Ricotta Spinaci Gnocchi

The dough is soft but firm enough to shape balls.

My beautiful daughter mixing the dough.

Here she is shaping the gnocchi.

Here is the uncooked gnocchi ready to freeze for Christmas day!

 I am making two different kinds of gnocchi for Christmas Dinner just like my Mom used to make for our special celebratory meals: regular potato gnocchi and spinach and ricotta gnocchi. I will serve the potato gnocchi with a red sauce (cooked with some Italian sausage) and the spinach gnocchi with a butter Parmesan sage sauce yummm I cant wait! This recipe is my Mom's recipe but hers was more like, "Take about 2 packs spinach, an egg, and uhhhm maybe 2 or more cups cheese and enough flour to make it hold shape."  My Mom would always place the boiled gnocchi in a pan with  olive oil and Parmesan cheese and bake a few minutes I am doing this but have also decided to add a little sage and butter for the holidays : )
Ingredients
2 packs frozen spinach (10 ounces each) defrosted and drained very very well
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese: a good packed down 1/2 cup (This is my addition to my Mom's recipe.)
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk beaten
about 1 cup or so flour all purpose
1/2 teaspoon salt
a dash of nutmeg
2 tablespoons sage chopped for baking 
butter and olive oil for baking (about 2- 3 tablespoons each)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese for baking
Directions
Chop the spinach very fine.
In a large bowl add the spinach, both cheeses and egg and mix together.
Add the flour starting with 3/4 cup along with the salt and nutmeg and mix by hand. Adding more flour if needed. You want a dough that holds together nicely but not too dry.
Shape into the size of a large gumballs or jaw breakers, that's what my Mom said : )
Now you can freeze these for later use by placing on a cookie sheet until frozen and then placing in a freezer bag. Or proceed to next step I always find that my gnocchi comes out better if I freeze it ahead and this way it never falls apart in the water.
Place some butter and olive oil (50/50) in pan with the sage and put in a 350 oven to melt.
Bring  large pot of water to boil, add gnocchi in bunches (not all at once) and boil for 3-5 minutes after they rise to the top, remove with a slotted spoon and place in the pan of melted butter and olive oil.
Once they are all in the pan add some Parmesan cheese and roll them all over in it to coat, bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp!