serves
4-5
prep
15 minutes
cook
45 minutes
difficulty
Easy
serves
4-5
people
preparation
15
minutes
cooking
45
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Stream free On Demand
Silvia's Italian Masterclass
series • cooking
G
series • cooking
G
Ingredients
Grilled polenta
- 3 litres water
- Salt flakes
- 500 g instant polenta
- 20 g freshly grated parmigiano
Tomato sugo
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 shallots (or 1 medium brown onion), finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves (or to taste), bashed
- 1 can chopped tomato
- A few basil leaves
Gnudi
- 450 g (2½ cups) full-cream ricotta
- 2 cups cooked spinach, chopped and drained
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ⅔ cup (50 g) freshly grated pecorino
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- ½ tsp salt flakes
- Pinch freshly ground white pepper
- 100-120 g (⅔ cup) of fresh breadcrumbs (simply place stale bread in a food processor and blitz until you have coarse breadcrumbs)
- Semolina flour, for dusting
Chilling time: at least 30 minutes.
Instructions
- To make the polenta, line and grease a round 30cm baking dish. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a simmer.
- Slowly rain in the polenta, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps forming. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. You know it’s cooked when it feels luscious and silky and not grainy. Season to taste with salt, cracked pepper and parmigiano and stir to combine.
- Pour the polenta into the prepared round baking dish. Place in the fridge to firm up.
- Meanwhile to make the sauce, heat up 1 tablespoon oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan. Stir fry the shallot and garlic on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the shallots turn translucent and slightly golden and the garlic smells fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes and basil leaves, season with salt and cook on medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and set aside. For a smoother sauce, blitz in a food processor for 4-5 seconds.
- Make the dumplings by mixing all the ingredients (except semolina flour) in a large bowl. The mixture needs to feel sticky, but workable. If too dry add a few tablespoons of milk. If too wet, add a little extra cheese or breadcrumbs.
- Let the mixture sit in the fridge, covered with plastic film, to firm up for 30 minutes or overnight.
- Line an oven try with baking paper and dust with semolina flour.
- Shape the dumplings with wet hands, the size of a golf ball. Place them on the prepared oven tray lined and set aside until ready to cook.
- Heat up the tomato sauce in a large pot of frying pan. Add a little water if it looks dry. When the sauce comes to a simmer, gently drop in the dumplings. Cover with a lid and let the steam cook them through, for about 15-20 minutes. Take the lid off and gently, using a wooden spoon, turn them over. They are extremely delicate, so be mindful! Cook for a further minute, uncovered then turn the heat off.
- Remove polenta from the fridge and gently cut into pizza wedges. Heat remaining oil in a large non-stick frypan over medium heat and cook polenta slices for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy.
- Serve the gnudi with the tomato sugo and crispy polenta.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
Stream free On Demand
Silvia's Italian Masterclass
