Malfatti are gnocchi-like soft and fluffy morsels of pasta, practically melt in the mouth delights with ricotta and spinach and religiously topped only with butter and sage.
The recipe for Malfatti
There are many versions each family with its own recipe, those who use spinach and those who prefer herbs or chicory, some dress them with sage and butter, others with a tomato sauce. They can have a tapered shaped or be slightly rounded, each hand is different, the important thing is that malfatti are homemade.
Malfatti ingredients for 6 people
2 lb frozen spinach, 10 oz ricotta, 9 oz white flour, 5 oz butter, 4 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, 3 eggs, Nutmeg, Sage, Salt, Pepper
How to Make Malfatti
Boil the spinach, drain and chop it on a cutting board. Leave it to cool then transfer them to a large bowl with the ricotta cheese. Mix well and then add eggs, flour, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Mix all the ingredients together so they are properly amalgamated, and the mixture doesn’t produce lumps. Using a spoon cut out some balls to be quickly rolled out into the flour and to be coarsely pasted with the palms of your hands. Add them to boiling salted water. When they come to the surface, they are ready. Then drain them with a skimmer and season them with melted butter flavored with sage and a generous sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano.
Carpenedolo Malfatti
Malfatti is a traditional first course from Lombardy, more precisely Brescian cuisine, a town of the lower eastern Brescia called Carpenedolo, on the left bank of the river Chiese. In 2014 the Malfatti of Carpenedolo received the De.Co certification, that is, the municipal denomination.
The story goes that in order to face food shortages which often affected inhabitants of the area, wild herbs and raw materials harvested in the countryside were transformed into delicious dishes by adding readily available poor ingredients such as stale bread, eggs and cheese. The Malfatti would therefore vary according to the season, wild chicory, chard, dandelion or dandelion. To date it’s not easy to find an official recipe it’s a homemade dish handed down from generation to generation, and for the sake of argument let's trust the authorized and certified De.Co recipe of the Malfatto di Carpenedolo, which in Brescian dialect translates "malfàcc de Carpenédol". In order for the Malfatti to be considered as such, the malfàcc de Carpenedolo must have although irregular, an oblong shape. In fact, every malfàcc will look different from the other because they are handmade without a mold.
Malfatti ingredients
1 lb chard, 1 lb spinach or dandelion or field chicory, 12 oz grated cheese, 7 oz butter, 3 eggs, 1 onion, 1 garlic clove, Flour and breadcrumbs to taste, Amaretti, Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg, Sage, bay leaves
How to Make Carpendolo Malfatti
Wash and boil the spinach and wild herbs in boiling salted water, drain them and if necessary, squeeze them carefully to remove excess water. Chop the herbs, add the eggs, bread and grated cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and chopped Amaretti. Leave the mixture to rest and prepare a floured pastry board, then divide the mixture into smaller parts and as you would do for the gnocchi, create small strands using the palm of your hands, to be cut into pieces the size of an inch. Add them to boiling salted water and when they come to the surface, they’re ready. Then drain them with a skimmer and season with sautéed butter and sage and a sprinkling of grated cheese.