These Ricotta Dumplings with Pumpkin and Crispy Sage are like delicious puffs of air, drenched in a buttery sage sauce with pumpkin and hazelnuts. My top tip when making these dumplings is to work gently. Don’t overwork dough or you will have stodgy dumplings. Use Italian Tipo 00 flour for the lightest dumplings, but if you can’t get your hands on this, you can substitute with plain or bread flour.
Once you have prepared your dumplings, start the sauce. Cook the pumpkin in oil until tender and golden brown. Add butter, sage, and capers and cook until the butter foams up. Continue to cook until the butter turns brown and the butter smells nutty. Add the hazelnuts. Cook the dumplings in boiling water. Drain and add to the sauce. Add lemon juice and season. Yum!
To make my Ricotta Dumplings with Pumpkin and Crispy Sage, you will need the following ingredients:
Place 400 grams of ricotta in a large bowl with 2 egg yolks, a pinch of nutmeg, the zest of ½ a lemon, 30 grams of Parmesan, and a pinch of salt. Mix using a wooden spoon until fully combined. Add 100 grams of flour and use your hands to incorporate the flour to form a tacky dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a little extra flour until it is just workable but do not overmix.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and flour your hands. Knead the dough very gently three or four times.
Flour your work surface and hands again. Cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece of dough into a long cylinder. Cut the dumplings into 1½-cm pieces. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with a little flour. Transfer prepared dumplings to a baking sheet.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add 500 grams of pumpkin. Cook in the oil, tossing occasionally, for 8 minutes until just tender and golden brown. Add 30 grams of butter, 8 sage leaves and 1 tablespoon of capers. Continue to cook until the butter foams up and when the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, add 70 grams of chopped hazelnuts and toss for 10 seconds.
Cook the dumplings in a large saucepan of gently boiling salted water for about 2 minutes until they rise to the surface. You can cook them in batches if the pot becomes overcrowded.
Remove the dumplings from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to the sauce. Add the juice of half a lemon and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently once or twice until the dumplings are coated in the sauce.
Serve immediately.
These Ricotta Dumplings with Pumpkin and Crispy Sage are so tasty you won’t believe you made them yourself! Try them soon and don’t forget to come back and leave a review!
Well done! Approved!
