Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Walnut Butter Sauce

Goat-milk ricotta is drier and denser than cow’s milk ricotta, and its pungent tangy flavor mixes well with the walnut butter sauce. Goat-milk ricotta is not always readily available; for similar results, mix fresh goat cheese with cow’s milk ricotta.Watch the Fine Cooking Culinary School Video Series, where the authors show you how to make this dish, as well as eight other handmade pastas.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 12 oz. goat-milk ricotta or 1 cup soft fresh goat cheese mixed with 3/4 cup cow’s milk ricotta.
• 6 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 Tbs. chopped thyme, plus more for garnish
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mix together the flour and ricotta (or ricotta and goat cheese), and knead until a nice soft dough forms. Cut the dough into 4 even pieces. Roll each piece out into a 1-inch-thick rope and cut each rope, with a pastry cutter or knife, into 1/4-inch pieces. With your thumb, roll each piece of cut dough against the back of a handheld cheese grater. Place the gnocchi on trays dusted lightly with flour and place in the refrigerator.


Bring 6 quarts salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook until they rise to the surface, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with a spider or slotted spoon. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.


Meanwhile, melt the butter in a 12-inch sauté pan. Once it begins to foam, add the walnuts and thyme. Sauté a few minutes, until the butter begins to brown and the walnuts are lightly toasted, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the reserved pasta water and season to taste with salt and pepper.


Toss the gnocchi in the butter sauce, sprinkle with some fresh thyme, and serve.