Potato Gnocchi Gratin with Taleggio, Pear and Roasted Walnuts

Yes, occasionally Ezard does stray away from Asian cookery and on this occasion we venture across to Italy. This dish always seems to be on Ezard's menu at his restaurant, probably more than likely because it's vegetarian. However, there's more to this dish than just being vegetarian, the tastes and textures are fantastic!
Admittedly, I had my doubts about this recipe from the first time I read it. Mainly because there is so much liquid in the Gnocchi dough, which usually makes for a heavy and gluggy finished product, because you need to use so much flour to keep it all together. The flour also enables you to work with the dough without it being too sticky. It wasn't until I made the dough and took it out of the food processor, that I realised how soft and light this Gnocchi was going to be! Here's how:

Boil your potatoes til cooked. I roasted mine, so that I could minimise the liquid in the potatoes(sorry for doubting you Teage!). Then push the potatoes through a sieve to remove all your lumps.

Now, the secret to this recipe is a Roux type mixture of butter, milk and flour.



I then put this Roux mixture into a food processor, along with the potatoes and added some eggs, one by one. This will create a fairly sticky dough. You will need to flour your work surface and your hands and roll this dough into even sausage lengths, similar in thickness.

Cut your sausages of dough into similar bite sized pieces, as I have below.

Now you'll want to make your Taleggio sauce. Mix together Cream and Taleggio Cheese and slowly melt the cheese into the cream over a low heat and reduce slightly. Now you might have noticed that I haven't mentioned Walnuts as yet. Well, that's because I burnt them. Yep, I forgot about them, they were meant to be in the oven for 3 mins, but I left them in for 15. They tasted like burnt popcorn and were unusable, so I left them out of this recipe. I didn't have any spare.

Boil your Gnocchi in salted boiling water, until they rise to the surface. They will puff up slightly when cooked.

Gently mix together your Gnocchi with your Walnuts (if you haven't burnt them), and sliced, peeled pear and place in individual serving dishes or one large one. I only had a large one, so I just used that. Drizzle your Taleggio sauce over the ingredients and then sprinkle some chives over the top and then some Parmesan cheese.

Place your plate under a hot grill until the mixture is golden and bubbling on top and you're done. Garnish with some parsley.

These soft and fluffy pillows of goodness is the best Gnocchi I have ever tasted! If you like Gnocchi, I recommend going out an buying this book, just for this recipe, it's seriously amazing! The best thing is, it's so easy!