Thinking on it, calling spinach and ricotta a 'pair' is slightly misleading, as it ignores what I believe is a crucial third player, especially in italian cuisine - parmesan. I'm a huge fan of the stuff, so I generally apply the 'more is more' principle and grate some into the dumpling mixture and the soup itself, but you can leave it out of the soup if you're afraid of it overpowering.
Admittedly, green soup is not very photogenic, but it's super tasty and very healthy.
Ingredients
For the dumplings:
1 heaped cup ricotta
Bread scooped out from the inside of 3 round rolls, broken into small pieces
1 large egg
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and Pepper
For the soup:
1 bunch of spinach, very finely chopped
Knob of butter
1.5 L salt reduced beef stock
Pinch of nutmeg
Grated Parmesan, to taste
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil
Chopped fresh parsley, to serve
Method
To make the dumplings, put the ricotta into a bowl, and mash with a fork to break it up. Add the egg and stir to combine. Add the bread a little at a time, stirring to combine. You'll know when you have enough bread because the mixture will become gluggy and you will be able to scoop up a spoonful and roll it into a ball. Mix in the parsley, and grated parmesan and seasoning to taste. Roll spoonfuls (teaspoon for small dumplings, tablespoon for large dumplings) of the mixture into balls and set aside in the fridge.
To make the soup, ensure that you chop the spinach very finely. This is important as too-large pieces will be difficult to eat with a soup spoon later on. Melt the butter and a swirl of olive oil together in a large saucepan. Add the spinach and saute until soft. Add the beef stock and nutmeg, then the parmesan and seasoning to taste. You really do need to use salt-reduced beef stock so that you can control the saltiness that comes out of the butter and the parmesan.
Bring the soup to a simmer and add the dumplings. Cook, stirring a couple of times, until the dumplings are cooked.
