Anna Shepherd’s pea and potato gnocchi with crispy fried garlic butter
Anna Shepherd is a brilliant recipe developer (and brilliant friend of Halen Môn), and we’re delighted to be sharing a comforting gnocchi recipe from her brand new book ‘Love Vegetables’, which is out next week. The book is of seasonal and repeatable recipes that offer a fresh take on vegetables, with simple instructions to make meals that are more than the sum of their parts.
Anna says: ‘The range and quality of gnocchi di patate available now is good news for all of us in the market for easy dinner wins. Look for fresh gnocchi in the chilled aisles, which has a lighter texture and fewer weird ingredients than the chewy, vacuum-packed dumplings found near the dried pasta shapes.
I say this serves two to four because I find the portion recommendations on fresh pasta packs to be ungenerous. In our house, this would serve two adults and one toddler’
INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 – 4
- 50g butter
- 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 500g shop-bought potato gnocchi
- 2 shallots, finely sliced
- 50ml dry sherry, such as Fino or Manzanilla
- 100ml hot vegetable stock
- 100g frozen peas
- Leaves from ½ small bunch of mint, picked
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Halen Môn Pure Sea Salt and black pepper
- Parmesan cheese, to serve
METHOD
- Melt half of the butter in a small frying pan over a low heat. Add the garlic and continue to cook, tilting the pan occasionally, until every garlic slice looks golden, but not brown. Use a slotted spatula to lift the garlic pieces onto a plate lined with kitchen paper. Reserve the butter.
- Melt the remaining butter in a large frying pan, for which you have a lid, over a medium heat. Add the oil, then tip in the gnocchi, separating any pieces which have stuck together. Fry without moving the pan for 4 minutes to allow the gnocchi to take on some colour and crunch on one side, then shake the pan to move the gnocchi around so that the other side is exposed to the heat. Stir occasionally for another 4 minutes.
- Add the shallots to the gnocchi pan and stir for a minute before adding the sherry. Allow the sherry to be absorbed before pouring in the stock and peas. Cover the pan with a lid and steam for 3 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in the mint, followed by the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Return the crispy garlic to the reserved butter and gently warm through if the butter has started to solidify. Divide the gnocchi between warm bowls and drizzle a spoonful of the garlic butter over each portion, ensuring some of the crispy garlic is in each bowl. Finely grate a dusting of Parmesan over each bowl and serve immediately.
RECIPE: By Anna Shepherd, from her book ‘Love Vegetables’
