Nigel Slater’s gnocchi recipes | Food (2024)

Five or six little gnocchi will do. They’re not quite as light as the gnudi I made the other week, but unlike the gnudi they can be eaten the day they are made. Serve them with something light that feels right for the summer: a spoonful of the sweetest, creamiest ricotta (infuriatingly difficult to find, I grant you), hashed tarragon, parsley and chives, a smear of basil paste perhaps or a few gnarled, deep-scarlet tomatoes.

Piquancy is a must for me: lemon zest and capers, pickled shallots, a blue-veined cheese or maybe a couple of slices of pickled walnuts.

As the weather warms, the cheeses in my pasta recipes lighten: mascarpone, goat’s milk cheeses and, best of all, the coolness of salted ricotta take the place of the rich cow’s milk cheeses of winter. Gnocchi is not just for rib-sticking, soul-warming meals by candlelight, but for light summer days, too.

Gnocchi with herbs, ricotta and pickled walnuts

I suggest cooking the potatoes in their skins, but you could steam them over boiling water. What I am trying to avoid is waterlogged potatoes, which would give a sloppy mash. You can crush them with a potato masher afterwards if you wish, but a ricer (a rather awkward piece of kit useful for nothing but mashing potatoes) gives a lighter, more airy texture. I am averse to kitchen gadgets, but I recommend buying one if you like your mashed vegetables light and without butter, or you intend to make a lot of gnocchi. A moulin à légumes works well here, too, though takes up rather more .

For the dressing:
parsley 5g
chives 4g
tarragon 5g
basil 8-10 leaves
olive oil 150ml
ricotta 4-5 heaped tbsp
pickled walnuts 2
parmesan 30g, grated

Scrub the potatoes and boil them, whole and unpeeled, in deep, salted water. When the potatoes are tender enough to take a skewer – a matter of 20-30 minutes or so, depending on their size and variety – remove them from the water and place on a chopping board.

Remove the skins from the potatoes (you might need rubber gloves or an oven glove) then, while the potatoes are still very hot, push them through a potato ricer or a coarse wire sieve into a bowl.

Fold the flour into the riced potato, mix thoroughly, then roll, on a floured board, into a couple of long, thin sausages. Slicing diagonally, cut the dough into about 36 short pieces, about 3cm long and about 15g in weight. Place on a floured tray until you are ready to use them. Put the herbs in a blender, pour in the olive oil and process to a rough, green paste. Slice the pickled walnuts.

Divide the gnocchi between 4 bowls, add a heaped tablespoon of ricotta to each, a few slices of the pickled walnuts, a little of the grated parmesan and then pour some of the herb oil over each.

Gnocchi with spinach and pecorino

Prepare and cook the potatoes by following the first part of the recipe above. When it is cooked, push the potato through a ricer or wire sieve into a bowl.

Add the flour to the potato and season well with salt and black pepper. Roll the mixture into about 24 x 20g balls, placing them on a floured tray. Leave as they are, or press a fork lightly on the surface of each of the gnocchi, leaving a series of furrow-like indentations and set aside.

Put a deep pan of water on to boil. Salt it generously then, as the water comes to the boil, lower in the gnocchi, half a dozen or so at a time and cook for 3-4 minutes or until each floats to the surface. Lift each one out, drain briefly on kitchen paper, and transfer to a warm dish.

Warm the cream in a saucepan, add the finely chopped spinach and the grated pecorino then spoon over the gnocchi and serve.

Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater