A Pesto Explosion

Why have pesto and gnocchi when you can have pesto in gnocchi?

Now I'm sure you've had gnocchi before – small parcels of potato pasta, with a delicious sauce... most likely a basil or tomato pesto? Well, here's a game changer – I put basil pesto INSIDE the gnocchi.

I strongly suggest that you stick with making your own pesto for this dish (as opposed to pre-buying), as it just tastes THAT much better and so much fresher!! Trust me. I've tried this gnocchi with both and a fresh-made pesto makes such a difference.

This recipe yields a lot of gnocchi dough and I didn't even use the entire dough for this recipe. This allows for you to make roughly 30 gnocchi parcels, but feel free to make more pesto/double the ingredients for pesto for the remaining dough. Or you can make plain gnocchi pieces and mix in any other sauce you like!

P.s. For this recipe, you will need a food processor or pestle & mortar

What do I do with the excess dough?

Wrap the excess dough in cling wrap and place it into the fridge to keep for the next time you want to make fresh gnocchi. This dough should last in the fridge for about 2 days. Alternatively, you can make your pieces of gnocchi, dip them in a generous amount of flour, and freeze them! Be sure to place them flat and sitting next to each other in a container, rather than chucked into a freezer bag. You can use greaseproof paper to separate the layers of gnocchi pieces in a container. This stops them from sticking to each other.

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INGREDIENTS FOR GNOCCHI DOUGH

3 large potatoes, peeled and diced

300g plain flour (you may not need all of this!)

1 egg

2-3 tsp salt

INGREDIENTS FOR BASIL PESTO

3 handfuls of basil

1 tbsp pine nuts

1 1/2 tbsp parmesan cheese

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

METHOD

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and place the potatoes in. Allow the potatoes to boil for about 5 minutes, then lower the heat so the potatoes are simmering. Allow simmering for 10-15 minutes. (Be sure not to over boil them as they will soak up more water and become mushy watery potatoes and we don't want this!)

2. While the potatoes simmer, prepare your pesto. If using a food processor, chuck in all the ingredients for the pesto in and blend until fairly smooth with small granules of pine nuts. If using a pestle and mortar, first start by adding the basil leaves and crush until it becomes mushy. Add in garlic and continue to crush, then add in pine nuts and parmesan cheese. Crush until a paste starts to form.

3. Once a paste has formed, add in the olive oil and gently mix everything together.

4. Drain potatoes with a colander and place back into the pot. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until smooth and add a pinch or two of salt, then place onto a large plate and spread the mashed potatoes out. This is so the potatoes cool quicker.

5. Once potatoes are cooled and barely warm, place them into a large mixing bowl. You have 300g of flour to work with, however, you may not need all of it. Start by pouring in 1/4 of the flour into the bowl and use your hands to mix the potatoes and flour together. Keep pouring in a little flour at a time and continue to mix until a dough starts to form.

6. When you feel the dough getting dry, add in the egg and continue to use your hands to combine. Again, add in a little more flour and mix until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. TIP: If you feel your dough is flaking and too dry, this means you've added too much flour. Add 1 tbsp of water to help it get back to a moist dough.

7. Sprinkle flour on a clean surface and transfer the dough to the floured workspace. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, then cut the dough into half. Place the other half to the side for now.

8. Roll your dough out so that it's long and about 4 inches wide (see photo at end of the page). As you roll, you may feel the dough getting stickier and sticking to your work surface – just keep sprinkling a little bit of flour when you feel this happening.

9. Once you have rolled it out, get your pesto and spoon the paste down the middle of the rolled out dough (see photo at the end of the page).

10. Take one side of the dough and fold it over the pesto paste. Do the same to the other side of the dough. You should end up with a long thin log of dough with pesto inside. Chop up the dough into pieces, starting at one end of the log and ending at the other.

11. You'll notice that the pesto seeps out the side of the gnocchi. Don't worry - this recipe doesn't involve boiling your gnocchi. You'll be pan-frying these little parcels of joy until crisp on the outside.

12. When ready to cook, heat up a non-stick frying pan with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. When the oil is hot, place your gnocchi pieces on and pan-fry until golden brown and crispy on both sides. TIP: You don't want to turn the gnocchi onto the sides where the pesto seeps out – this risks the pesto from pouring out.

13. Enjoy with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and black pepper!