As soon as there’s a chill in the air I have the urge to make gnocchi, I don’t know why, but I  just do. So on a cool, dark, dreary Sunday I whipped up a batch.

I’m partial to ricotta based gnocchi instead of the potato ones, they’re light as a cloud and melt in your mouth plus you can get a batch together in no time at all.

 This time I wanted to add some Swiss chard to mine, I still have a ton growing in my garden and since I’ve done kale gnocchi before I’d thought I’d try it with chard.

You don’t need a bunch of chard because a little goes along way. Rinse it really good then blanch it for a few minutes, the key thing to remember is make sure you squeeze out all that excess water because you don’t want super wet greens added into your dough.  I use my potato ricer for squeezing, it works wonders!

 Making gnocchi isn’t difficult, it’s all about how that dough feels, you don’t want a sticky dough, it can be slightly tacky but that’s about it. Make sure to drain your ricotta, some deli ricotta can be very wet so you’ll want to make sure to drain it really good, otherwise you’ll be adding too much flour and your gnocchi will tastes like lead!

Add your flour a little at a time, you might need more or less than the recipe calls for, you’ll know by the feel of it.

 A simple marinara always goes well with gnocchi but this time I added a little roasted red pepper puree into mine, ( roast a couple of red peppers then puree them with a little olive oil in a food processor) and we loved it even more, it was a match made in pillowy cloud heaven!

 I also tossed some into a warm garlic butter sauce using just two tablespoons of butter, one small chopped garlic clove and the juice and zest of one lemon, I added diced and roasted zucchini along with freshly grated parmesan cheese, delish!

The main thing to remember is that the sauce is just a compliment, the gnocchi is always the star of the show!

My Ricotta Gnocchi recipe can be found HERE, just replace the kale with Swiss chard.