TITLE: Food on New Year's Eve
DATE: 2022-01-15
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
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I made food for 6 people on New Year's Eve. For a starter I made
fried gnocchi with pesto, walnuts, and ricotta. For the main I made
spinach, chestnut and leek en croute, with a pearl barley, lentil
and beetroot salad.

Fried gnocchi with pesto, walnuts and ricotta

Ingredients

-   1 kg King Edward potatoes
-   1 egg
-   250 g plain flour
-   10 sprigs rosemary
-   150 ml extra virgin olive oil
-   1 lemon
-   1 large bunch basil
-   2 garlic cloves
-   50 g parmesan
-   50 g walnuts
-   Ricotta cheese

Method

Gnocchi

1.  Heat oven to 200C. Prick potatoes all over with a fork, rub
with oil and salt. Bake the potatoes for about 1 hour 15 minutes,
until tender inside.
2.  Leave the potatoes to cool, then peel off the skins. Use a
potato ricer or mash the potatoes into a bowl.
3.  Beat the egg and mix with the potato, tip in the flour, then
knead until well combined. If the dough is wet, add more flour.
4.  Divide the dough into 6 pieces and roll each into a 2 cm thick
sausage. Cut the sausage into 1 cm nuggets.
5.  Boil a large pan of water, then add a large pinch of salt.
6.  Boil the gnocchi until they rise to the surface, about 3-4
minutes. Watch the gnocchi don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
7.  Drain the gnocchi and let some of the water steam off.

Pesto

1.  Grate the parmesan, chop the walnuts, mince the garlic, zest
and juice the lemon, finely chop 2 sprigs of rosemary.
2.  In a pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil, then fry the walnuts until
fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
3.  Blend the basil, parmesan, walnuts, chopped rosemary, lemon
juice, and garlic.

Preparation

1.  Heat a large frying pan and add 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the
cooked gnocchi with the rosemary sprigs and fry until crispy and
browned.
2.  Toss the gnocchi with the pesto.
3.  Serve the gnocchi with the fried garlic sprigs, grated
parmesan, lemon zest, and a dollop of ricotta

Spinach, chestnut and leek en croute

Ingredients

-   50 g butter
-   500 g leeks
-   3 garlic cloves
-   240 g spinach
-   400 g can chestnut puree
-   4 eggs
-   0.5 nutmeg
-   200 g whole cooked chestnuts
-   85 g fresh breadcrumbs * 200 g Shropshire blue cheese
-   500 g puff pastry

Method

1.  Mince the garlic and thickly slice the leeks.
2.  Melt butter in large frying pan. Add leeks and garlic and cook
until leeks are soft, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
3.  Wilt the spinach in the pan, then cool and squeeze out the
water.
4.  Dice the cheese and remove any rind.
5.  Add the chestnut puree, 3 eggs, grated nutmeg, spinach,
breadcrumbs and cheese to the bowl with the leeks, and season to
taste. Stir until well mixed and chill for at least an hour.
6.  Heat oven to 200 C.
7.  On a floured surface, roll out pastry into a large rectangle.
Put the pastry on a greased and lined baking tray.
8.  Spoon the filling onto the centre of the pastry, then fold over
the pastry and crimp.
9.  Beat the remaining egg and brush onto the pastry, then poke
holes in the top.
10. Bake in the oven until cooked through and the pastry is golden.

Leak sauce

Ingredients

-   500 ml vegetable stock
-   2 leeks
-   1 tbsp cornflour
-   300 ml double cream

Method

1.  Thinly slice the leeks.
2.  Boil the leeks for 5 minutes in a saucepan.
3.  Remove 2 tbsp leeks, add the cornflour and blitz the rest with
a hand blender.
4.  Heat slowly, stirring until thickened.
5.  Pour in the cream and the reserved leeks and heat through.

Pearl barley, lentil and beetroot salad

Ingredients

-   0.5 cups pearl barley
-   0.5 cups puy lentils
-   1 large carrot
-   1 red onion
-   4 cooked beetroot
-   3 garlic cloves
-   3 sprigs fresh thyme
-   5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-   1 tsp salt
-   40 g rocket
-   100 g goats cheese
-   5 spring onions
-   2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-   1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Method

1.  Boil the pearl barley and lentils until firm but cooked.
2.  Finely chop the garlic, onion and carrot. Strip the thyme
leaves. Thickly slice then quarter the beetroot. Dice the goats
cheese. Finely slice the spring onions.
3.  In a frying pan heat 2 tbsp oil. Add the red onion, 2 cloves of
garlic, carrot and thyme. Fry slowly until the onions and carrot
are soft.
4.  Add the beetroot and fry until the beetroot is fragrant and
heated through.
5.  Stir in the lentils and pearl barley and heat through.
6.  Combine 3 tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 1 clove garlic,
salt and mustard.
7.  Stir in the dressing, spring onions, goats cheese and rocket.

Notes

I made the leek sauce, filling for the en croute, pesto, pearl
barley and lentils, and lentil salad dressing the day before.

The pesto oxidised a bit in the fridge, turning the surface black.
This wasn't a problem for the taste, but made it look a bit less
fresh.

I tried to make the gnocchi in advance, but the texture of the
gnocchi dough became more sloppy after a few hours in the fridge.
To fix it I had to add a lot more flour, which probably changed the
texture.

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