Ricotta cheesecake, ricotta-spinach dumplings

I made the best, really the best cheesecake for Easter. Not all agree. It's from the New York Times archives. Try it!

Then with the rest of the ricotta I am making these, one of a collection of recipes from Venice; I'm sorry I've lost the book.

Ricotta dumplings 

*Here's a great guide to plain ricotta gnocchi: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/03/ricotta-gnocchi-homemade-food-lab-recipe.html
2 pounds spinach
1 pound ricotta, drained
2 C. grated Parmesan cheese

3 eggs, beaten

1 t. salt

pepper to taste

¼ t. grated nutmeg

flour

butter

• Wash spinach well. Drain it. Cook in a deep saucepan with no water. When cooked, drain again BE sure to drain it very well! Squeeze the spinach with your hands to extract as much liquid as possible. Chop fine. You can also use 2 packages chopped frozen spinach.
• Mix with ricotta, 1 C Parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg. Add 1/2 to 2/3 C. flour so dough sticks together.
• When all ingredients are well combined, shape into about 5 logs, each about 12"=13" long.Cut into gnocchi the size you like. Dust with semolina flour and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet that is covered with parchment. Dust again lightly with semolina flour. You can now freeze them and after they are frozen, transfer to a ziplock bag. Then you can cook them directly from the freezer.
  
  Drop gnocchi into boiling water, stirring gently at first so they don't stick to the bottom. Then cook them until they rise to the top and let them cook for at least a minute after they float up. Make sure the insides are fully cooked!
  
  
• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain them. Put them into a shallow buttered ovenware dish.
• Pour on melted butter and grated Parmesan.
• Keep them in a slow oven (300°?) until all the dumplings have been cooked. Continue to add melted butter and Parmesan as you add dumplings to the dish.
• Broil to brown, or serve straight from the oven. They are excellent with chicken in tomato sauce, or anything in tomato sauce. Or just tomatoes.

9. Serves 6 to 8.

Ricotta tart for Easter

Recipes seem to be slipping away from me this week: first, cheese gougères, and just now the ricotta tart I love to make for Easter. I referred to it in this blog on an earlier Easter -- but that time I just gave a link to the New York Times, where my recipe originated. I clicked, but it took awhile for the recipe to pop up, so I wondered if there's a shelf-life to old NYT recipes. Luckily, this one is still alive online. But I copied it just in case, and here it is. I'm also going to print it out. 

I make half this recipe, for one cheesecake. I'm going to make ours on Saturday.

RICOTTA TART

Adapted from Pepolino restaurant

Time: 2 1/2 hours plus cooling

1 3/4 cups sugar

11 ounces (2 3/4 sticks) slightly softened unsalted butter, in pieces

2 egg yolks

4 cups cake flour, approximately

2 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese

5 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups heavy cream

Confectioners' sugar.

1. Combine 3/4 cup sugar, the butter and egg yolks in a food processor or a large mixing bowl. Process or beat until smooth. Add flour about 1 cup at a time, pulsing until blended if using a food processor, or mixing by hand until a soft, smooth dough can be gathered in a ball. Divide in two, flatten each portion into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 40 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Roll out one disk on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Fit dough into a 9-inch springform pan or a 9-inch round cake pan 1 1/2 inches deep with a removable bottom. In springform pan, dough should come up 2 inches on sides; with cake pan, dough should be even with top edge. Repeat with second pan. If you do not have two pans, second tart can be made after first has finished baking.

3. In a large bowl or in an electric mixer on low speed, beat together ricotta, remaining sugar, whole eggs, vanilla and cream until well blended and smooth. Ladle filling into prepared pans.

4. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and continue baking for one hour and 10 minutes, until top is puffed and golden -- some cracking is to be expected -- and a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and cool 10 minutes. Remove outer ring from pan and cool tart to room temperature. Filling will sink as it cools. Tart can be refrigerated. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Yield: 2 tarts, 16 servings.