I spotted this recipe at Serious Eats and knew I’d be making these spinach dumplings. They remind me of gnudi, which I love, Even better, malfatti are served in browned butter with sage.

According to the recipe author, Daniel Gritzer, malfatti translates to “poorly made” or “badly formed.” Which means they are perfect for me to attempt! He states that this recipe is from the Lombard region of northern Italy, but not surprisingly there are many variations, specifically regarding the cheese, the greens, and whether or not ricotta is included.

The recipe is confusing. It’s all about the spinach, which cannot be baby spinach leaves, but it can be frozen, but cooked frozen. I purchased frozen mature leaf spinach, but it turns out it wasn’t cooked. After cooking I proceeded with the recipe.

From the author: “Use roughly the same squeezed-dry weight of thawed frozen spinach as the squeezed-dry cooked spinach in the recipe.” I don’t even understand this!!!

Miraculously, whatever I did worked. But I have two suggestions. One is to grind the breadcrumbs finer, and the other is to make sure your cheese is seriously finely grated.

Malfatti
printable recipe below

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 medium clove garlic, lightly smashed
1 3/4 pounds mature spinach, well washed and stem ends trimmed if necessary
Kosher salt
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 packed cup finely grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
2 large eggs
Freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Small handful (about 10) fresh sage leaves

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat with garlic until butter begins to foam. Add spinach a few handfuls at a time, tossing to wilt and adding more spinach as room becomes available, until all the spinach is in the pot. Season lightly with salt, then cook until spinach is fully wilted down and tender, about 5 minutes. Discard garlic and transfer spinach to a large mixing bowl to cool slightly (you should have about 3/4 to 1 pound of cooked spinach). My spinach weighed 14 ounces, so perfect!!!

Without rinsing pot, fill with water and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, when spinach is cool enough to handle, pick up a handful at a time and squeeze it firmly between your hands to remove excess liquid, then transfer the squeezed spinach to a work surface. When all the spinach is squeezed, chop it finely, then return it to the large mixing bowl. (After squeezing and chopping, the spinach should weigh 10 to 12 ounces and fill about 1 1/2 packed cups.) My spinach weighed 14 ounces, so perfect!

Add breadcrumbs, grated cheese, eggs, a generous grating of fresh nutmeg, and a generous grinding of black
pepper. Season with salt, then, using your hands, thoroughly mix the malfatti mixture until very well incorporated.

Using your hands, form malfatti dough into tightly packed individual cylinders or torpedoes about 1/2 inch thick and 2 inches long (though they can be a range of sizes, from smaller sticks to hefty dumplings), and arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

In the simmering water, cook a very small ball of the mixture until it floats, then taste and adjust seasoning as
needed. This was my first and only cooking test. They did what they were supposed to do!

When ready to cook malfatti, melt remaining 1 stick butter over medium heat in a large skillet until foaming. Add sage and fry, swirling pan often, until milk solids in butter turn a light brown color. Remove from heat and season lightly with salt.

In the pot of gently simmering water, add malfatti in batches, making sure not to overcrowd pot, and cook until all the malfatti are floating. Using a slotted spoon or spider skimmer, transfer malfatti to butter sauce or a serving platter (you can either fry them briefly in the butter sauce or go straight to the serving platter and pour the butter sauce on top). Repeat with the remaining malfatti. Note that it’s important for the water to be at a gentle simmer; if it’s boiling rapidly, it may break the malfatti (it’s normal for the malfatti to slough off some bits of spinach and breading into the water, but they should hold together).

If the malfatti are in the butter sauce, return to medium-high heat and gently fry in the butter, then carefully transfer to serving plates, and spoon butter sauce and sage leaves on top; if you put the malfatti directly on a serving platter, pour butter sauce and sage leaves on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese and serve. I chose to sauté the malfatti in the butter.

Of course the malfatti would also be wonderful with a red sauce.

Note: This recipe makes a generous amount of malfatti and you may not want to cook them all at once; in fact, it’s possible your skillet won’t be big enough to accommodate the full batch in the butter sauce at one time, so you may want to divide the butter across two large pans if you’re cooking the malfatti all at once, or cook what you plan to eat and save the rest for later.