TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
SERVES: 6 skewers
I’ve been seeing grilled mortadella skewers all over my feed for about a year now. The meat gets ruffled onto a skewer and grilled until it’s crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. Genuinely good. But a thick skewer of just meat as an appetizer felt incomplete to me, I need balance baby.
So these were born. Gnocchi that crisps up on the grill (my favorite way to eat it, honestly). And hear me out - I’m not a melon person, I can’t remember the last time I bought one because they’re usually underwhelming. But charring them up on the grill makes them sweeter and more savory at the same time, and it’s exactly the right counterpoint to the richness of the mortadella.
And obviously no dish is complete without cheese. These skewers get laid over a bed of whipped ricotta that’s creamy, salty and hit with lime and then loaded up with toppings. You will look like an absolute chef in 15 minutes.
You can prep the skewers ahead of time and grill to order, and I promise no one will know what hit them. A perfect appetizer to bring to a cookout, for aperitivo hour, or just for yourself for dinner because you deserve it.
For the skewers:
9 slices mortadella
2 tbsp avocado oil
1 small cantaloupe
24 pieces gnocchi
For the ricotta:
1 cup ricotta, at room temp
juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp salt
To finish:
1/4 cup pistachios
2 tbsp fresh mint
2 tbsp hot honey
zest of 1 lime
black pepper
Boil the gnocchi
bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Cook gnocchi until they float, about 2-3 minutes. Drain and pat dry - this is very important, you want them to char on the grill, not steam.
peel and cut cantaloupe into 1 inch cubes.
Assemble your skewers
Preheat grill to high.
For each skewer: add 1 gnocchi, ½ slice mortadella folded into a little ruffle, 1 cube of cantaloupe. Repeat three times per skewer. Brush or spray all over with avocado oil. You can keep them in the fridge while your prep your cheese, up to a few hours.
**Don’t pack them too tight, especially the mortadella. More room gives space for the gnocchi to crisp and more surface area for the mortadella to crisp up too.
Make your whipped ricotta
zest your lime and set it aside for garnish for later.
to a small blender or food processer, add 1 cup ricotta, juice of half a lime juice and 1/4 tsp salt and whip until fluffy and light. Set aside at room temp.
very finely dice your pistachios, and thinly slice mint and set aside for later.
Grill
add skewers to hot grill and flip once one side is charred and crispy. Cook until the mortadella has really crisped up and the melon has some char marks - about 5 -7 minutes.
Plate it
spread the whipped ricotta across the bottom of a platter or plate. Lay the hot skewers right on top. Drizzle with lots of hot honey and sprinkle on pistachios and mint, your reserved lime zest, and some fresh cracked black pepper. Eat immediately.
Do these need to be made on the grill? The grill does give you the best results for char + overall crispiness but you can totally do these on the stove too. Just be sure you match up your skewers to your pan size (an 8 inch skewer is the way to go here). Since pans are usually slightly rounded, you’ll need to press the skewers down to ensure all the pieces get crispy. I don’t recommend the oven as everything just dries and and doens’t crisp up properly.
Using wood skewers?