I was watching Iron Chef and Cat Cora made ricotta gnocchi with some sweet butternut squash sauce and scallops. Because butternut squash is out of season and Iron Chef doesn't post their recipes, I had to come up with something on my own.
Here it is..richotta gnocchi and scallops with sweet corn, basil, walnuts, and brown butter. Holy cow is it good!
Ingredients
1 pound ricotta cheese, drained
1 egg
1 C shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 C flour
1 t nutmeg
1 C sweet corn, cut off the stalks
1 T butter
3 T butter
1/4 C walnuts
15 basil leaves (I tore mine right from the plant in the garden)
2 scallops
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Directions
Ricotta Gnocchi
If your ricotta cheese is wet (you can buy it dry at Whole Foods), you'll have to wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it over a bowl to drain overnight.
Once dry, place the ricotta cheese in a bowl. Add the egg, parmesan cheese, salt, flour, and nutmeg. Mix together really well. Using either a pastry bag or a ziploc bag, fill it with the mixture. If using a ziploc, cut off the end so you can squeeze the mixture through.
Coat a cookie sheet with a pile of flour. Squeeze the mixture into one inch logs onto the flour. Coat the logs in flour and roll into balls.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Drop balls into the water. They rise to the top when they're finished cooking. Remove with a slotted spoon. Place in a warm oven to keep warm.
Spring Corn
Warm up the corn and butter in a small saucepan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep on low until ready to use.
Brown Butter Sauce
Place butter, basil, and walnuts in a pan. Melt the butter and cook until it begins to turn brown.
Scallops
Carefully coat the scallops with salt and pepper. In a heated cast-iron pan coated with olive oil, place the coated side down. While it's cooking, add salt and pepper to the other side. Cook on medium high heat until a nice brown crust is created. Flip over and cook the other side.
Assembly
Place six to eight gnocchi in the bottom of a bowl. Add the corn and sauce. Top with scallops.
I know this looks like a lot of work, but it took less than 30 minutes, from beginning to end. And it's better than anything you can get in a restaurant. YUMMY!
