Malfatti

Summary

Prep Time	30 mins
Cook Time	20 mins
Total Time	50 mins
Course	Appetizers & Snacks
Cuisine	European
Servings (Default: 6)

Ingredients

Instructions

Starter for 6 - 8 people. Also a meal for 4 people with beautiful leaf salads. Prepare well.
Clean and wash the spinach leaves, let them collapse dripping wet in the pot. Or thaw frozen spinach leaves (e.g. in a sieve in the microwave). Squeeze out the thawed or cooled leaves very well and finely chop them with a large knife.
Fry the onions and garlic finely diced in a little butter until translucent. Mix in the chopped spinach, remove from the fire, allow to cool a little.
Mix very well drained quark or ricotta with the eggs until creamy, add the drained spinach and 50 g grated Parmesan, season well with salt (careful, Parmesan already has salt), pepper and chilli (nutmeg). Gradually work in the flour, stirring constantly, until the dough is smooth and about as firm as the meatball mixture. The amount of flour depends on the residual moisture in the spinach and quark and the size of the egg. Try and season if necessary.
Cut off the cams with 2 tablespoons (makes about 35 - 40 pieces) and place them on the floured work surface at a distance from each other.
When the dough is used up, roll the cams round with floured hands. Bring the salted water to the boil in a large, flat saucepan (3 liters) and slide the malfatti into the boiling water in portions. They are cooked when they swim on the surface. Skim off with a perforated ladle and toss in a large pan with the remaining melted butter. Serve hot and sprinkle with the chosen cheese at the table.
Alternatively, especially for larger quantities: Malfatti means badly made, so the cams don`t have to look perfect. If you have a spaetzle board, you can spread the mixture thickly on the wet board and scrape half-hand-plate-sized cams into the simmering salted water with the spaetzle or wide knife. They are supposed to be about the size of gnocchi but are looser. They are cooked when they swim on the surface. Skim off with a perforated ladle, drain them side by side in a flat baking dish. Melt the remaining butter and pour over the malfatti. Sprinkle with 50 g of parmesan (you can add a little more) and place in the oven preheated to 170 ° C. Remove and serve after 8-10 minutes.
Tip:
There are many different recipes, with and without onions and garlic, often with nutmeg. This is what we like best.
The mass and the dumplings are easy to prepare, cover the dumplings with a floured kitchen towel and only cook when they are ready to be served. The casserole version can also be cooked and only put in the oven when the meal is about to begin.
Sbrinz is little known in Germany and not available everywhere. The Swiss will prefer to use it, it is even tastier than 08/15 Parmesan. If you get Sbrinz or good Pecorino, you should at least try this for sprinkling (don`t put it in the oven). But also very good with freshly grated Grana Padano from the discounter.