The Zest

The Zest Recipes

Leek, Mascarpone and Lemon Gnocchi with Walnut and Parsley Pesto

I'm lucky to live in a household of fantastic cooks. My sister, in particular, loves finding recipes to try and with much more time on our hands this year we've built up a great repertoire of new discoveries. I always thought gnocchi would be harder to make from scratch than it is but Stanley Tucci's simple recipe has become a staple. I can't claim to have made this, but I can confirm it was delicious. The rest of the dish was inspired by a recipe from Riverford and makes an excellent and easy vegetarian meal.

— for the gnocchi:

Ingredients

NB: This is Stanley Tucci’s recipe

  • Half a kilo of potatoes (preferably Maris Piper)

  • Salt

  • 1 large egg and egg yolk

  • 2 teaspoons of olive oil

  • ¼ A quarter of a teaspoon of ground nutmeg

  • 100-125g of plain flour or 00 pasta flour

  • 85g of parmesan

  • More flour for rolling

Method

  1. In a pan of cold water add the potatoes with their skins on, season with the salt and bring to a low boil. Cook until tender when pierced but not falling apart.

  2. Drain the potatoes and leave them to cool slightly, before removing their skins by carefully peeling them off.

  3. Mash the potatoes — a regular potato masher works or a ricer.

  4. Make a well in the centre and sprinkle a tablespoon of salt over the potatoes. Add the cheese and ¾ cup of the flour around the edge of your well. Mix your egg, oil, nutmeg and add to the well.

  5. Using a fork start to gently incorporate your ingredients and then use your hands to bring together. Add more flour if needed to form a smooth dough.

  6. Lightly flour a work surface, take a piece of dough (think the size of a small satsuma) and roll it out into a thin log, about half an inch thick. Cut into small pieces and place on a tray with either flour or ideally semolina flour. Coat by shaking the tray, this will stop them sticking.

  7. Once done ensure your tray is not over-crowded and each gnocchi is dusted with either flour or semolina.

  8. You can cook straight away in boiling salted water. Or place in fridge.

Watch Stanley Tucci making it here.

— for the rest:

Ingredients

NB: This is from Riverford

  • 2 leeks

  • Olive oil

  • 100g watercress

  • 15g parsley

  • 50g walnut pieces

  • 1 garlic clove

  • ¼ lemon, zested and juiced

  • 25g Parmesan, grated

  • olive oil

  • 50ml white wine

  • 400g potato gnocchi

  • 2 tbsp mascarpone

Method

  1. Finely slice the leeks and fry in olive oil over a low heat for about 10 or so minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t catch.

  2. Meanwhile, put a large pan of water on to boil. Wash the watercress and parsley and finely chop the walnut pieces. Add the walnuts to the parsley along with the crushed garlic and the zest of a quarter of the lemon. Add to the nut and parsley mix along with the juice of quarter of the lemon, Parmesan and a good glug of olive oil. Season.

  3. Add the white wine to the leeks and simmer for a couple of minutes. Then add your gnocchi to the pan of boiling water. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the gnocchi rises to the surface. Drain into a colander.

  4. Add the mascarpone to the leeks with the drained gnocchi and watercress. Simmer to thicken the sauce and wilt the watercress. Check the seasoning and serve drizzled with the chunky walnut and parsley pesto.

Find the original recipe here.

Annabel McLean