One thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I always buy too much food. This is especially true for the weekends we head up to our house in Umbria. I end up loading the car with food here in Rome, then stopping in Orte at the mozzarella store, and then again at the supermarket in Castel del’Aquila. All of this, plus the fact I have a full pantry and vegetable garden waiting for me in Todi means that come Sunday I’m toting back as much food – or more – as I arrived with.
But I’ve learned. Lately I have put myself on a very strict regimen: bring nothing from Rome and only buy what is absolutely essential (milk, bread, mozzarella) on the way up.
Then, once in Umbria, I forage. I make do.
This weekend I was pretty proud of myself. I managed to pick about a kilo of wild asparagus, enough to make a yummy pasta for Saturday lunch. (the pasta part was foraged from my pantry)
Then, on Sunday, I went out and foraged in my vegetable garden. While I’d normally say I harvested something from the garden, this time of year it’s definitely more forage than harvest. April is always rainy, and by the beginning of May we have an orto gone wild. And while I wish it was going wild with edible things we had planted intentionally, it’s mostly full of weeds and grasses.
It’s actually kind of gorgeous anyway. Bright red poppies and cheery dandelions make me forget for a minute how much work it will be to clear things up for the summer planting.
But hidden within the jungle are also the last vestiges of our winter garden. A few scattered heads of radicchio, a handful of chicory plants on the verge of going to seed, and – my favorite – bietola a costa.
This is my favorite kind of Swiss chard because it’s actually two veggies in one (at least that’s how I like to think of it). The leaves are thicker and meatier – less spinach like – than regular Swiss chard. And I’m not sure if it’s because it’s had a chance to winter over, but the taste is much more intense and sweet.
The other part of the equation are the thick, white stems. Crunchy and sturdy, I can’t really find an equivalent vegetable to compare them to.
So on Sunday I hacked my way through the poppies and uncovered three lovely chard plants. Back in the kitchen I stripped the greens from the stalks, and had two large piles of each. Since the stalks are sturdier, I decided they would survive a trip in the car back to Rome. (yes, I still end up carting food back and forth.)
And even though I had held myself back at Orte (I didn’t over buy, really I didn’t) I realized that as always, they owners had snuck a complimentary sheep’s milk ricotta into my bag.
That, the greens and flour foraged from my pantry turned into lunch: tiny emerald-colored gnudi.
You can think of gnudi as either ravioli filling without the ravioli (and gnudi does mean naked) or as a potato-less version of gnocchi. You can play around with the ingredients (my friend Evan makes amazingly beautiful pink ones using beets) and if you don’t quite get the proportions right they are very forgiving.
Although they look kind of fussy, once you get going they shape up pretty quickly.
I bet you’re wondering what I did with the stems, right? Well, sorry. That’s tonight’s dinner.
Stay tuned.
Swiss Chard Gnudi
(serves 4)
2 cups cooked Swiss Chard
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 1/2 cups fresh, drained, ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
pepper
6 tablespoons butter
8 fresh sage leaves
This is the kind of recipe you really want to use fresh vegetables for. Although I realize that frozen spinach can be a godsend, try to up the ante here. And do feel free to experiment with other kinds of veggies. I mentioned beets above, but you can also use zucchini or other greens. The important thing to remember is that once you have cooked them, you want to let them drain as much as possible to let the water out. If you’re using greens, grab them and really squeeze the moisture out.
Ditto for the ricotta. This should be drained of as much liquid as possible.
Cook the Swiss Chard: Rinse and wilt the Swiss Chard in barely enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the unpeeled garlic cloves on top of the greens, so that they steam as well. When the vegetables are cooked, drain them and pick out the garlic cloves and peel them.
Place the Swiss Chard, peeled garlic and ricotta in a food processor. Chop until smooth.
Put into a bowl and add the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Start adding the flour, a quarter cup at a time, mixing well. You may not need it all. It depends on how wet your veggies and ricotta are. The aim is to use as little flour as necessary to hold things together.
With floured hands gently form small oval shaped gnudi. Each one should use about a teaspoon of the mix. Place aside on floured cookie sheet.
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil.
Melt butter in a small pan. Add sage and let sizzle for a minute. Turn off.
Cook the gnudi in the pan of salted water as you would gnocchi. You’ll probably have to cook them in about three batches. Gently slip them into the boiling water, and then scoop them up and out with a slotted spoon as soon as they bob to the surface (about 3 to 4 minutes).
Place them in a heated dish while the others cook.
To serve place in individual dishes and spoon the sage butter over. Top with extra grated parmesan cheese.
Beautifully simple picking some greens from the garden and making ravioli………
I always find meals made by foraging and making do with what you can find in the pantry always work out so well. Love that serving plate. Ciao
Elizabeth – Thanks! Great recipe. My girlfriend is a vegitarian and I am always looking for new things to cook for her. On a side note, I’ll be staying at a villa near Montepulciano in June with a large group. You mentioned a supermarket at the beginning of this post. It seems a bit out of the way for us, but being unfamiliar with Italy (never been) I was wondering if you would recommend it or perhaps another? We plan on doing a lot of cooking. Thanks!
Montepulciano is not near to where I go shopping. There are a few stores that are worth the effort to stop at. Right off the A1, at the Orte exit, is a great Mozzarella place. I’ve included the link to it above. There is also a fantastic caseificio in Ponte Rio, near Todi. Montecristo. But it’s really not that close to you, and you have amazing places to shop much nearer.
Thanks! Love your site by the way. It and your apps have been VERY helpful.
Elizabeth, I know that I will never make the effort to make this but I can dream, can’t I? And I have to admit that tonight we went to the big grocery store for the first time in two months and I stood in front of the gnocci section wondering if I could reproduce anything resembling the fried gnocci with the fondue–alas, no as well but again, I can dream can’t I?
Thank you for the millionth time for your wonderful writing.
You are unbelievable. I look forward to every recipe and word you write-you are inspirational and wonderful. You must visit when you are back in NYC. Absolutely love your blog!!
Beautiful pictures.. of the food.. very clear and really makes the food you are focusing on pop.. what kind of camera do you have? Love your blog.?:) could you do something on eating Gluten Free in Italy?
thanks
Sherrie
Thank you! I use a Cannon S95. Very easy, point and shoot. They’ve now come out with the S100, which I hear is even better. I’ve been exploring Gluten Free places, at least in Rome. I’ll be adding a few restaurants to the next update of Eat Italy, and may do a blog post on it as well. I know it’s a big issue for a lot of people!
Thanks for a lovely two in one post; paean to a wonderful vegetable and recipe all in one, it was enchanting, enlightening and a pleasure to read, as always. The gnudi look great. Don’t you just love them? My sister always calls them “diet ravioli” figuring she gets the best of ravioli (the filling) without the calories of the pasta. Toni always has a cool slant on things. Big sisters are like that. I have so enjoyed your Winter and early Spring vegetable posts. I await the bounty of summer.
So funny of you to post this recipe, I was just thinking of making them for my own blog. I first had them on a trip to Florence in 1993 and remember it like it was yesterday and not almost 20 years ago! I instantly fell in love. I need to make them again soon.
Wow, great recipe! Simple and completely new ways to use the Swiss chard and beets our local farmers are selling. Thanks a million.
Elizabeth, I recently found you and LOVE your blog! While I live in the US….my heart is in Italy. My great-grandparents left Italy for America in the late 1800’s. My father grew up in an Italian-speaking household and then had to go to school and speak English. When I travel to Italy, I can’t imagine why anyone ever left! (but I know it was a different time and place back then – it was rough for my great-grandparents) We took our teenage children to Rome for the first time in February and plan to head back again, possibly next year. I found you AFTER that trip! I am determined to meet you and go on one of your eating tours someday!!
must try this recipe! sounds incredible!
also, i had to give up my plot at our community vegetable garden because of the many “weed tickets” i got for not keeping up with the weeds (plus it was hard to juggle with work and kids). i had a revelation after letting it go and find myself pining for a new garden that if i ever have a large vegetable garden again i won’t let the weeds stress me out but embrace them as much as possible. thanks for sharing your poppy infested garden, it’s lovely!
Beautiful pictures. Beautiful food.
I’ve been making fresh pasta for awhile now and tried my first ravioli last week. Was very proud of how they turned out – so very light. With that success behind me, I’ll definitely give these a try.
LOVE your serving dishes….where can I find them?
For everyone who has asked, the dishes are from Sberna, in Deruta. I have a set with six different patterns of fruit. I love them! www.
http://www.sberna.com/
http://www.sberna.com/
Wow, your photos are tremendous. Have enjoyed the recipes and decided to try this one since I had so much produce in the garden. It didn’t turn out so well for us, the texture was so smooth and pasty. Do you think I processed everything for too long? Were yours smooth in the middle? Taste was great, used a mixture of swiss chard, spinach and arugula. Thanks again for all the great blogs. Did try the carciofi romani, great. janina
Glad you tried it, but sorry they didn’t turn out. They are pretty smooth, but shouldn’t be really pasty. Maybe too much flour? You want to add just enough to make it hold together.
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears!”I have been searching for a gnudi recipe and these look lovely. I was surprised there was not an egg or an egg yolk. Most of the recipes I looked at called for one. I will try these.
Impressed 🙂
The gnudi di bietola recipe is wonderful. The gnudi have a very refined soft taste. The taste is very much like gnocchi. Everybody in my family enjoyed it very much. To make them was a bit of a mess, my fingers became very sticky and when I washed them again, the flour wouldn’t stick. But all in all I managed 🙂
I had never heard of gnudi until very recently and just made some yesterday and now, here is your post! Thanks for another gnudi recipe and wonderful descriptions and pictures as usual.
How much do you pack the swiss chard into the measuring cup after it’s cooked?
Drain it well, then pack it in not too hard.