Malfatti with tomato and basil (minus the lemon)

I have been wanting to make these little bundles of delicious for months now.

They are beautiful. Light parcels of ricotta and spinach with a fresh tomato sauce.
The sauce was meant to have lemon in it. Which I managed to just leave on the counter and forget to add to the tomato sauce.

The recipe specified firm ricotta. I was very upset when I opened my tub and found it was soft ricotta. The mixture ended up gluggy and thick. I was not impressed. I persevered. Instead of "rolling into dumplings" I just dropped spoonfuls of mixture into rapidly boiling water. They actually worked! So if you get firm ricotta you can form them into little balls. If you get soft ricotta you can try dropping little spoonfuls into the boiling water.

Serves 4

400g silverbeet (about 1 large bunch), trimmed and washed thoroughly

500g firm ricotta cheese

4 eggs

50g parmesan cheese, finely grated (plus extra to serve)

50g plain flour

Blanch the silverbeet until tender (I microwaved it for 1-2 minutes). Refresh, drain well, squeeze out excess liquid. Chop coarsely.

In a bowl mix the silverbeet, ricotta, eggs, parmesan and flour. Season well with salt and pepper. Boil a large pot of water. If you have firm ricotta roll small walnut sized dumplings. Roll in semolina flour. Otherwise you can drop little tablespoons of mixture into the boiling water. Cook a few at a time until firm and they float to the surface (2-3 minutes). Drain well with a slotted spoon. Add to tomato sauce, gently stir to combine and serve scattered and serve scattered with parmesan and basil.

Tomato Sauce

Use your favourite simple tomato sauce. Here is the one I made. I can't resist some anchovies in my tomato sauce. A splash of wine wouldn't have gone astray either.

Large glug of olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, sliced

4 anchovies

2 tbsp tomato paste

4 large very ripe tomatoes, chopped

Large handful of basil

Gently fry the onion in olive oil. Add the garlic and anchovies. Cook very gently until softened. Add the tomato paste and tomatoes. Put a lid on it and cook gently for 10-20 minutes until beautiful and soft and reduced.

Add salt and pepper to taste. At the last minute throw in the basil.

You could add the zest of one lemon to the sauce. This is the step that I forgot.