Pan-fried gnocchi with garlic and sage
| Servings | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prep time | 1 hour |
| Cooking time | 30 minutes |
This is a a recipe for basic gnocchi, along with a simple fried preparation. For the potatoes, most of them are going to work fine – King Edwards or Roosters seem to do totally fine, though.
You can use this recipe just for the gnocchi and combine it with a different sauce to taste. I've just included them both here for convenience.
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
- Cast-iron pan, or other large frying pan
Ingredients
For the gnocchi
- 250g plain white flour
- 650g potatoes
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 eggs
- 1 egg yolks
For the sauce
- 2 long/banana shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- small bunch (about 15g) sage
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Directions
- Peel and cut the potatoes into medium-sized chunks - maybe 3-4cm in size.
- Rinse the potatoes in clean water, then drop into the sauce pan. Fill with water, until there's at least 2-3cm covering the potatoes. Add a teaspoon of salt.
- Set the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cover. Cook for 15–20 minutes, until you can poke through the potatoes with a fork.
- When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat and drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again, then mash with a potato masher or a fork – or ideally, if you have one, a potato ricer.
- Mix the flour and salt together and tip out into a pile a flat work surface. Make a well in the middle of the flour and drop in the egg and extra yolk. Add the mashed potato on top.
- Start combining the ingredients with your fingers. Bring the dough together until it's consistent and dry – it shouldn't stick to your fingers. Roll into a rough log shape.
- Clean and lightly flour your work surface, then cut the gnocchi dough into six equal parts. One at a time, roll each part out into a rope-like shape—about 2cm across—then cut each rope into roughly equal gnocchi-sized pieces.
- As you cut each piece from the dough, you can roll it lightly with the back of a fork to give it more of a traditional gnocchi shape. Of course, if you have a gnocchi board, that's even better. Move each completed dumpling to one side.
- Bring a pot of clean, salted water to a boil. Add gnocchi, working in batches if required. When they rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and place in a clean bowl.
- At this point, the gnocchi is ready – if you want to use it in some other recipe, stop here.
- Otherwise, set the cast iron pan over a medium heat. Dice the shallots and chop the garlic. Reserve about 8 of the sage leaves, then finely chop the rest of the sage.
- Add half of the butter to the pan and allow to melt, then lightly fry the reserved sage leaves – add them to the butter and make sure they're flat against the pan, flipping them occasionally. After a couple of minutes, when they just start to turn brown, remove and place them on some kitchen paper to drain.
- Add the shallots to the pan, and fry for 4-5 minutes until they start to colour. Add the garlic and sage, and continue frying for about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the vinegar, and remove the shallot mixture from the pan, trying to leave as much oil in the pan as possible.
- Tip the gnocchi into the pan – again, working in batches if required, so you can avoid overcrowding the pan.
- Toss the gnocchi in the oil for about 3–4 minutes until it's starting to crisp up and take on a lovely brown colour.
- When the gnocchi is all cooked, add it all back to the pan, along with the reserved shallot mixture and the rest of the butter. Stir for a couple of minutes until warmed through, then serve in bowls garnished with the fried sage leaves.