Malfatti ( Italian Ricotta Spinach Dumplings ) are Tuscan homemade spinach ricotta cheese dumplings boiled in salty water and served with any sauce or vegetables you prefer.

Malfatti are of Tuscan (Sienese, to be precise) origin, and their name „malfatti“ means „badly made“ in Italian. People call them malfatti just because they resemble ravioli filling without pasta. So, malfatti are not pasta but dumplings.

The same works for gnudi, meaning „naked“ but originating from neighbour town of Florence.

For more details on both names, go here .

There are several ways to prepare your batter for malfatti recipe. It’s all about the spinach versions. If you use fresh baby spinach you may wilt it briefly in boiling water, gently salted, just until spinach shrinks, then drain it and chop.

Also, you may use frozen spinach. I suggest you thaw it in advance, drain and squeeze in cheese cloth to remove excess water.

Our version includes fresh leaves, chopped and added to ricotta mixture. However this require longer boiling once you form dumplings.

To present this malfatti recipe, I used some leeks, small tomatoes and more spinach to simmer and serve as the base for spinach ricotta dumplings, once made.

Of course, you can always serve your batch with favourite sauce, spread, sage butter or simply dusted with grated parmesan.

For more spinach recipes published by 2pots2cook, look below:

Spinach Ricotta Rolls

Rustic Vegetarian Spinach Tart

Turkey and Spinach Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells

Baby Spinach Gorgonzola Creamy Soup

Malfatti ( Italian Ricotta Spinach Dumplings ) are Tuscan homemade spinach ricotta cheese dumplings boiled in salty water and served with any sauce or vegetables you prefer.

Chop 4 cups of fresh spinach to get 1 ½ cup of it.

In medium sized bowl, whisk eggs, oil, salt, Ricotta, and parmesan.

Add flour, breadcrumbs, baking powder and corn starch. Add spinach and combine well. Leave to rest in the fridge for two hours.

While malfatti recipe batter is cooling, fry leek slices in skillet with olive oil for 3 minutes. Take it out and place in shallow bowl to rest.

On remaining virgin olive oil, fry spinach and tomatoes until spinach is wilted. It should take 3 minutes. If necessary, add more oil during the process. Place leeks in the same pan and let it rest until you boil malfatti.

Pour 8 cups of water into large pot. Add pinch of salt and bring salted water to boil.

Take the batter out of the fridge and wet your hands.

To make sure your batter is firm enough, make a test by boiling one dumpling to see it if stays in one piece during boiling. If your batter falls apart, add more corn starch to “fix” your batter.

Form balls using two tablespoons of batter and place into boiling water. Do not overcrowd the pot. Since you get 12 dumplings divide them to two batches to cook. Boil each batch for 12 minutes.

Once done, take the dumplings out using slotted spoon. Place boiled malfatti in shallow dish covered with paper towel to soak extra water.

Serve with vegetables and sprinkle with extra parmesan or hard cheese slices.