I owe all of my gnocchi-making endeavours to a very good friend who, five years ago, hosted a Masterchef-esque cooking class in our school's food technology room one afternoon. It was a high-stakes, time-limited, back-stabbing pressure cooker and was so much fun! Since then I've made this gnocchi dozens of times and honestly it never fails. Yes it's a bit time-consuming, but gnocchi is something I fully believe is worth the effort of making from scratch. (I recently made dumplings wrappers from scratch. I don't rate it.) The sauce is very decadent so this is a sometimes food, but give it a go if you deserve a treat!
Serves 4
Prep: 1 hour
Cook: 15 minutes
Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
2 large brushed potatoes (the ones with dirt on them)
1/2 egg, lightly whisked
1 cup plain flour, plus extra to dust
salt and white pepper
For the sauce:
50g pine nuts
2 slices middle bacon, diced
Olive oil
50g of butter
1 bunch sage, leaves picked
Method
Scrub the potatoes under the tap until they're not too filthy. Put them in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil over high heat. Continue cooking for around 40 minutes until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork and the skin is starting to split. Drain the pot and allow potatoes to cool for 15 minutes.
Gently peel the skin from the potatoes and return them to the pot. Use a potato masher to mash until smooth, or put them through a ricer if you possess such a fancy tool (I want one). Season with salt and pepper.
Add the egg and stir until combined.
Add half the flour and stir until combined.
Slowly add the remaining flour, stirring each time, until combined and a firm dough forms. Depending on the size of your potatoes, you may need a little more or less flour.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Don't go too hard on it as you'll kick start the gluten and the gnocchi will be tough.
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion into a long sausage shape, about the width of your thumb. Slice your gnocchi-sausage (gnocc-age?) at 2cm intervals. You could roll them down the underside of a fork at this point, or even an actual gnocchi board if you are just all-out fancy (I actually do have one of these -- never use it!) to create rivets, but it's not overly necessary. Repeat with the rest of dough until you have lots of delightful little gnocchis.
Now before you go on, make sure your bacon is diced into little bits, your butter is chopped and your sage leaves are picked and ready to go, because it all comes together pretty fast from here. Boil a big pot of water.
The gnocchis will have to go in in a few batches so they don't get sulky. Get that going, and once they float to the top you know they are ready. Remove them with a slotted spoon and divide among the bowls.
Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast until fragrant. Remove and return the pan to the heat.
Add the bacon pieces and fry until crispy. Remove to a paper towel to drain and lower the heat under the pan.
Add the butter into the frying pan along with the olive oil so it doesn't burn. Let the butter melt gently until it begins to bubble. Add the sage leaves and let them fry for a few minutes before removing them to a paper towel to drain.
Your gnocchi has been happily cooking along in the background. Once it's all cooked and divided among the bowls, top with the toasted pine nuts and bacon. Pour over the burnt butter sauce and top with crispy sage leaves. Ah-mazing!
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