Pan Fried Gnocchi with chorizo, mushroom and sage

There’s something fun about challenging yourself to cook things that you haven’t done before or dishes that are viewed as the sort of thing you wouldn’t try at home. That’s how I viewed gnocchi until recently. I have spent a lot of time, and taken a lot of pleasure in perfecting making my own pasta but thought gnocchi was a bit too fiddly. As a kid I used to love when I saw a packet of supermarket gnocchi in the fridge because that meant we were having one of my favourite dishes for dinner. It wasn’t until later in life when travelling through Italy that I realised I was kidding myself and really had no idea what real gnocchi tasted like! Which makes it even more surprising that it has taken me this long to try it at home. I have, of course, continued to order gnocchi at restaurants and kept an eye out for good quality fresh gnocchi at markets etc but have steered clear of the stodgy pre-packed variety.

So once you realise that fresh homemade gnocchi is achievable it is just a matter of deciding what to have with it. Below is a recipe I played around with including a few of my favourite ingredients, mushrooms and chorizo!

Give it a go and let me know how you go.

 

Prep time – 40mins

Cooking time – 30mins

Serves – 4

Ingredients

600 g peeled potatoes (Use a relatively floury all purpose potato like desiree)

200 g plain flour

2 eggs

100g butter

Salt

2 Chorizo sausages

500g button mushrooms, quartered

10 sage leaves

2 Tbs Thickened cream

Grated Parmesan to serve

Pepper to season

Method

1. Roughly cut potatoes and place in a pot with enough water to cover the potatoes and bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce heat and cook until potatoes are soft.
2. Remove soft potatoes from the heat and strain and run under cool water to remove any starchy residue.
3. Pass the potato through a sieve into a large bowl. This is the most tedious part of the recipe and may take some time but it is well worth it and will give your gnocchi a smooth creamy consistency.
4. Add sifted flour, eggs and salt to the potato. Stir gently with a spoon. It is important not to overwork the dough, just until combined.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut off a handful sized piece of the dough and roll it out by hand to form a 4cm diameter log.
6. Cut the log into 1.5cm pieces to form gnocchi. Repeat for remaining dough.
7. Place the gnocchi in batches (10-12 pieces) into a pot of salted boiling water. Remove the gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon when it begins to float. When the gnocchi comes out of the water place it on a towel or kitchen paper to remove excess water. Repeat until all gnocchi is cooked.
8. In a frying pan add 50g of butter over a medium heat until it melts. While the butter is melting remove the chorizo sausage meat from it casing (skin) and roughly chop.
9. Add the chorizo to the frying pan and cook until the meat starts to caramalise and release its oils.
10. Reduce the heat to low. Carefully remove the chorizo from the pan, being careful to leave the butter and oil in the pan, and set aside.
11. Add the gnocchi to the pan in batches. Monitor the heat, you do not want the butter to burn but you want it hot enough to colour the outside of the gnocchi.
12. Remove the gnocchi from the pan when it is browned on both sides. Place on a drying rack over paper towel.
13. Roughly chop 4 sage leaves and add to the remaining butter in the pan. When the sage begins to crisp and the extra butter, the quartered mushrooms and remaining sage.
14. Increase heart to medium and gently toss and saute mushrooms. Return the gnocchi to the pan and toss with the mushrooms.
15. Quickly blitz up the reserved chorizo in a food processor and stick blender until it resembles a course crumb.
16.                                                                                                                                            
17. Add about half the chorizo crumb to the pan. This step is ‘to taste’, the chorizo is the salty element and if you add too much and can over power the dish. Add pepper to taste.
18. Toss together until the gnocchi is warmed through. remove from the heat and stir through 2 Tbs of thickened cream (add more cream to taste, it brings all the elements together).
19. Serve with grated parmesan.