I received this recipe from a friend who was a friend of John's. I include notes in here from my friend, and I made it his way and it was divine!
2 TB Butter (for spinach)
3 TB Butter (for sauce)
1/3 cup Ricotta
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Freshly grated Parmesan
3 TB Flour
Pinch Freshly ground pepper
1 10oz Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed (very well!)
1/4 tsp Salt
Pinch Nutmeg (My friend adds to sauce until he gets a hint of nutmeg in the sauce)
Half & half or heavy cream (There is no quantity, just use enough for a sauce. My friend uses heavy cream)
Melt 2 TB butter in a alrge skillet over medium heat. Add spinach and cook, stirring constantly till most moisture is evaporated.
Blend in ricotta and continue cooking, stirring constantly - about 3 minutes. (My friend cooks longer if mixture does not seem pretty dry) Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan, flour, salt, egg, pepper, nutmeg and mix well (My friend puts nutmeg in sauce instead as mentioned). Cover and refrigerate until firm (at least 30 minutes)
Bring about 4 quarts of salted water to a boil. Flour hands, roll gnocchi into uniform TB size balls. Lower water temperature to just below boiling so gnocchi are not torn apart when lowered in. Gently lower gnocchi into water - you can pretty much cover the bottom of the pan. Gnocchi will rise and float when cooked, usually about 3 minutes. Use slotted spoon to remove to serving dish.
Reduce half & half (My friend uses heavy cream) until it gets towarda a nice sauce consistency, add Parmesan (which will thicken it up) - maybe a quarter cup, just to get a nice flavor and consistency. Add nutmeg for flavor.
Serve sauce over gnocchi and serve immediately. (My friend thinks the sauce would be good with a bit of cayenne.)