The Ultimate Midweek Pasta From One Of Our Favourite Chefs
Stevie Parle is a food writer and serial restauranteur known for his most internationally renowned restaurants and was named “Young Chef of the Year” in 2014. Since then, he has opened Rotorino, Craft London, Palatino, and Sardine, but mainly focuses on his pasta brand, Pastaio. With garlic season drawing close, what better time to create this nutty, garlicky green gnocchi? This easy midweek meal is sure to become a regular on your weekly rotation.
Wild Garlic Pesto Gnocchi Recipe
Preparation Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 40g blanched hazelnuts
- 280g wild garlic, washed
- 40ml extra virgin olive oil
- 100g grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve
- 800g floury potatoes, scrubbed
- 200g ’00’ flour, plus extra to dust
- 2 small eggs, beaten
- A few gratings of nutmeg
Method
Make the gnocchi first. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C/gas 4 and prick the potatoes all over with a fork. Place in the oven for 60-90 minutes until they feel soft inside. Leave until they’re cool enough to handle.
Meanwhile, to make the pesto wilt three-quarters of the wild garlic by blanching very briefly in boiling water drain and set aside to cool. Place the hazelnuts in a small food processor or blender and blitz until you have breadcrumbs. Add the wild garlic and pulse blitz until it’s finely chopped. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream, then the parmesan. Transfer to a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and put to one side until you’re ready to eat.
Scoop the flesh out the potato and mash until completely smooth. Transfer the flour to a clean work surface and grate over a little nutmeg and a generous amount of seasoning. Pile up the flour, then make a well in the centre, and add the potato and beaten eggs. Bring everything together into a ball with your fingers until just incorporated and you
have a soft dough – it shouldn’t stick to your fingers.
On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Keeping everything except the piece you’re working on covered with a tea towel, roll each piece into 2cm-thick sausages. Slice each sausage into 3cm pieces. You can then either roll each piece on agnocchi board or press with the prong of a fork. Make sure they’re generously dusted with flour so they don’t stick together. Allow to rest for 20 minutes.
When you’re ready to eat, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the gnocchi for 2-3 minutes until they float to the surface. Cook in 2 batches so they cook evenly, transferring them to a warm mixing bowl once they’re cooked. Spoon over the pesto, and carefully stir to coat them. Add a few splashes of pasta cooking water to loosen the pesto to a nice consistency. Transfer to plates and grate over a little extra Parmesan before serving.
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