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The dish - Duck gnudi

'Gnudi' means ‘nu’ or ‘naked’, and here, it refers to a naked filling. I forget when and where I came across this; it went from a scrap of paper to the back of my mind a while ago now. When I saw it, I remember it consisting of greens with ricotta and egg, as in a ravioli without the pasta wrapper. I believe it was poached and then pan-roasted, but anyway, I loved the idea and decided I wanted to try it out one day with sea spinach. It’s not as if it’s anything revolutionary; like I said it is filling. More accurately, it’s a dumpling; add some flour or starchy potato and it is gnocchi, add bread and it’s fancy turkey stuffing, add meat and it’s a meatball. In any case, there was something about the naked name, so catchy and cute, and the appealing notion of straight stuff with no excess dough, most appropriate for certain dishes.

However, good ideas come and go, and I never got around to doing it, almost forgot about it. Until I was composing my duck event menu and looking for something to float in my soup, which of course is a duck broth. I love consommé au naturel, especially if extracted from duck carcass, but customers might find it boring. I have done the traditional stuffed pasta, noodles of all kinds, wild rice, the royale garnish, various vegetable garnishes, blah. I considered making duck egg noodles (but that’s still noodles) or doing a stratiatella with duck eggs, maybe some sea spinach and parmesan, but although delicious, what a mess it is to look at, and what a waste of consommé really. Since meatballs are the rage, I thought of doing duck balls, maybe even duck-matzo balls. No, that would be too heavy. What I wanted was for the consommé to remain intact, clear and flavourful, with a small separate package of flavour to surprise the guests. In came the gnudi idea. Maybe, I could deliver spinach, egg and parmesan without muddying my consommé.

So I mixed the wilted greens (plus some cooked garlic and shallot) with the ricotta, and added the eggs. Seeing that it is a duck menu, I decided to add some ground duck meat to the mix, and a little parmesan to bind. I dusted them in flour and poached them. They turned out just as I had imagined - a cloud of spinach, cheese and duck. If I whipped the egg whites separately, I could perhaps make them even lighter, more like a mousseline.  Even as is, I could brown them in a bit of butter for extra umph, or poach them in my broth. But to keep the flavours clean and my broth grease free, I prefer to poach them on the side and add them to my soup. I sautéed a few up on the side for myself with a drizzle of boletus oil – wow. They would be terrific as a main course, topped with some extra cheese, some more duck, or ham and tomatoes, or some lemon zest, parm and olive oil.

shaping the gnudi

tasty floaters

If you want to make my gnudi, go ahead; you could use ground pork or veal or even leave out the meat altogether and add more cheese. The moral of the story is - next time you’re making meatballs, consider lightening them up with some ricotta and greens, or if you’re making ravioli or manicotti, maybe skip the pasta making and stuffing steps. Naked is kind of fun, and easy.

Duck gnudi

12p  (or 6 main)

1 cup wilted greens (spinach, chard, kale, mustard greens ..), 6 cups fresh

s.q. butter/olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 French shallot, minced

2 cups ricotta

2 duck eggs (or 3 eggs) 

200g ground duck (or chicken, veal, pork..)

¼ c freshly ground parmesan

salt and pepper

pinch nutmeg

Sweat garlic and shallot in olive oil or butter over low heat for 5 min or so. Optional: Deglaze with a splash of white wine or lemon. Cool.

Blanch greens in lots of salted water, refresh, drain and squeeze dry. Chop.

Drain ricotta in a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to get rid of excess moisture.

Mix all ingredients together.

Form into little balls, dust in flour.

Poach in boiling water (gently) for 3 minutes. Lift out and put on a greased tray or in a casserole dish (don’t stack).

Serve as is with a pat of butter, in a broth or sauce, or pan fry in with butter, topped with herbs and parmesan.