Nick’s Community Kitchen: Potato Gnocchi Recipe
To keep a smile on our followers’ faces and to boost our own morale, we’ve launched a new online series with our Executive Chef Nick Hodges – “Nick’s Community Kitchen”. Every few days via our Facebook page, Nick will be demonstrating some simple but delicious and fun dishes for you all to try at home. Please click here to view our Facebook videos.
Homemade potato gnocchi recipe with smoked bacon, spinach, garlic and rosemary
Nick says: “When the lockdown was announced, many understandably headed to the shops and filled their cupboards with the essentials. One of these essentials was, of course, pasta. The shops are now mainly stocked but pasta and particularly gnocchi is easy to make, good fun and uses simple store cupboard ingredients.”
The basic gnocchi dough:
- 350g finely mashed potato – the mash needs to be dry and fluffy (King Edwards are good)
- 100g plain flour
- Teaspoon olive oil
- 1 egg
- Seasoning
How to make the dough:
- Bake the potatoes in the oven, or you can use the microwave
- Scoop out the potato, mash or ideally put it through a fine sieve or potato ricer
- Sift the flour into the mash
- Crack the egg, lightly beat, then mix into the flour and potato
- Knead the mix into a dough, add a little olive oil and season
- Let the dough rest for 15 minutes
Shaping the gnocchi:
- Lightly dust a chopping board with flour
- Very simply roll the dough into sausage shapes
- Cut every inch – make an impression in the dough with the end of a fork
Creating the dish:
- Firstly, bring a saucepan of water to the simmer
- Slice the bacon
- Cut, trim and finely dice the garlic
- Wash and finely dice the rosemary
- Wash and shred the spinach
- Add olive oil to a non-stick pan, fry the bacon, then add the garlic and rosemary, being careful not to brown the garlic
- Pop the gnocchi into the saucepan of water – do not cram them in, allow space for the gnocchi to move
- When they float, they are cooked – as simple as that
- Remove from the water, add to the bacon and add the spinach
- Gently mix all the ingredients in the pan and check the seasoning
- Add a little extra olive oil if the pasta is sticking together
- Serve and enjoy!
We’d love to see how you’ve been getting on in your own home kitchen. Please send in a photo of your creations to marketing@greenbank-hotel.co.uk, for your chance to be crowned our “Community Kitchen Champion.” Our winner will receive a gift voucher for the Water’s Edge restaurant, to be enjoyed when we’re back on our feet.
