Potato gnocchi with sauteed prawns in a burnt butter verjus sauce
 
Prep time
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A delicious light pasta/dumpling - potato ngocchi is perfect for a first course, as a light meal or main meal. Adapted from Alex Herbert's potato gnocchi with sauteed prawns in a burnt butter verjus sauce - with the addition of asparagus.
Author:
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1.5 kg of starchy potatoes (scrubbed and washed)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbsp of Parmesan
  • 125 grams of plain flour
  • 2 tsp of salt
  • 200 grams of unsalted butter
  • 1 bunch of sage (leaves picked from stems)
  • 1 bunch of asparagus (sliced diagonally)
  • 600 grams of raw prawns (deshelled, deveined and chopped into 2 cm pieces)
  • 60 grams of unsalted butter
  • 6 tsp of salted baby Capers (rinsed and drained)
  • ¼ cup of flat-leaf Parsley (finely chopped)
  • verjus
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Place unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. The potatoes must be neither under nor over cooked. Test with a skewer - when it is easily inserted, they are cooked (avoid testing too frequently otherwise they may become water logged).
  2. Drain potatoes into a colander, cover with a fresh tea towel and place colander over the original pot in a warm place for 10 minutes to drain completely.
  3. When potatoes are drained and cool enough to handle, peel them and pass through a mouli in batches, into the original dry saucepan. Optionally, you can use a potato masher or fork to mash the potatoes.
  4. Gently mix in the egg, salt and Parmesan. Sieve in the plain flour and combine with a few swift folds.
  5. Tip the potato mixture onto a lightly floured bench and gently work it into a smooth uniform mound.
  6. Using a pastry scrape, scrape down the bench, wash and dry your hands and lightly flour the surface again.
  7. Cut off ¼ of the potato mix at a time and roll out into a sausage shape to a thickness of about 1½ cm.
  8. Cut each sausage into 2 cm pieces. Roll each 2 cm pieces along a fork tines to form grooves and shape the gnocchi to look like shells/grubs. Makes approx 60 pieces per sausage.
  9. Place these on a tray lined with grease proof paper/flour, ready for cooking in salted boiling water.
  10. For the sage butter, heat the 200 grams of butter in a shallow frying pan. When starting to bubble, add the sage leaves and cook until crisp and almost translucent. Pour through a sieve placed over a bowl. Spread the leaves on paper towel to drain. Keep warm. Reserve butter.
  11. When ready to cook/serve the gnocchi (for two people), heat 20 grams of unsalted butter in a wide frying pan. It should reach beurre noisette (nut brown stage) before adding 100 grams of prawn meat. Sauté for one minute. Deglaze with a dash of verjuice and add 2 tsp of capers.
  12. Cook gnocchi in a large pan of boiling salted water in small batches of 20 pieces at a time. Shortly after the gnocchi has risen to the surface (test to see if it is cooked) remove with a strainer, drain and add to the pan. Toss the pan to coat the gnocchi in the butter.
  13. Add the asparagus and stir through gently. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 Tbsp of chopped parsley.
  14. Spoon among 2 serving plates and top with fried sage leaves.
  15. Deglaze the pan with a little of the sage butter previously saved and pour over the finished gnocchi. Repeat twice more to complete 6 serves. Season to taste. Truly yum!
Recipe by Padaek at http://padaek.com/potato-gnocchi-sauteed-prawns-burnt-butter-verjus-sauce/