Perfect Potato Pillows

Text: CC Bakes


I love gnocchi. It’s one of those culinary delights that makes you feel about as good as resting your head on a soft, full feather pillow from heaven. Only these pillows are for your tongue, and made mostly from potato from the ground. Equally as rewarding however.

Ingredients
1kg potatoes
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg, lightly beaten
salt
rocket (picked from my garden)
pinenuts (dry roasted)
olive oil
goats cheese, broken up into small lumps

Method
Steam the potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes. Steaming is better than boiling the potatoes as the gnocchi are lighter and more flavour is contained, so tastier too. Once boiled, mash the potato while they are hot. Stir in flour, egg and a pinch of salt and knead to a soft elastic dough. Be carefully with the ratio of potato to flour as the gnocchi will be hard is there is too much potato, and may disintegrate while cooking. Cut the dough and roll into long rolls, about 1.5cm in diameter and cut into 2cm lengths. Dust gnocchi with flour. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, add the gnocchi, and remove when they rise to the surface. Perhaps cook them in smaller batches if you are cooking large quantities. Drain and coat them in oil, toss in rocket, pinenuts and cheese, of quantities of your choice. I like to have a comparative amount of rocket leaves as I do gnocchi. Season to taste.

An alternative option after cooking gnocchi is to give them a quick pan over medium heat before adding other ingredients. This dries out the exterior a bit and gives them a slightly crispy exterior –a matter of personal preference for texture really, just like with pillows. Gnocchi construction has been adapted from The Silver Spoon

Another delicious taste of what is to come every Wednesday from CC Bakes