Cottage cheese dumplings (malfatti) with nettle

Step-by-Step Cooking Instructions

Step 1

Heat up the butter in a frying pan. Add finely chopped onion and sauté until the onion is translucent and soft. Add garlic and continue cooking 2-3 minutes. Add the nettle leaves, wait until they soften, season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a colander to drain all the liquid. Cool down. Finely chop the nettle leaves.

Step 2

In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, grated cheese, egg yolks, lemon zest and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly and add the chopped nettle.

Step 3

Mix the flour carefully. Flour should be added so that the mixture becomes dry and thick, but not hard.

Step 4

Dust the tray or baking sheet with flour. With a tablespoon dipped in hot water, form round dumplings. Arrange them on the tray so that they do not touch. Dust lightly with flour and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Step 5

Boil water in a saucepan, salt. Drop the dumplings in small batches into slowly boiling water. After they float to the surface of the water, cook for another 6-7 minutes. The dumplings should be firm, not runny inside. Remove from water and lay on a towel to dry.

Step 6

Serve with green sauce. To prepare it, mix nettle, parsley and basil leaves, pine nuts and garlic in a blender bowl. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to the resulting puree, stir.

Step 7

Sprinkle the dumplings with grated cheese when serving.