Ricotta Gnocchi

INGREDIENTS

•  Salt
•  One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese, preferably whole milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 ¼ cups freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
•  Freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ to 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 10 or more sage leaves
• PREPARATION

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Combine the ricotta, eggs and Parmesan in a large bowl, along with some salt and pepper. Add about 1/2 cup flour and stir; add more flour until the mixture forms a very sticky dough. Scoop up a spoonful of dough and boil it to make sure it will hold its shape; if it does not, stir in a bit more flour.
2. Put the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When it melts and turns a nutty brown color, add the sage. While it fries, drop the ricotta mixture by the rounded tablespoon into the boiling water, working in batches of six or so at a time so as not to overload the pot.
3. When the gnocchi rise to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the skillet. When all the gnocchi are done, toss, taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve immediately.

COMMENTS from NYTimes readers

You can put the dough in a pastry bag containing a open tip, then hold it carefully over the boiling water, squeeze, then cut off into desired sized pieces (e.g. 3/4"). Cook in batches. To serve later, place finished gnocchi into an ice bath to chill, and spoon into lightly oiled bowl and refrigerate until ready to use later that evening or the next day. When ready to serve, toss with the butter and sage as suggested in the recipe.

If you have to add a lot of flour your ricotta is too watery. Simple fix: spread a clean smooth kitchen towel on counter (not a terry cloth one); spread your ricotta about 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick on the towel. Take 3 thicknesses of paper towel and cover ricotta. Press gently for a few seconds all over the ricotta, evenly. Remove paper towel and discard. The ricotta will peel off the towel easily and be much less moist.

Freeze them before you boil them and they won't clump together

Let the ricotta drain for a day if possible before making them. Fork mix them with just enough flour to keep them together, then take a healthy spoonful and knead in enough flour so they can be rolled into ropes and cut. Depending on the size of your eggs two may be too much.

I made this again substituting cream cheese for half the ricotta because we had it on hand. Delicious!

I think you may have added too much flour; that's why they didn't hold together. Also, you can't handle the dough too much, try to get the job done with as little mixing as possible. We made a simple, very rich sauce with just melted butter with sour cream mixed in and heated together until warm.