Ricotta Gnocchi with Dungeness Crab & Preserved Lemon

Ricotta Gnocchi with Dungeness Crab and Preserved Lemon Paley’s Place, Portland, Oregon

Paley’s Place, Portland, Oregon
Paley’s Place Bistro and Bar is located in a Victorian house in one of Portland’s historic neighborhoods. Chef and owner, Vitaly Paley offers Pacific Northwest regional cuisine, with Southern French and Northern Italian influences, served in a warm and inviting ambiance, where guests can dine on the large front porch, or retreat to an intimate table in one of the two dining rooms. Seating is also available in the bistro and bar areas – the perfect spot to be cozy, sip a glass of wine, and enjoy a lighter meal.

In fact diners can choose a half portion of many of the menu’s entrees – which include some mouth watering seasonal fare such as Butter-Poached Halibut with Grilled Romaine and Rhubarb Beurre Blanc, Soft Egg & Goat Cheese Raviolo with Local Mushrooms & Spring Leeks, and for dessert - Brown Sugar Cake with Roasted Pears & Crème Fraîche Ice Cream. Paley’s is a family affair, as Vitaly’s wife, Kimberly, oversees the front of the house and the wine list.

Chef Paley’s menu consists of fresh ingredients supplied by local farmers, growers and purveyors and the “Wine Wednesday” wine tastings at the restaurant take a global approach to wine tasting, with wine flights available from around the world. If cocktails are your preference, Chef Paley and his bar manager are always creating new cocktails that reflect what’s growing on local farms – from organic cranberries to Oregon strawberries. The global approach is also continued as “le grand fromage,” (as Chef Paley is playfully known), chooses artisan cheeses from around the world for the restaurant’s cheese program.

About the chef: Vitaly Paley was lured away from New York by the bounty of the Pacific Northwest and in 1995 he and his wife Kimberly moved to Portland to open Paley’s Place.

His cooking is based on simple preparation of local, sustainably grown ingredients and he prides himself as one of the leaders of the movement to define regional Northwest cuisine. Both the restaurant and Chef Paley's cuisine draw praise locally and nationally, and have been featured extensively in the media.

Vitaly and his wife, Kimberly, recently published “The Paley’s Place Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from the Pacific Northwest” from Ten Speed Press.

Paley’s Place
1204 N.W. 21st Avenue, 
Portland 
Oregon 97209 
503 243 2403

Ricotta Gnocchi with Dungeness Crab and Preserved Lemon is served at Paley’ Place for $15 for a half portion and $29 for full portion.

This recipe makes 4 restaurant servings.

Ricotta Gnocchi Ingredients:
9 oz ricotta cheese
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
1 large egg
6 tablespoons of olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh summer savory
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped chives
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
I cup picked and drained Dungeness crab meat
1/3 cup grated parmesan

Quick Preserved Lemon Ingredients:
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions for Quick Preserved Lemon:
Place the lemon zest in a small sauce pan and just cover with water. 
Bring to a boil and strain. Repeat the process once more. 
Cool the lemon zest slightly. In a small bowl dress the lemon zest with salt, sugar, and ½ the lemon juice. Let it sit at room temperature for an hour to melt the sugar and salt before using it.

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions for the Ricotta Gnocchi:
Fill a 3 qt pot 3/4ths of the way with water. 
Bring the water to a boil then salt it. Lower the heat to a simmer. 
Place the ricotta, flour, egg, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and most of the chopped herbs in the bowl of food processor and process until the ingredients come together to form a smooth mixture. 
Be sure to leave 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley for the garnish at the end. 
Using two soup spoons form the ricotta batter into football shaped nuggets called quenelles. 
Place them into the simmering water and cook until they float up to the surface. 
Using a slotted spoon, take the gnocchi out of the water and gently place them onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Repeat the process until all the batter is used up.

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions to Serve:
Melt the butter in a sauté pan big enough to hold all the gnocchi. 
Add 4 tablespoons of gnocchi cooking water. 
Add all the gnocchi, stir in the crab and lemon juice. 
Warm through and serve. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, and Preserved Lemon Zest.

The following nutritional analysis is based on an approx. 6 oz serving at home.

Nutritional information provided by www.foodcalc.com

To submit your restaurant’s recipe to be featured on Steal This Recipe email Danielle@supermarketguru.com

Recipe reprinted with permission from The Paley’s Place Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from the Pacific Northwest by Vitaly Paley and Kimberly Paley with Robert Reynolds, copyright © 2008. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House.