This is a recipe from the Italian regions of Lombardy and Tuscany. Malfatti means: made badly or failed.
These dumplings are the filling of some Ravioli. Either someone had a problem with his pasta dough or was just too lazy to make some. The solution was a pot of salted boiling water and 2 tablespoon. Drop the chunks of Ricotta Spinach Cheese dumplings in and let them cook.
In Italy they are either served in a tomato sauce or in sage butter. Since the sage pot on my balcony is on its last leg before the winter, I picked a couple of sage leaves to use.
Recipe for 18 to 20 dumplings:
200 g ricotta
100 g hot water soaked, squeezed out and chopped spinach
75 g parmesan
2 eggs
55 g melted browned butter
180 g flour
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
Sauce:
12 sage leaves
35 g butter
Pepper
Start with melting and browning the butter.
Add ricotta, eggs, chopped spinach, parmesan to a bowl. Stir well. Add seasoning, flour and butter and make sure all the flour is incorporated. Let it sit 15 min.
A big pot of salted boiling water, dip 2 tablespoons in and get dough the size of golfballs in the water. On medium heat let them simmer for 12 to 15 min.
Put a large pan on an melt the butter. Add the sage leaves and fry them a bit. With a slotted spoon get the dumplings in. Coat them in the sage butter and serve.
