Courtesy of Chef Alessandro Bergamo
Potatoes: 500 g
All purpose flour: 125 g
Egg yolks: 2
Parmigiano cheese: 40 g
Salt:
Black pepper
Nutmeg
Asparagus: 600 g
Baking soda
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Milk: 250 ml
Butter: 35 g
All purpose flour: 35 g
Young Italian chef Alessandro Bergamo shares his recipe for gnocchi cooked three different ways with asparagus. The perfect seasonal dish for enjoying in company on a beautiful spring day.
Bergamo says the familiar flavours and ingredients in his dish transport him back to his childhood, when his mother and grandmother used to prepare gnocchi with asparagus from the garden on a Sunday, leaving him with what he calls "indelible memories".
The gnocchi are cooked in three different way: first blanched in water, then browned in a pot to give them a crunchy crust, and finally cooked au gratin with a layer of cheese.
Take a look at his simple spring recipe in the step-by-step recipe below:
Cook the potatoes with their skins on, either in water or in the oven. Peel them while hot, then pass them through a vegetable mill.
Add all the other ingredients - flour, eggs, Parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg - to the potatoes.
Knead until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.
Peel the asparagus ends then blanch the stems in salted water for 2 minutes. Let them cool in cold water.
Season with salt and oil, and set aside for the final decoration.
Finely chop the ends of the asparagus and then blanch them in salted water with a pinch of baking soda. Blend them until you get a smooth cream, and season with salt.
In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour and cook until you get an amber roux. Add the milk and, with the help of a whisk, mix until you get a smooth béchamel sauce without lumps.
Take the gnocchi dough and take a part of it to obtain loaves of about 2 centimetres. Cut into pieces of about 4-5 centimetres. Boil in salted water for a few moments until they come to the surface.
Toast the gnocchi on both sides in a hot pan.
Decorate the dish with the asparagus cream and the parmesan béchamel sauce. Arrange the gnocchi and alternate with the green asparagus. Decorate as desired with spring flowers.
Final dish.
