This recipe was inspired by my neighbour Rachael Beech who raided our pond margins for ramsoms to make this delicious dish . . .
For the pesto
I large handful wild garlic leaves
100g Organic farmhouse Caerphilly (peccorino, sardo or parmeggiano will do)
50g Hazelnuts (pieces are fine)
2 Peeled and roughly chopped tomatoes
75g Olive oil
1 tspn Coarse sea salt
Black pepper
For the gnocchi
1 kg Cooked, mashed, floury potatoes
500g Strong white flour (preferably ’00’)
2 Eggs
25g Butter
Put all the pesto ingredients in a food processor and pulse until you reach the required consistency. I like a bit of texture, so reserve a few garlic leaves and one of the tomatoes which I chop roughly by hand and add at the end. Put to one side. Meanwhile, mix the gnocchi ingredients together to make a firm dough and roll this out into a series of long sausages, about 25mm in diameter on a floured board. Cut into short lengths and then roll each quickly to make little balls. Drop these into boiling water – they are cooked when they float to the surface (about three minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon. Pour over the pesto sauce, toss and serve garnished with a little chopped garlic and shavings of cheese.
