Gnocchi with lap cheong

“I am obsessed with Analiese Gregory’s gnocchi at Bar Brosé. Would you ask for the recipe?” Carol Richards, Crows Nest, NSW

Prep time 1 hr, cook 1 hr 40 mins

Serves 4 (pictured p43)

1 kg Dutch cream or sebago potatoes

(about 5 large)

50 gm grated parmesan

2 egg yolks

110 gm “00” flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tbsp olive oil

3 lap cheong sausages, thinly sliced (see note) 1 small bunch gai lan (Chinese broccoli), halved crossways, stems halved

1 tbsp lemon juice, or to taste

Kombu butter

1½ tbsp shio kombu (see note)

200 gm cultured butter, softened

1¼ tbsp dried wakame (see note), finely ground in a spice grinder or small blender

2 tsp white soy sauce (shiro shoyu; see note)

Chilli dressing

2½ tbsp hot pepper condiment (see note at left)

2½ tbsp peanut oil

2 tsp Chinkiang vinegar 1½ tsp honey

1 Preheat oven to 180C. Wash, dry and score potatoes and bake on a tray until tender when pierced with a skewer (1¼-1½ hours).

2 Meanwhile, for kombu butter, place shio kombu in 1½ tbsp water in a bowl and stand to rehydrate (5 minutes), then combine with butter, wakame and white soy sauce.

3 For chilli dressing, mix ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

4 Halve potatoes and scoop out flesh with a spoon (discard skins), press through a fine sieve into a bowl, then mix in parmesan and egg yolks, and season to taste with sea salt. Gently fold in flour, being careful not to overmix. Pinch off an eighth of the dough and roll on a lightly floured bench into a thin log, about 1.5cm wide, then cut into 2cm lengths. Transfer to trays lined with floured sheets of baking paper and repeat with remaining dough.

5 Cook gnocchi in a large saucepan of simmering salted water until they float (1-1½ minutes), then cook for a further 30 seconds. Drain, refresh in iced water, drain again, then toss with olive oil in a bowl. 6 Heat a large non-stick frying pan over high heat and pan-fry gnocchi in 2 batches, turning occasionally with a flat spatula, until golden brown (3-5 minutes). Return all gnocchi to saucepan, add lap cheong, kombu butter and gai lan, season with salt and lemon juice, then toss to combine until leaves just wilt (30 seconds to 1 minute). Serve drizzled with chilli dressing.

Note Lap cheong are dried Chinese pork sausages (they don’t need refrigeration after opening). Shio kombu, wakame and white soy are available from Japanese grocers.