| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| VM |
Nettle and Potato GnocchiI mentioned these gnocchi in a blog post:http://veronicamarris.com/2014/04/09/urtica-dioica/ ... and they were very nice, and kept their shape when cooking rather than fall apart as gnocchi can do. The quantities below come from The Silver Spoon Italian cookbook. That recipe, like some others, suggests chopping the uncooked nettles finely and adding to dough as they are, but I decided to blanch them, squeeze water out and then chop, as I do when I use nettles to incorporate into pasta dough. The use of semolina is taken from River Cafe potato gnocchi recipe - I happened to have some and think it helps the texture.But you could just use flour instead. Potatoes weighed before cooking. Nettles weighed after taking leaves off stalks. 1 kg floury potatoes 700g nettle leaves 100g plain flour 100g semolina 1 large egg or 2 smaller ones salt & pepper Cook the potatoes whole, in their skins, to keep them as dry as possible. Some recipes suggest baking them. I steamed them. Peel potatoes and mash by hand or put through ricer. Add the nettles, raw and finely chopped, or blanched, squeezed and finely chopped. Add flours and egg(s) and seasoning as you like. Mix all to a dough and knead briefly. Divide into about four or five pieces. Roll each one into a sausage shape and then slice into small pieces - so you have oval, gnocchi-shaped things. You are supposed to press or roll each one against the tines of a fork to make little ridges on them, but I forgot! This was supposed to feed 4 but would have done 6 easily as a starter. I made them ahead and kept in the fridge for a bit, which may have helped them firm up and stay whole when cooking. Cook in batches, in big pan of boiling water. When they float to the top they are done. We ate them with sage butter and parmesan but a tomato sauce would probably be nice as well. |
| sean |
Looks good. I've added it to the database too. Thanks. |
| chez |
I might try and give this a go on Sunday. Thanks. |
| VM |
Hope you like them. I love all things dumpling-ish so love gnocchi.
The thing I don't quite get about the recipes which say to add the nettles uncooked to the dough is that, if mixing and kneading by hand, you might well still get stung! From my experience they go on stinging until you cook them. |