Gnocchi with vegetables & sweetcorn velouté

Ingredients

1kg potatoes – you want to end up with 750g after they have been baked and peeled
200g plain flour
1 egg (optional; if omitting the egg, add a little extra oil and use a waxy potato like Charlotte)
olive oil

FOR THE VEGETABLES

½ red onion , diced
6 chestnut mushrooms , quartered
1 small head broccoli , cut into florets and blanched
handful tarragon leaves

FOR THE SWEETCORN VELOUTE

2 ears sweetcorn
500ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp double cream (optional)

Method

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/fan 6. Bake the potatoes for 40 minutes, or until they are soft. Peel off the skins while they are still hot (wear rubber gloves to protect your hands). Push the potato though a ricer or mash thoroughly in a large bowl, add the flour, egg (if using) and a slug of olive oil then season well, adding plenty of black pepper. Mix to a soft dough.

While it is still warm, mould batches of the potato mixture into long cigar shapes, about 1.5cm thick. Using the back of a knife, cut the shapes into 3cm lengths.

Meanwhile, cut the corn off the cobs. Cook the corn in the stock for 15 minutes, or until tender, add cream (if using) and bring to a simmer for a minute. Blitz the mixture in a blender or with a hand blender and then push it through a sieve. Season well and keep warm.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, add the gnocchi in batches and blanch in simmering water for 1-2 minutes, or until it floats. Drain.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan or wok, add the gnocchi, then the onion and fry until tender. Next add the mushrooms and cook until they start to brown. finally, add the broccoli and cook until it is warmed through. the gnocchi should be lightly browned by now. Season well, then add the tarragon leaves. Divide the gnocchi between 4 dishes in a neat pile and pour a little of the warm velouté around each. Dress with a little more oil or a few shavings of parmesan if you like.

Try freezing gnocchi:

This mixture will probably make more gnocchi than you need. Once you have cut the gnocchi into pieces, lay them out on a tray and put them in the freezer. Once they are solid, tip them into a bag. Cook from frozen in boiling water until they float to the surface.
PER SERVING

448 kcalories, protein 14g, carbohydrate 84.4g, fat 8.4 g, saturated fat 0.9g, fibre 7.1g, salt 1.33 g