Homemade Gnocchi With Sage, Walnut & Vegan Blue Cheese

A mouth-watering restaurant-style dish which is deceptively easy to make and the ultimate in comfort food.

Serves 4

Prep Time- 20 minutes

Cook Time- 50 minutes

Ingredients

Gnocchi

If you’re short of time then use a shop-bought vegan gnocchi

  • 500g/17.5 oz floury potatoes eg Maris Piper (keep whole and leave skins on)

  • Salt (very important)

  • 175g/6 oz ‘00’ flour, sieved

  • ¼ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

Sauce

  • 100ml/3.5 fl oz olive oil

  • Bunch of sage leaves, stalks removed

  • 100g/3.5 oz high-quality vegan butter

  • 65g/2.5 oz walnuts

  • ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)

  • Zest of 1 lemon, finely zested (optional)

  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

  • 150g/5 oz vegan blue cheese, crumbled

Method

Gnocchi

  1. Using a large saucepan, boil the potatoes for 40 minutes or until tender.

  2. Drain and remove the skins while the potatoes are still hot then press them through a potato ricer or mash them with a potato masher until smooth.

  3. Using a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the mashed potatoes, flour and nutmeg and form a smooth dough.

  4. Cover the dough with a tea towel and leave to rest for 10-20 minutes.

  5. Dust some flour onto a clean surface and roll a quarter of the dough into a 2cm sausage shape. Cut this into small gnocchi pieces (approx. 2 x 3cm or a little smaller if you prefer). Repeat this step until all of the dough has been cut into pieces.

  6. If you’d like to add the grooves to the gnocchi (helps the sauce to cling better), either roll each piece from corner to corner along a gnocchi board or use the prongs of a fork and gently press into each piece.

  7. Using a large saucepan of salted boiling water, lower the gnocchi into the water and boil until they rise to the surface (approx. 1-2 minutes).

  8. Thoroughly drain and set aside until needed (it doesn’t matter if they cool as they will be dunked into the sauce to heat up).

Sauce 

  1. Heat the olive oil on medium in a large frying pan or wok and when lightly sizzling, add the sage leaves (one layer at a time) until they crisp up (around 30 seconds – 1 minute). Remove them with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen roll until needed.

  2. When all the sage leaves have been cooked, remove the oil then add the butter to the pan and melt on a medium heat. Stir through the walnuts, chilli flakes, lemon zest, garlic and gnocchi.

  3. Thoroughly combine and heat for a further 2 minutes before serving.

  4. Top with the crispy sage leaves and vegan blue cheese.

Aisling GilheanyComment