2009_01_12-gnudi.jpgGnudi is pronounced nude-y, and how appropriate that is. Because gnudi are little lumps of the filling that would normally be inside ravioli, only boiled gently without their clothes.

We've made the recipe above, from Giada De Laurentiis, before, to mixed results. Once, the little balls of spinach and ricotta dredged in flour stayed perfectly formed in their hot water bath. The other time, we might have eyeballed the ingredients, and our gnudi broke apart while cooking.

Lesson to be learned: Follow the gnudi recipe to the letter, or you might not have enough binding to keep them together.

We started thinking about gnudi again yesterday. There was an article in The New York Times Magazine about malfatti, which means "poorly made" in Italian. According to Amanda Hesser, malfatti are gnudilike in their nakedness, only these were formed with breadcrumbs instead of ricotta and were baked under the broiler after being boiled.

Gnudi... Malfatti... They both sound good to us, and both are a lovely, light way to eat Italian without the pasta.

• Gnudi, from the Food Network
• Mrs. Sebastiani's Malfatti, from The New York Times

Who else eats gnudi?

Related: Recipe: Ricotta Spaetzle

(Image: Food Network)