SEAT OF MY SOUL

Gnocchi is a deliciously filling small potato dumpling dish, very easy to prepare by mixing flour, egg, and potato. The key to make delicious potato gnocchi is to choose old potatoes or the type of potatoes with high starch content and should have a stronger potato taste rather than flour-y taste.You can make a variation of this recipe by using ricotta, pumpkin (my favourite), sun-dried tomato or spinach. It’s enjoyed around the world and with good reason–it is a versatile dish, inexpensive to prepare, easy to make, and delicious.

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg desiree potatoes
1 x 55g egg
2 tbs grana parmesan
125g plain flour
2 tsp sea salt
300g fresh prawn meat
60g unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
6 tsp salted baby capers, rinsed and drained
¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Verjuice

Sage butter
1 bunch sage
200g unsalted butter

METHOD

1. Place unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan of cold water; bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. The potatoes must be neither under nor over cooked, test with a skewer – when it is easily inserted, they are cooked (avoid testing too frequently otherwise they may become water-logged).

2. Drain potatoes into a colander, cover with a fresh tea towel and place colander over the original pot in a warm place for 10 minutes to drain completely.

 3. Peel potatoes and pass through a mouli, in batches, into the original dry saucepan. Gently mix in the egg, salt and parmesan. Sieve in the flour and combine with a few swift folds.

 4. Tip potato mixture onto a lightly floured bench and gently work it into a smooth homogeneous (uniform) mound.

5. Using a pastry scrape, scrape down the bench, wash and dry your hands and lightly flour the surface again. Cut off ¼ of the potato mix at a time and roll out into a sausage shape to a thickness of about 1½ cm. Cut each sausage into 2cm pieces. Makes approx 60 pieces.

 6. Place these on a tray lined with grease proof paper, ready for cooking in salted boiling water.

 7. For the sage butter, heat the butter in a shallow frying pan. When starting to bubble, add the sage leaves and cook until crisp and almost translucent. Pour through a sieve placed over a bowl. Spread the leaves on paper towel to drain. Keep warm. Reserve butter.

 8. When ready to cook the gnocchi, heat 20g of unsalted butter in a wide frying pan. It should reach beurre noisette (nut brown stage) before adding 100g of prawn meat. Sauté for one minute, deglaze with a dash of verjuice and add 2 tsp of capers.

 9. Cook gnocchi in a large pan of boiling salted water in small batches of 20 pieces at a time. Shortly after the gnocchi has risen to the surface (test to see if it is cooked) remove with a strainer, drain and add to the pan. Toss the pan to coat the gnocchi in the butter. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 tbs of chopped parsley. Spoon among 2 serving plates and top with fried sage leaves.

 10. Deglaze the pan with a little of the sage butter previously saved and pour over the finished gnocchi. Repeat twice more to complete.

This is quite a large serve (about 6 people)  Half the ingredients for a smaller meal. ENJOY!!!♥

This entry was posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:43 am and is filed under Cooking, Family, Friends, People, Random, Recipe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.