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Sauce ideas for "gnudi"

post #1 of 6
1/18/06 at 12:24pm
Thread Starter 
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
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post #2 of 6
1/18/06 at 2:54pm
I was going to say a browned butter sauce until I saw your health conscious note! :blush: 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!)
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post #3 of 6
1/18/06 at 6:10pm
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.
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post #4 of 6
1/18/06 at 7:50pm
Or simply toss them warm with truffle oil,milled black peppercorns and a sprinkle of sel gris.
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post #5 of 6
1/18/06 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
Truffle oil...YUM. I like the pepper sauce idea too. Maybe I'll offer both.

Any other ideas?
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post #6 of 6
1/23/06 at 9:30am
Thread Starter 
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. :lips:

Thanks for your guidance, everyone!
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