MUSHROOM RICOTTA GNUDI

To prepare the Cheese Crisps, preheat oven to 400°F. Mound cheese by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a silicone-lined baking sheet. Lightly pat down mounds to create thin discs. Bake three to five minutes or until golden brown. Cool before removing from baking sheet.

To prepare Matsutake Cheese Sauce, sauté mushrooms in batches, using olive oil as needed in medium rondeau. After last batch has been removed, add onions and garlic to rondeau and sweat until onions are translucent. Add potatoes and cook about five minutes until they begin to soften. Return mushrooms to rondeau, deglaze with sherry vinegar and tamari. Reduce liquid by three quarters. Add dried porcini mushrooms and water or stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Blend in a Vita Prep with butter and Crescenza cheese. Season to taste then pass through a chinois and hold for serving.

To prepare Garnish, slice two whole mushrooms and set aside. Cryovac remaining mushrooms with olive oil, lemon zest and salt. Cook in steam setting at 186°F for 20 minutes. Remove from bag then grill until crisp.

To prepare Gnudi, heat large pot of salted water to boiling. Mix ricotta and egg yolks together then add cake flour and salt. Flour work surface and dump dough onto surface. Dust with additional cake flour and gently roll into a fat log that is no longer than six inches. Slice the log into four sticks and dust with additional flour. With clean knife, cut sticks into one-inch pieces. Slide prepared gnudi into boiling water. They will sink to bottom; stir gently so they don’t stick to bottom or each other. Once they rise to top, about two minutes, boil one more minute for a total of three minutes. Drain.

To serve, stir Gnudi into Matsutake Cheese Sauce. Alternatively, sauce may be pooled on each serving plate then topped with Gnudi. Scatter each plate with sliced raw mushrooms, grilled mushrooms, batons of chives and sprigs of chervil.

The cheese crisps can be sprinkled on top in small to medium pieces for crunch.

PER ORDER: Makes 3-4 servings

Recipe courtesy of Gustavo Rios, Solage Calistoga, Sonoma, Calif.