15-minute Pea & Ricotta Gnocchi

Traditional potato gnocchi is renowned of being a bit tricky but this ricotta based recipe is pretty much failsafe and so quick you won't believe it! The recipe itself is a combination of gnocchi and the lesser known but wonderful Tuscan dumpling named 'gnudi.' Regardless, they are absolutely delicious and my whole family would easily eat a mountain of them any day.

Serves 2 adults and 1-2 small children

200g ricotta cheese

2 egg yolks

25g Parmesan cheese

25g fresh or frozen peas, cooked

25g fresh spinach

zest 1/2 lemon

50g plain or 00 flour

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile, place all the ingredients, apart from the flour, in a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth light green paste. Remove and place in a large bowl. Add the flour and using a wooden spoon or spatula stir through until combined- try not to over work the mixture otherwise you will get tough gnocchi. Lightly flour your hands and then remove half the mixture from the bowl and roll into a sausage with an approximately 1-inch diameter. Using a knife cut into 2-cm gnocchi and place to one side on a lined baking tray. Repeat with the second half of the mixture.

By this time your water should be boiling. Using a slotted spoon drop 4 gnocchi into the water at a time and wait until they float back up to the top (1-3 minutes) before removing onto the other side of your lined baking tray. Repeat with all the gnocchi. Once they are all cooked you can either serve straight away [drizzled with olive oil or my pea pesto and extra Parmesan] or, chill for a couple of days and reheat in the oven [add extra grated parmesan on top and place in the oven for 8 minutes at 200oC- serve drizzled with olive oil or pea pesto and even more Parmesan].