The Art of Cooking: A Spinach and Ricotta Nutty with Porcini Mushroom Puree

I think the best thing I ever made is this spinach and ricotta nutty, with the porcini mushroom puree. Doesn't it just sound delicious now? If you don't know what a nudie is, it's like the inside of a ravioli filling but without the ravioli. So, it's kind of nude hence the nudity - clever, those attacks! Huh! I have everything laid out kind of lined up like little soldiers; it just makes things go a little bit quicker and beautiful.

The first step in making this dish is to make your mushroom puree. To start, you need to soak your dried porcini mushrooms in hot water, using enough to cover them and allowing them to steep for 20 minutes or so. While those are soaking, what we're going to do is start to slice the shallots end to end; I'll sauté shallots with olive oil and just allow them to lightly brown. I'm going to add a pinch of crushed red pepper to these shallots - not for spice, but for a little bit of a backdrop of flavor. A pinch of salt as well.

Next, what I'll do is add some regular domestic mushrooms and some fresh porcini mushrooms and allow them to cook together so those flavors can intermingle and really develop nicely. Once the mushrooms are cooked, I'll take those that are now reconstituted and it's a smoky flavor inside these dried porcini mushrooms that I just think is delicious. Allow that to cook and then I'll add the porcini liquid, decanting it into this if needed - adding some vegetable stock as well - and puree it for about five minutes. Then, I'll strain it; it's ridiculous how all you need now is that final puree. The consistency should be very similar to kind of a looser pudding - exactly like a thin pudding.

I'll reserve the puree on the side for later use. Now, let's move on to the nudies at this point. I'll take ricotta cheese which I've strained overnight so all the residual liquid drips off; add two egg yolks, a little bit of salt, some fresh parmesan cheese, a little bit of fresh nutmeg, and a touch of flour. So these nudies are holding together and nothing more than that. Then, of course, the panko bread crumbs - it actually has a better texture when it's cooked than just using flour.

I'm going to add some sautéed spinach; mix those nudie together. I think it's really important just to test one and then it's off to the races. Once they're cooked and floating, I cook them for another two minutes and then transfer them into an ice bath. When it's time to serve this, I'll put some butter inside a pan as well as the liquid that we've cooked the nuty in - it's one of the fundamentals of cooking pasta in general; all that liquid has a lot of flavor so it's really important to utilize it with the pasta itself.

If you could smell this at home, it's buttery and delicious. I mean, this is really something special. I'll put the puree on the bottom of the plate and then put the nudie on top of them - a little bit of parmesan cheese. It's good to go; guys dig in! I hope you really like this as much as I do. I love that these nudies are soft and they just melt in your mouth. These are fantastic, you get the great textures you have the beautiful flavor of the ricotta cheese and the parmesan cheese and then the earthiness of the mushroom puree.

I love this stuff - it's so good. It's such a nice balance of flavors. By the way, this is my favorite part right? Grab a piece of bread and make a scarpetta just sop everything up; that's what it's all about you!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni think the best thing i ever made is this spinach and ricotta nutty with the porcini mushroom puree doesn't it just sound delicious now if you don't know what a nudie is it's like the inside of a ravioli filling but without the ravioli so it's kind of nude hence the nudity clever those attacks huh i have everything laid out kind of lined up like little soldiers it just makes things go a little bit quicker beautiful so first things first make your mushroom puree the first step is to soak your dried porcini mushrooms in hot water and i'll just use enough to cover them and allow them to steep for 20 minutes or so so as those are soaking what we're gonna do is start to slice the shallots end to end i'll saute shallots then olive oil and just allow them to lightly brown i'm gonna add a pinch of crushed red pepper to these shallots and i don't do that for spice i just add that for a little bit of a backdrop of flavor a pinch of salt as well then what i'll do is add some regular domestic mushrooms and some fresh porcini mushrooms and allow them to cook together so those flavors intermingle and really develop nicely i'll take those mushrooms that are now reconstituted it's a smoky flavor inside these dried porcini mushrooms that i just think is delicious and allow that to cook and then i'll add the porcini liquid decant it into this if i need a little bit more liquid i'll add some vegetable stock as well and i'll puree it for about five minutes and then i'll strain it that's ridiculous this is all you need now that final puree the consistency should be very similar to kind of a looser pudding exactly like a thin pudding i'll reserve it on the side for later use so we're going to move on to the nudity at this point so i'll take ricotta cheese which i've strained overnight so all the residual liquid drips off add two egg yolks a little bit of salt some fresh parmesan cheese a little bit of fresh nutmeg a touch of flour so these nudity are holding together and nothing more than that and then of course the panko bread crumbs it actually has a better texture when it's cooked than just using flour i'm gonna add some sauteed spinach mix those nudie together i think it's really important just to test one and then it's off to the races and i'll make these little balls and just drop them i think it's very important to be gentle with these as well once they're cooked and floating i cook them for another two minutes and then from there i transfer them into an ice bath when it's time to serve this i'll put some butter inside a pan as well as the liquid that we've cooked the nuty in this is one of the fundamentals of cooking pasta in general all that liquid has a lot of flavor so it's really important to utilize it with the pasta itself if you could smell this at home it's buttery and delicious i mean this is really something special i'll put the puree on the bottom of the plate and i'll put the nudie on top of them a little bit of parmesan cheese it's good to go guys dig in i hope you really like this as much as i do i love that these nudies are soft and they just melt in your mouth these are fantastic you get the great textures you have the beautiful flavor of the ricotta cheese and the parmesan cheese and then the earthiness of the mushroom puree i love this stuff it's so good it's such a nice balance of flavor and by the way this is my favorite part right grab a piece of bread and make a scarpetta just sop everything up that's what it's all about youi think the best thing i ever made is this spinach and ricotta nutty with the porcini mushroom puree doesn't it just sound delicious now if you don't know what a nudie is it's like the inside of a ravioli filling but without the ravioli so it's kind of nude hence the nudity clever those attacks huh i have everything laid out kind of lined up like little soldiers it just makes things go a little bit quicker beautiful so first things first make your mushroom puree the first step is to soak your dried porcini mushrooms in hot water and i'll just use enough to cover them and allow them to steep for 20 minutes or so so as those are soaking what we're gonna do is start to slice the shallots end to end i'll saute shallots then olive oil and just allow them to lightly brown i'm gonna add a pinch of crushed red pepper to these shallots and i don't do that for spice i just add that for a little bit of a backdrop of flavor a pinch of salt as well then what i'll do is add some regular domestic mushrooms and some fresh porcini mushrooms and allow them to cook together so those flavors intermingle and really develop nicely i'll take those mushrooms that are now reconstituted it's a smoky flavor inside these dried porcini mushrooms that i just think is delicious and allow that to cook and then i'll add the porcini liquid decant it into this if i need a little bit more liquid i'll add some vegetable stock as well and i'll puree it for about five minutes and then i'll strain it that's ridiculous this is all you need now that final puree the consistency should be very similar to kind of a looser pudding exactly like a thin pudding i'll reserve it on the side for later use so we're going to move on to the nudity at this point so i'll take ricotta cheese which i've strained overnight so all the residual liquid drips off add two egg yolks a little bit of salt some fresh parmesan cheese a little bit of fresh nutmeg a touch of flour so these nudity are holding together and nothing more than that and then of course the panko bread crumbs it actually has a better texture when it's cooked than just using flour i'm gonna add some sauteed spinach mix those nudie together i think it's really important just to test one and then it's off to the races and i'll make these little balls and just drop them i think it's very important to be gentle with these as well once they're cooked and floating i cook them for another two minutes and then from there i transfer them into an ice bath when it's time to serve this i'll put some butter inside a pan as well as the liquid that we've cooked the nuty in this is one of the fundamentals of cooking pasta in general all that liquid has a lot of flavor so it's really important to utilize it with the pasta itself if you could smell this at home it's buttery and delicious i mean this is really something special i'll put the puree on the bottom of the plate and i'll put the nudie on top of them a little bit of parmesan cheese it's good to go guys dig in i hope you really like this as much as i do i love that these nudies are soft and they just melt in your mouth these are fantastic you get the great textures you have the beautiful flavor of the ricotta cheese and the parmesan cheese and then the earthiness of the mushroom puree i love this stuff it's so good it's such a nice balance of flavor and by the way this is my favorite part right grab a piece of bread and make a scarpetta just sop everything up that's what it's all about you\n"