Ingredients

• 520g/1lb 3oz baby spinach leaves
• 50g/1¾oz ‘00’ flour
• 250g/9oz ricotta
• 1 large free-range egg
• beaten
• 200g/7oz Parmesan (or alternative vegetarian hard cheese)
• grated
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 200g/7oz semolina
• 100g/3½oz butter
• handful of sage leaves
• sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Steam the spinach for 3 minutes
• place in a colander and thoroughly drain any excess water. Chop the spinach very roughly.
• Mix the flour and ricotta in a large bowl until it resembles lumpy
• moist breadcrumbs. With a wooden spoon
• stir in the egg and 150g/5½oz of the Parmesan. Add a good pinch of salt
• a decent twist of pepper
• the nutmeg and drained spinach and stir to combine everything thoroughly.
• Take a large
• stemmed wine glass and drop in a dessertspoonful of semolina. Using a separate
• clean dessertspoon
• dollop a small amount of the mixture into the glass. Swirl around for a few seconds until you have a walnut-sized dumpling. Place on a generously semolina-dusted tray. Repeat until all the mixture is used up. When you have finished
• you should have around 24 malfatti balls.
• Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Drop in the malfatti
• bring back to the boil and then simmer for about 3 minutes. The malfatti will float to the surface when they are ready.
• Meanwhile
• melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the sage leaves. When the butter starts to bubble
• reduce the heat to very low.
• Remove the malfatti with a slotted spoon and drain any excess water on a clean tea towel. Divide between four warmed plates
• pour the butter and sage over the top and scatter over the remaining Parmesan. Serve immediately.