Cook | hazelnut pesto and gnocchi with fennel

Deeply nutty toasted hazelnuts make a brilliant alternative to pine nuts in pesto. Delicious dolloped over your own homemade gnocchi

In our May issue (in shops and available to order online now), we have a feature by Lisa Leendertz from our series Today, Tomorrow, To Keep, with recipes for a tart for today, a bhaji for tomorrow and a kimchi to keep. So we thought we’d dig another out of our archives. This recipe is from our ‘Hazelnuts’ Today, Tomorrow, To Keep from issue 76. We hope you enjoy it again.

Serves 4

For the pesto
1 large bunch of parsley, leaves only
60g blanched and toasted hazelnuts
60g hard goats’ cheese, finely grated
150ml cold-pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil
Juice of ¼ lemon

For the gnocchi
500g potatoes, peeled and boiled
1 egg, beaten
125g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
Olive oil and butter, for frying and drizzling

For the fennel
50g butter
2 large fennel bulbs, each cut into eight wedges to serve
A few toasted hazelnuts
Hard goats’ cheese, for grating

1 If you have a food processor, put all the pesto ingredients into it and blitz together. If you’re using a pestle and mortar, crush the nuts first, then finely chop the herbs, add these and the rest of the ingredients, and pound to a paste. Whichever method you use, taste and add salt and pepper as necessary. Add a little more oil if you prefer a looser consistency.
2 To make the gnocchi, push the potatoes through a ricer, or mash them (riced potatoes make lighter, fluffier gnocchi). Roughly mix in the egg with a fork, then sieve over the flour, season with salt and work into a dough, kneading a few times. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the mixture to 2-3cm thick. Cut into short lengths and mark with a fork.
3 Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and drop in the gnocchi in batches. Lift out with a slotted spoon when they bob to the surface after a minute or so. Drain on kitchen paper.
4 For the fennel, melt the butter in a frying pan and gently fry the fennel until caramelised (at least 10 mins). Turn and caramelise the other side.
5 If you like, you can brown the gnocchi. In another frying pan, melt a knob of butter with a little olive oil and fry the gnocchi until golden. Divide the gnocchi and fennel between four plates and top each with a spoonful or two of pesto, some toasted nuts and a little extra grated goats’ cheese.

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More from our May issue…

More things to make today, tomorrow and to keep…

Recipe | Strawberry and pesto pasta salad

Strawberries and pasta? Why not! This fun and colourful salad has a bounty of fresh fruit and veg and the pesto avocado dressing is creamy yet light. Enjoy in the sunshine with a glass of something cold.

Strawberry and pesto pasta salad

300g dry pasta
1 broccoli, head and stalk
2 carrots, tops removed and peeled
250g fresh strawberries, hulled
1 nectarine, sliced
1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
1 handful fresh basil leaves
Pesto and avocado dressing:
75g homemade* or shop-bought pesto
1 ripe avocado
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
To serve:
Shavings of pecorino or parmesan
Toasted pine nuts
Extra virgin olive oil

1 Cook the pasta until al dente.
2 Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into small florets, trim and roughly chop stalks and place in a sieve over the pasta water during the last few minutes of cooking. Drain pasta and broccoli and set aside.
3 Place all the dressing ingredients in a bowl, season and mash until combined.
4 Thinly slice the carrots, quarter the strawberries, slice the nectarine and halve the tomatoes. Transfer the pasta and broccoli to a large serving bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and dressing and gently toss to coat. Add a dash of water if you need to loosen the dressing.
5 Serve topped with pecorino, a sprinkling of pine nuts, seasoning and a drizzle of oil.

*To make homemade pesto, you will need:

100g fresh basil, leaves and stems picked
60g grana padano or parmesan, grated
50g pine nuts, toasted
80ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, peeled

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender, season to taste and blend until well combined. Store the pesto in the fridge in a sealable glass jar and it will keep for about a week. Alternatively, roll it into a log using a sheet of greaseproof paper and store it in the freezer.

Taken from Green Kitchen at Home by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl (Hardie Grant). 

More from the July issue:

More salad recipes:

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