Rabaton Ricotta Pasta Dumpling Recipe

Rabaton is a type of ricotta-based dumpling pasta, similar to the famous Tuscan “Gnudi” but baked instead of simply boiled.  If you like your pasta with a crispy, cheesy crust, this is the recipe for you!

Rabaton Ricotta Pasta Dumpling Recipe

How to Treat the Ricotta

When making ricotta dumplings, it’s important to work with ricotta that isn’t too wet. To avoid this, we recommend placing the ricotta in a fine mesh sieve suspended over a bowl. Cover the ricotta in plastic wrap and let it drain in the fridge overnight. Please note that the amount of ricotta listed below is by weight after draining.

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RABATON RECIPE

Makes: 2 servings

Cook Time: 1 hour

For this recipe, you will need:

• Salt

• 5 to 6 ounces (150 g) Swiss chard, trimmed and very roughly chopped

• 5 to 6 ounces (150 g) baby spinach

• 3.5 ounces (100 g) drained ricotta

• 1.75 ounces (50 g) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus extra for topping

• 1 large egg

• A pinch of fresh black pepper

• A pinch of grated nutmeg

• Dried bread crumbs, to taste

• All-purpose flour for dusting

• 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter, or to taste

• 8 to 10 fresh sage leaves

Bring a large pot of water to boil and salt it generously. Add the Swiss chard and boil for about 8 minutes. Add the baby spinach and keep cooking until the Swiss chard stems are tender—about an additional 2 minutes.

Remove the greens from the pot with a slotted spoon (save the water for later) and let them cool to the touch. Squeeze the excess water out of the greens and finely chop them.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the chopped Swiss chard and spinach with the ricotta, Parmigiano cheese, egg, black pepper, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Stir all together. While continuing to mix, gradually stir in bread crumbs until the mixture reaches a workable consistency: it should be soft and moldable, but not too sticky.

Scoop up small handfuls of the ricotta mixture and roll them with your hands into smooth torpedo-shaped croquettes, each being about 3 inches long and 1 ½ inches wide (7.5 cm by 3.75 cm).

Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).

Bring the pot of water back to a boil and carefully drop the dumplings in. As soon as the dumplings float up to the surface of the water, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and let them cool to the touch on a plate. While they cool, grease the bottom of a baking dish (the size doesn’t matter too much, but it should be large enough to fit all of the pasta on the bottom without too much extra space) with butter. Evenly spread a few pats of extra butter along the bottom of the dish as well.

Roll the croquettes in flour to evenly dust them on all sides and arrange them in the bottom of the baking dish. Top each dumpling with a small pat of butter and nestle the sage leaves amongst the pasta. Generously grate some extra Parmigiano on top and bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese on top has become crispy and golden.

Serve immediately.

Buon appetito!