Gnocchi with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Introduction & method

Gnocchi are small Italian dumplings, usually made from mashed potato. Not easy to do, and probably not worth it, but the creamy mushroom sauce is fabulous. Gnocchi can be made with mashed potato, as shown here, or polenta or ricotta. Many types of sauce go with gnocchi, including ragu and tomato-based sauces.

Gnocchi with Creamy Mushroom Sauce Recipe

Prep the Potatoes

It's important that you use the right kind of potatoes. Floury ones such as Maris Piper are good, also anything that is described as 'all-rounder' or 'good for mash' will do the job. Cook the potatoes - you can either boil them whole with their skins on for 15-20 minutes, or bake the in the oven for 45=60 minutes, again whole and skin on. The reason we don't peel them at this stage is that we don't want them to absorb moisture. When the potatoes are cooked, peel and mash them. If you have a potato ricer this will automatically remove the skin when you press the potato through it.

Make the Sauce

Clean any soil off your mushrooms. If they are large, cut them in half or quarter them. Peel and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and cook for five minutes until they are golden. Add the garlic and cook that for a minute or two. Add the chicken stock, a pinch of salt and the cream. If the sauce is too runny you might need to thicken it by stirring in a slurry made from one teaspoon of cornflour (corn starch) mixed with one teaspoon cold water. Stir into the sauce, cook it for a couple of minutes then take it off the heat.

Make the Gnocchi

You need to make this dough while potatoes are hot. You should hae a bowl with your potato in it - if it's been put through a ricer it will be shredded and ready to go, otherwise you'll need to peel the tatties and mash them. Make a well in the centre and break the egg into it. Add 12 grams (half an ounce) of grated parmesan and half of the flour - you may not need all of the flour. Mix it all together and it should come together as a soft dough.

Sprinkle some flour on your worktop, take a quarter of the dough and roll it out into a sausage. It should be about a centimetre (half an inch) diameter. Cut the sausage into 15mm (three quarter inch) chunks. Now you need to shape the gnocchi by pressing each chunk against the inner curve of the tines of a fork, and giving it a slight curl as you pull it off. Place your shaped gnocchi on floured plates.

Cook the Gnocchi

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Place the gnocchi in, a few at a time. They will sinkg to the bottom of the pan but after a minute or so they will float to the top. When this happens they are cooked and you need to remove them from the water and stir them into the warm mushroom sauce.

Serve the Gnocchi

Place a dollop of gnocchi and sauce on a plate. Sprinkle with some dried parsley or oregano to give it some colour, and scatter some grated parmesan on top.

The video above is from the Keef Cooks YouTube channel. Click here to see the video recipe of Gnocchi with Creamy Mushroom Sauce on YouTube.

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Lancashire Hotpot

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Ingredients & Info

500 grams floury potatoes

175 grams plain (all-purpose) flour

1 medium egg

a pinch of salt
SAUCE

200 grams button mushrooms

250 ml chicken stock

125 ml double cream

1 clove garlic

1-2 tbsp grated parmesan

25 grams unsalted butter

Makes about 80 gnocchi
Prep time: 30 minutes.
Cooking time: 30 minutes.
Total time: 60 minutes.

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