocchi dough is typically made from a combination of potato, flour, and sometimes egg, gnudi is primarily made up of ricotta and flour. Really, gnudi are more closely related to ravioli; they're sometimes called "ravioli gnudi," that is, nude ravioli, the filling without the pasta purse.

There are various delightful variations on gnudi; some include the addition of parmesan and spinach, while others, like the one Kenji was inspired to make after eating April Bloomfield’s at The Spotted Pig, involve coating the dough in semolina and then leaving it to dry out for several hours in the refrigerator before being cooked. This recipe is a little different, it uses flour in addition to eggs as binding agents, which in turn eliminates the need to dry out the gnudi before cooking. 

You can serve the warm gnudi with a rich tomato-based sauce. However, here I pair it with a warm fragrant broth made from mushrooms, garlic, and saffron. 

Uncooked gnudi can be a bit finicky during cooking and can run the risk of falling apart during the boiling step. Over the years, I’ve tweaked this recipe to make it work and I’ve come up with a few conclusions and solutions. The quality of the dairy and ingredients going is of course very important, but what’s also important is how much water they contain. A gnudi dough that’s too wet won't hold its shape during cooking. 

Let’s take a look at the key ingredients in this recipe, how they work, and how to manipulate them.

The Spinach

You must cook the spinach first before incorporating it into the gnudi dough to get rid of its excess water. I like to immerse the spinach in a pot of salted boiling water till it changes color and becomes soft, which takes all of about a minute. I then drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible by chopping it up and wringing it in a little cheesecloth sack. You can use frozen spinach but, again, controlling the amount of water it contains is of the utmost importance, so let it thaw and squeeze it thoroughly to drain it. While you can sauté the spinach in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat to cook out the water, I don't recommend it: I found the taste of sautéed spinach easily overwhelmed the flavor of the cheese in the gnudi.

The Cheeses

The first cheese in this recipe is ricotta. As with the spinach, the most important thing is that you remember to drain it first. The easiest way to do this is to scrape it into a fine mesh strainer or strainer lined with a layer of cheesecloth and press down gently with your hands to get rid of any excess liquid. You can also use Kenji’s method of spreading the cheese out in a single thin layer and squeezing it between multiple sheets of kitchen towels. 

The second cheese in this recipe is feta. Feta is a bit firmer than ricotta and it contains less water, although you can purchase feta soaked in brine or feta that’s been previously drained. If it came sitting in the brine, you should first drain the brine, then squeeze the excess liquid out between dry paper towels to dry it further. 

The Binding Agents

I use flour and eggs to help bind the cheeses and spinach in the gnudi together. Whereas in Kenji’s recipe for gnudi, where the thin shell of pasta that forms on the exterior of the gnudi holds them together, in this one, the proteins in eggs help to hold the cheese together, with a little assistance from the proteins and starch in the flour.

Cooking the Gnudi

Once shaped into evenly portioned balls, the gnudi are cooked in batches in a pot of salted boiling water, which takes roughly 5 minutes per batch. Because an exact cooking time is always a difficult measure in almost any recipe, I recommend checking the doneness of one of the gnudi balls before removing the rest. Cutting a cooked gnudi in half should reveal a firm but tender interior. You can, alternatively, use an instant read thermometer interior, which should be firm yet tender, or you can check its internal temperature at its core with an instant-read thermometer, which has the benefit of not deforming the ball: when it hits 160°F (71°C), they're ready. If the gnudi are ready, remove the rest and then cook the second batch the same amount of time as the first; if not, add an extra minute or two to your boiling time. 

Making the Broth

This mushroom-saffron broth is extremely fragrant and colorful. First, I brown butter in a saucepan to create rich caramel notes and nutty flavors. I add a splash of olive oil to the browned butter to create the basis for the flavor solvent (it’s the same principle as a tadka, just in reverse). Then I add garlic, chile flakes, pepper, and saffron, all of which contain fat-soluble flavor molecules—allicin in garlic, capsaicin in the chile, and piperine in the pepper—that are extracted into the hot fat. In addition, the red pigment capsanthin in the chile and the crocetin in saffron are fat-soluble, and they give the fat a bright orange-red color. Once the garlic and spices are fragrant, I add water along with a generous teaspoon of mushroom bouillon (a staple in my pantry) to make a vibrant broth with a splendid and instantaneous dose of umami.

Serving the Finished Dish

I love to serve this dish with sliced chives and a good shaving of Parmesan on top of the warm gnudi. And while you don't need any special tools to eat it, I highly recommend using a big spoon that can hold an ample amount of broth and an entire gnudi so you can pop the combination together into your mouth.