40 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
Making your own gnocchi is such a nice, relaxing thing to do in the days between Christmas and New Year. These soft, light pillows have a totally different vibe to the shop-bought version, which can be great for convenience, but not what I want here. Coated in this vibrant green sauce, this is a brilliant way to get the kids eating green veg, too.
Ingredients
800g Maris Piper potatoes
80g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 free-range egg
6 cloves of garlic
400g cavolo nero
50g Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
50g shelled unsalted walnut halves
100g Gorgonzola cheese
Top Tip
VEGGIE LOVE
Swap the Parmesan for vegetarian hard cheese and make sure your Gorgonzola is vegetarian.
Method
Making your own gnocchi is such a nice, relaxing thing to do in the days between Christmas and New Year. These soft, light pillows have a totally different vibe to the shop-bought version, which can be great for convenience, but not what I want here. Coated in this vibrant green sauce, this is a brilliant way to get the kids eating green veg, too. Serve with crispy breadcrumbs and a milder cheese if you're feeding little ones.
- Wash the potatoes, chop into 5cm chunks and cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes, or until very tender.
- Drain the potatoes and steam dry for 2 minutes. Turn out onto a clean work surface, and pass through a potato ricer or coarse sieve, or simply mash with a potato masher.
- Add the flour and leave the potatoes to cool. Separate the egg and add the yolk, saving the white for tasty cooking another day. Season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper.
- Knead on a flour-dusted surface for a few minutes until pliable, then divide into 4 equal pieces and roll each into a sausage about 2cm thick.
- Slice into 3cm lengths, then gently roll each piece down the back of a fork or a fine grater to add grooves, which will help your sauce to stick, or simply roll into balls.
- Fill the empty pan with boiling kettle water and place on a high heat. Peel the garlic cloves and place them whole into the pan of water with a pinch of sea salt.
- Strip the cavolo nero leaves from the stalks, add to the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Finely grate the Parmesan.
- Use tongs to transfer the cavolo nero and garlic cloves to a food processor. Add 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a handful of grated Parmesan and blitz until smooth. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, or until they float to the surface.
- Tip the sauce onto a large serving platter, sprinkle over some grated Parmesan, then use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi and toss to coat. Add the remaining Parmesan.
- Crumble over the walnuts and Gorgonzola, and serve.
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