Italian Dumplings Recipe With Spicy Tomato Sauce

Start the sauce first by thinly slicing the garlic and chilli, removing the seeds if you like. Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a deep frying pan set over a medium heat.

Add the garlic and chilli cook gently for 3-4 mins until smelling amazing, then tip in the tomatoes. Use a metal spoon or potato masher to crush the tomatoes a bit. Season with salt and pepper and simmer gently for 30 mins. At this stage you could use a stick blender to whizz the sauce until smooth, if you want a fancier finish. Season to taste.

For the malfatti, finely chop the garlic. Melt the butter in a large, deep frying pan set over a medium heat, then add in the garlic. Cook gently for 3-4 mins until smelling amazing, then tip in all of the spinach. Use tongs to toss and turn the spinach until it is all wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and transfer the spinach into a colander or sieve set over a bowl. Leave to drain and cool.

Once cool enough to handle, use your hands to squeeze out as much liquid as possible (you’ll need to be thorough with this, or your malfatti won’t hold). Tip into a food processor and pulse to finely chop.

Add in the ricotta, egg yolks, then grate in the Parmesan and nutmeg and tip in the flour. Pulse briefly together to combine so you have a thick, sticky dough. Season well with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle around an even layer of plain flour onto a plate and also lightly flour a baking tray. Use slightly damp hands to form the dough into golf ball-sized dumplings, then roll in the flour and put onto the tray. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Fill a large pan with salted boiling water. Divide the tomato sauce between 4 shallow bowls - the malfatti cook quickly, having it plated means you can eat it hot!

Add the malfatti to the boiling water and cook for 1-2 mins until they float, then use a slotted spoon to remove from the water, drain well and put straight onto the sauce. Grate over plenty of parmesan, drizzle with oil and scatter with basil leaves to serve.