Pumpkin gnocchi with chorizo, mushrooms and walnuts

Winter always seems to come late to my kitchen, it’s now heading into spring and I’ve only just now decided to bring out the big guns of autumnal flavours, deep earthy tones, rich in salt and fat, with a piquancy to warm the cockles.

I’m no expert when it comes to gnocchi, in fact it’s still a challenge I am learning to master, so instead of doling out advice on a subject I’m no authority on I thought I’d send you off to a good resource and a couple of recipes I’ve made in the past. Firstly there is Lucky Peach’s How to make gnocchi, an awesome article well worth the read, then my own small contributions, potato chip gnocchi and potato flake gnocchi. I made, or rather attempted, swore a lot, and cobbled together passable pumpkin gnocchi, but any gnocchi would work well with the sauce.

There’s really actually not much to this. Get a heavy based pan on a high heat, and add in a splash of oil and a knob of butter, when the sizzling subsides add in the cooked gnocchi and generously brown, but quickly you don’t want to develop too thick of a crust. Transfer to a bowl, or other vessel.

Get the pan back on the heat and top up with butter if needed, toss in the chorizo and cook to release the fragrant fat from the sausage, add the diced shallots and cook until translucent. If you’re going to add a little heat with chilli, sprinkle it in now, then add the mushrooms and brown. Just as the mushrooms are getting done, toss in the mint, rosemary and walnuts, cook until fragrant. Toss the cooked gnocchi through and add a splash or two of the cooking liquid to lubricate. Taste and season, then serve.

What you’ll need for the above.
Mushrooms, sliced
Chorizo, dice
Walnuts, roughly chopped
Rosemary, pulled off the stem
Mint, thinly sliced
Cooked gnocchi
Reserved cooking water
Butter
Shallot, diced
Salt
Pepper
Chilli flakes

Courgette and mint salad

One thing we are never short of in the garden is mint, we have two plants, a standard mint and a basil mint, and they just grow grow grow, you can cut them back, abuse and misuse them but they just keep growing and if kept unchecked I'm sure would take over the garden. This salad will take good advantage of a glut of mint, and add a good zing to fresh crisp courgettes, we got ours in the garden a bit late, but buds are coming so hopefully we’ll get a late crop. The salad is bright and zingy that really highlights fresh courgettes and is perfect on a hot summer's day.

4 decent sized courgettes
Handful of mint leaves and tips
1 Lemon
Olive oil
Chilli flakes
1 Garlic clove
Flaky Sea salt (or kosher)

• Get a griddle pan on a high heat.
• Slice the courgettes as thin as you can, or use a mandolin (I used the second thinnest setting).
• Griddle the slices on one side until charred.
• Arranged cooked slices on a board in a single layer, don’t stack them or they will steam.
• As they are cooling sprinkled with salt.
• (Optional) Slice the lemon in half and griddle until caramelised.
• In a large bowl squeeze in the juice from the lemon and add olive oil, I like a 2 parts oil to 1 part juice but do it to your own taste.
• Finely mash or grate the clove of garlic into the bowl, and add chilli flakes to taste.
• Take the larger mint leaves and thinly slice and add to the bowl.
• Toss the courgettes through the dressing, use your hands, taste and adjust the seasoning.
• Let it rest 10 minutes or so before plating up.
• Arrange on a plate and sprinkle over the mint tips.

Dips

A couple of dips I made to have with the mini pita breads. The first is a cucumber and mint yoghurt dip.

The night before set a sieve lined with cheese cloth (or clean tea towel) on a bowl, and pour in some natural yoghurt (make sure the only ingredients are milk and culture, you don't want yoghurt that has thickeners or gelatin in it).


Leave in the fridge for at least 12 hours.


The yoghurt will loose about 50% of its volume due to the whey draining off.


De-seed half a cucumber and tear up a few of leafs of mint.


Purée the mint and cucumber, if you need to loosen it pour a little of the whey in. Mix this with the thickened yoghurt.


Brunoise the other half of the cucumber and mix into the yoghurt. Season with salt. I also added a pinch of smoked paprika.


Finally thinly slice some mint to stir through and use as a garnish.


The second dip is a very simple salmon mousse. In a food processor or mini blender, place 200 grams of cream cheese, 50-100 mls of cream, a squeeze of lemon juice and dill to taste. Blend until smooth. Add in 250 grams of hot smoked salmon, pulse until the salmon is incorporated, be careful not to completely purée it.


Cover and let it set in the fridge for a couple of hours.