Essential · 1 h 30 min · Serves 4
Potato gnocchi with mushroom cream sauce and toasted walnuts
Illustrative image generated with AI, not a photo of the cooked dish.
Kitchen test pending
The same root as the Signature gnocchi with walnut cream, glazed mushrooms and crisp sage: tender potato gnocchi, mushrooms, walnut and sage. This version is the one for the 29th of every month (the traditional Argentine gnocchi day), with a creamy mushroom sauce made in one pan and toasted walnuts on top.
The twist is to treat the two protagonists well. The potatoes are cooked in their skins and mashed hot, so the dough needs little flour and the gnocchi are light. The mushrooms are browned in batches, without crowding, before adding the cream, so the sauce tastes of toasted mushroom and not boiled mushroom. The walnut and sage give the final aroma.
Special equipment: potato masher or food mill; wide pan
Ingredients
Potato gnocchi
- 1 kg starchy potatoes, of even size
- 1 egg
- 200–250 g 00 flour, plus more for the counter
- 10 g fine salt
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
Mushroom cream sauce
- 400 g button mushrooms, portobellos or a mix, sliced
- 20 g dried mushrooms, rehydrated in 150 ml hot water, optional
- 30 g butter
- 15 ml olive oil
- 1 shallot or ½ onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 60 ml dry white wine
- 250 ml heavy cream
- 6 fresh sage leaves
- Fine salt and black pepper
Cooking
- Plenty of salted water
Finishing
- 50 g walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
- 40 g grated Parmesan-style cheese
- Black pepper
Method
Potato gnocchi
- Potatoes. Cook the potatoes whole and unpeeled from cold salted water, at a gentle boil, 30–40 minutes, until a knife goes in without resistance. Peel them hot and mash them right away on the counter. Let them cool 5–10 minutes, spread out, so they release steam.
- Dough. Make a well in the mash, add the egg, salt and nutmeg and start incorporating the flour little by little, by hand or with a spatula. Combine without kneading, only until the dough can be handled without sticking: the less flour and the less work, the lighter they come out.
- Shaping. Divide the dough, form cylinders 2 cm in diameter on the floured counter and cut them into 2 cm pieces. If you like, roll them over a fork or a gnocchi board. Arrange them on a floured tray, without overlapping.
Mushroom cream sauce
- Mushrooms. Heat half the butter and the oil in a wide pan over high heat and brown the mushrooms in two batches, not stirring for the first 2 minutes, and then 3–4 minutes more, until browned and dry. Remove them.
- Sauce. Lower the heat and add the rest of the butter, the shallot, garlic and sage for 2 minutes. Add, if using, the chopped dried mushrooms with their strained water, and the wine, and reduce by half. Add the cream and the browned mushrooms and simmer gently 3–4 minutes, until the sauce coats a spoon. Season.
Cooking
- Gnocchi. Boil plenty of salted water and cook the gnocchi in two batches; lift them out with a slotted spoon 1 minute after they rise to the surface.
Finishing
- Sautéing. Move the gnocchi to the pan with the hot sauce, with a splash of cooking water if it is thick, and move them carefully 30 seconds to coat.
The dish
Use hot deep plates. With a large spoon, divide the gnocchi with their sauce in the center of each plate, in a low layer without stacking them, and set on top the browned mushrooms left in the pan, with the toasted side up so they show. If there is sauce left in the pan, spoon a tablespoon around, without flooding the plate. Finish with the toasted walnuts in irregular pieces, the grated cheese over the gnocchi and freshly ground pepper, and serve at once, before the sauce thickens. Final look: pale, glossy gnocchi in an ivory sauce, browned mushrooms on top, the dark pieces of walnut and a veil of cheese.
Key points
- Cook the potatoes in their skins and mash them hot.
- Add only the flour needed and do not knead.
- Brown the mushrooms in batches and without crowding.
- Lift out the gnocchi one minute after they rise.
Pairing
A Pinot Noir or a Chardonnay with some oak. Without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon.
Notes
- Freezer: freeze the raw gnocchi on a tray and then in a bag, up to 1 month; cook them without thawing.