Wild garlic gnocchi, slow-roasted tomato, grilled vegetables & Gay’s regal cheddar
Of the different variants of gnocchi, this is probably the most conventional and easiest to make, Gnocchi Piedmontese. We have given it a bit of a twist by incorporating some mustard seed for texture and wild garlic for flavour. We are doing this dish rustic. Don’t sweat over getting that perfect shape, focus more on achieving the right texture for your gnocchi. Beauty and aeathetics can be addressed further down the line. The steps are easy to follow. One rule of thumb that we follow religiously is to make sure that we work with the potato while it is still hot and we don't overwork it. Overworked potato comes gloopy and the gnocchi will lose its structure and light fluffy texture. Other than that, this is straightforward and fun to make. A word of caution: do your best to clean up as you go otherwise the kitchen will be overrun with mess.
Equipment
- small pan
- saucepot
- Blender
- slotted spoon
- baking tray
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 4 large potato
- 300 g flour
- 2 large eggs
- 100 g courgette
- 50 g radish
- 1 jar Sol's slow-roasted tomato
- 200 g Gay's Regal mature cheddar cheese
- 50 g semolina
- 10 g oregano
- 15 g mustard seed. wholegrain mustard
- 3 g Wild garlic leaf/ you may use chives if you don't have
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by washing your potatoes and throwing them in an oven. Forget about them until the jackets are crisp and the spuds are completely cooked through.
- Blanch your radishes and courgette briefly in salted water and refresh in ice water. Halve the courgettes and cut up the radishes to be tossed in a pan at a later stage.
- Take the entire jar of Sol's slow-roasted tomato and throw in a blender. Blitz until you have a smooth and velvety sauce.
- To make the gnocchi, ensure that you have a pan of salted boiling water on the go before you start compiling. It is imperative that you work with the potato while it is still hot and do not overwork it as this will affect how light and fluffy the resultant gnocchi will be.
- Scrape the inside of the potatoes out of their jacket onto a work surface. Add the mustard seed, chopped wild garlic and two eggs. Dust with the flour whilst cutting into the mix with the dough cutter. Incorporate it slowly, without squishing or harshly manipulating the mix. Once incorporated, move to one side and dust lightly in flour.
- Take manageable sized portions from the bulk dough and roll them out on the work surface into long cylinders, using a little bit of semolina flour to assist with the process. This recipe calls for a more rustic version of the gnocchi, the shape we are aiming for is little pillows or cushions. Cut the cylinders into little thumbnail lengths and gently squeeze in from the centre to create this pillow effect.
- Lay the pillows out onto the bottom of a baking tray dusted with semolina. Once the tray is full, drop the contents into boiling, salted water. Once cooked, the gnocchi will rise to the surface. Remove them with the slotted spoon and place on a tray with some olive oil to prevent sticking.
- Now, give colour to the gnocchi and vegetables in a small frying pan and add some butter for additional colour and flavour, and because butter makes things better. Heat the tomato sauce and you are ready to plate.
- You may choose to serve in a fashion of arranging everything beautifully on a plate, or simply toss the gnocchi in the sauce along with the other ingredients and then grate or shave the Gay's regal cheese over everything.