Recipe: Potato Gnocchi with Sage and Pecorino by John Quilter

INGREDIENTS:

750g King Edward or Désirée potatoes

100g rock salt

2 eggs

Sea Salt

Pepper

¼ tsp nutmeg whole

150g 00 flour (some extra for rolling)

Garnish:

½ bunch Sage

75g butter

70g toasted pine kernels

100g pecorino

Equipment:

Potato ricer

Allergens are marked in bold

Put the rock salt onto a baking tray and place the potatoes on top. Drop into a preheated oven at 200° C CircoTherm® for an hour to cook and to draw out moisture. They’re ready when you can put a knife through.

Once cooked, allow to cool a little, then scoop out the potato and mash using a ricer.

While the potato is still warm, turn it out into a large tray and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Next, make a well in the middle, whisk two egg yolks into the middle and incorporate using your hand in a claw shape with a circular movement. Once done, sieve 150g 00 flour gradually into the potato and egg mixture. The key here is to go slow and not over work the dough, avoiding activating the gluten too much which will make the dough tough.

As it clumps together turn it out on to the work top and need into a smooth dough, its ready when it stops sticking to your hands or the surface. The dough is light and fluffy and has a bit of a spring in it. Next, shape it into a large lozenge.

Sprinkle just enough flour onto the surface, not too much, as you don’t want to dry the dough out. Cut wedges out of dough and roll into strips, rolling from the centre out to the edges.

Slice the strips into individual dumplings and finely dust with flour. Next, run the little dumplings along a fork to create ridges. These give the gnocchi their distinctive shape and allowing sauce to hold onto them.

Melt the butter in a high-sided sauté pan, once the butter is bubbling, throw in the sage leaves and allow to crackle and pop. At the same time, blanch the gnocchi in salted simmering water. They are cooked when they float to the top. Drain and add to the sage butter.

Serve immediately and garnish with the pine nuts and some Tuscan pecorino cheese.