Recipes From My Travels - A potato dish with fiery Italian beauty - The Bromsgrove Standard

Recipes From My Travels - A potato dish with fiery Italian beauty

Bromsgrove Editorial 13th Feb, 2021   0

CHEF and blogger Paul James writes for our paper.

LAST year while planning to write a book on the Greek islands, I decided that when returning home from Kassiopi in Corfu I would have a few days stopover in Italy, unfortunately just like my visit to the USA this year it had to be cancelled due to the current situation with Covid.

Italy has always intrigued me, maybe it’s because of watching the Godfather countless times or could it be the fiery and temperamental beauty of Italians, or maybe it’s the pasta.

Hopefully one day I can and take in the sights, sounds and flavours of this truly beautiful country.

This dish could be a nice starter or you could add some garlic bread and have a more substantial meal.




Gently frying the gnocchi after boiling them is my preferred way, but I know many health conscious readers may skip the butter part.

But as the saying goes, a little bit of naughtiness won’t hurt you.


Click here for Paul’s ‘Recipes From My Travels’ blog on Facebook.

Gnocchi with Chilli, Basil, Parsley and Garlic Butter

Cook Time: 45-60 minutes

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus one hour maximum for refrigeration of the gnocchi.

2 portions as a starter

Butter sauce ingredients

1 large clove of garlic finely sliced

1 red chilli finely sliced

Fresh basil finely sliced

Fresh parsley finely sliced

100grams of butter

Gnocchi ingredients

3 large Potatoes

70 g flour

1 medium free range egg

Salt

Pepper

To make the Gnocchi:

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks, then place in a saucepan with the salt. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil.

2. Cover and simmer until cooked.

3. Drain and set aside for 10 minutes without a lid on to let them dry out.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste then mash the potatoes until you have no lumps.

5. Sift the flour into the potatoes and mix while slowly adding the egg to make a thick dough.

6. Set aside for 10 minutes to let the mixture cool slightly.

7. With floured hands roll the dough into sausage shapes, then cut into 1 inch pieces.

8. Roll the gnocchi with the back of a fork to form ridges.

9. Refrigerate for an hour.

10. Bring a pan of slightly salted water to the boil.

11. When ready add the gnocchi to the saucepan of water.

12. Once the gnocchi starts to float to the top of the pan it’s cooked, drain well.

13. Make the butter sauce.

14. In a frying pan add the butter to the pan along with the garlic and chilli Fry on a high heat for about 30 seconds to a minute. Making sure that the garlic doesn’t burn.

15. Add the gnocchi and fry gently until golden.

16. Add the parsley and Basil and serve straight away.

Stay safe and enjoy.

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