[Mezzaluna]

I'm having friends who are vegetarian over for dinner on Saturday night. I've decided to make spinach-ricotta dumplings and need a sauce or coulis to serve with them. I'm trying to avoid tomato because I'm making a Provencal-style saute with the meal that includes grape tomatoes. The starch will be little risotto timbales stuffed with provolone or fontina, then baked.

Here's the recipe for the gnudi 9 ("naked" ravioli), which comes from Lidia's Family Table by Lidia Bastianich:

1 pound fresh ricotta
1 egg
1 cup spinach puree (thawed frozen spinach, squeezed dry and pureed)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
6 tablespoons fine bread crumbs
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

The ingredients are mixed to form a dough, then rolled into balls the size of golf balls. The balls are lightly floured, then dropped in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. They are removed when they float and the water is at a rolling boil.

Lidia suggests sage-butter sauce, but one of the diners is very weight-conscious. So I'd like to offer another sauce/coulis with it that is vegetable-based.

Any ideas? I thought pesto would be too thick and strongly-flavored with this. Would a sauce made of butternut squash be okay, or would it clash with the parmigiano??

TIA!
Mezzaluna

[jenni belle]

I was going to say a browned butter sauce until I saw your health conscious note! I, personally, am turned off by the butternut squash/Parmigiano combination, but that doesn't mean everyone else would be!

What about a mushroom based sauce or even a red bell pepper based sauce? The more I think about it the more I like the red bell pepper sauce idea. That would compliment the spinach & the Parmigiano very nicely.

(Or yellow bell pepper for that matter!)

[castironchef]

Taking jenni belle's ideas a step further, how about a yin-yang presentation of a red pepper sauce and a yellow pepper sauce?

Would look good and the tastes would be complementary to your overall dish.

[cape chef]

Or simply toss them warm with truffle oil,milled black peppercorns and a sprinkle of sel gris.

[Mezzaluna]

Truffle oil...YUM. I like the pepper sauce idea too. Maybe I'll offer both.

Any other ideas?

[Mezzaluna]

I went with the pepper sauce. I used a recipe of Emeril's and subbed vegetable broth for chicken broth. It was delicious, and complimented the gnudi well. I was surprised how well those turned out. The recipe was 20 ounces of well-dried thawed frozen spinach, 1 egg, 1/4 cup flour, 1 pound drained ricotta and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. When I mixed it up it seemed like it wouldn't hold together but after they were lightly rolled in flour and boiled, they were perfect. I'm sure I'll make this combination again.

Thanks for your guidance, everyone!