NUDIES

Nudies image

Nudies? In Florentine dialect they're called gnudi, nudies, poking fun at a dish from the Casentino, a neighboring area that makes their greens and ricotta gnocchi with the same filling Florentines use for ravioli. Nudies because they're not wearing pasta. Pronounced YNOO-dees. Spinach is used in Florence but wild greens are common in the mountainous Casentino. And ravioli are stuffed with wild greens in many regional recipes. Use wild greens if you can get them, otherwise use chard or spinach, whichever is fresh and tender. Traditionalists may want to search for sheep's milk ricotta, which yields richer results, but everyone else can get by with whole cow's milk ricotta. Drain watery ricotta in a metal sieve for 30 minutes if necessary. Cooks in search of a labor-intensive experience can form nudies by hand, one at a time, or use the 2-spoon French quenelle method. I prefer to pipe the mixture from a plastic bag onto a floured countertop, sprinkle the blobs with flour, and lightly roll to form walnut-sized, roughly shaped balls. Serve the nudies with melted butter or tomato or meat sauce, sprinkled with Parmigiano, and baked in the oven to melt the cheese.

Provided by Faith Willinger

Yield Makes 4 to 6 first-course servings

Number Of Ingredients 10

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Ingredients

1 pound wild greens, swiss chard, or spinach to make 1 1/3 cups squeezed cooked greens
5 quarts water
Salt plus 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup ricotta, drained in a metal sieve if watery
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano
1 egg
A few gratings of nutmeg
Flour to lightly coat nudies
1/4 cup melted butter or 1/2 cup tomato sauce or 1/2 cup homemade meat sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Steps:

1. Toss the greens in a sinkful of warm water to clean. Rinse the greens until all grit and sand are removed. Dirty spinach may need more than one change of water. Lift the greens from the water and drain them in a colander. Remove any bruised leaves and thick stems.
2. Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil in a larger pot. Salt the water, immerse the greens in boiling water, and cook, 3-5 minutes, or longer for some wild greens, until tender. Remove the greens with a slotted spoon, reserving water for poaching the nudies. Place the greens in a colander and run them under cold water to cool. Divide the cooked greens in three parts and squeeze between both hands to form balls and remove all excess water. Squeeze hard!
3. Measure 1 1/3 cups of the cooked greens. Untangle the greens after measuring; they'll be easier to process. Roughly chop the greens in a food processor. Add the ricotta, Parmigiano, egg, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and nutmeg and process to form a smooth paste.
4. Transfer the paste to a pastry bag with a large tip or a medium-sized plastic bag with a 1/2-inch corner cut off.
5. Sift a layer of flour onto a large clean surface and pipe the paste in blobs the size of a walnut, 2 inches apart. Sift another layer of flour over the blobs and delicately roll in the flour. Carefully toss each nudie from hand to hand to remove the excess flour.
6. Bring the reserved cooking water to a boil and poach 8-9 nudies at a time, for 2-3 minutes or until they float to the surface of the water. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large baking dish.
7. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Drizzle the nudies with melted butter, or tomato or meat sauce, and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned and cheese has melted and serve.