Name: Spinach Malfatti
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 250g of ricotta, drained overnight; 500g of spinach; 1 egg; 50g of flour; 50g of semolina flour; 70g of Parmesan, finely grated; 1 pinch of nutmeg; salt

Though Spinach Malfatti might sound spectacular, it is actually a very traditional recipe with simple ingredients.

I am a student at Arizona State University. Recently, I had to research, prepare, and enjoy a Mediterranean meal with friends for one of my classes. Due to the current pandemic and physical distancing requirements, I opted to host an online cooking show. This decision ensured the social aspect of Mediterranean cooking.

Obviously, I repurposed some content and footage from my class project for my fitT1Dfoodie blog and YouTube channel!

What is Malfatti?

Malfatti stems from the Lombardy region of Italy. It is a dish, that is similar to gnocchi, and translates to English as “poorly made.” The translation refers to the large and irregular shape of the preparred malfatti. Suardi (2020) describes that “wild herbs and raw materials, available in the countryside, were transformed into this dish with readily available peasant ingredients such as stale bread, eggs and cheese.” Malfatti is a homemade dish that was handed down to each passing generation. Thus, I was inspired to make this Spinach Malfatti recipe for my class.

In my research, I found a simple malfatti with tomato sauce recipe from the Great Italian Chefs website. I did my best to make it with a few procedural tweaks. The result was delicious and I’ll keep this recipe in my pocket forever. I’m sure I’ll make it again! Malfatti is vegetable based and incorporates flour, moderate dairy, and fat. Local wild herbs were used in this dish traditionally but I used what I had – spinach!

Yield: 12

Spinach Malfatti

Ingredients

250g of ricotta, drained overnight
500g of spinach
1 egg
50g of flour
50g of semolina flour
70g of Parmesan, finely grated
1 pinch of nutmeg
salt

Instructions

Steam the spinach to wilt. You may need to do this in two batches. Allow to cool.
Once spinach has cooled, squeeze out water. Finely chop.
Add spinach and remaining ingredients together. Mix well. Form into small balls, using roughly 2 tbsp of the dough.
Drop balls into boiling salted water – you know they are ready when they rise to the surface! Set aside once cooked.

Tomato sauce

Sweat the onion and garlic until soft with no color, then add the tomatoes, crushing them lightly.
Cook out over low-medium for 10–15 minutes until mixture starts to thicken. If desired, blitz in a blender until smooth.