Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Big disappointment here.

I like that this recipe goes on for six pages. Over the past month, I've probably read it at least 10 times. One caution was to use good ricotta, and there is a paragraph on making sure it isn't too wet. I made my own ricotta from whole milk (following http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/02/how-to-make-fresh-ricotta-fast-easy-homemade-cheese-the-food-lab.html I then hung the ricotta in cheese cloth over night (refrigerator), and if anything, my ricotta was too dry. I followed the variation where you use lemon zest. I made sure to have nice curds in the ricotta, and then beat them till the curds were tiny, etc. The gnocci were very soft, I added the suggested extra white, and it didn't help. The gnocci tended to fall apart when simmering, and never really firmed up. I ended up cooking them not for 2-5 minutes after they float, but more like 10 minutes. Still they had the texture of cottage cheese.

If you could get past the texture, these tasted amazing. Light, with a hint of lemon. But they are nothing you could serve company, and even my kids didn't want to do more than a courtesy taste.

I wonder if the lower boiling temperature of my 5000 foot elevation made these not cook correctly? At sea level, water boils at 212Ëš, and at 5000 feet, it boils at 201Ëš. I double, triple checked that I hadn't forgotten any ingredients, or any steps. I think either there is a mistake in the recipe, or else its best done close to sea level!

I looked around at other Ricotta Gnocchi recipes on the internet. The others had the same ratio of ricotta to eggs to parmesean, but they also called for flour. That would probably make the gnocchi hold together better, and cook more firmly... Live and learn.