MASTERCLASS

Head chef Fabrice Mergalet shares two tasty gluten-free dishes from The Butcher’s Wife’s menu.

Gluten-free recipes: pumpkin gnocchi and sprouting broccolini & radicchio salad

When head chef Fabrice Mergalet was first tasked to come up with a gluten-free menu for The Butcher’s Wife, a cosy restaurant in Tiong Bahru, he thought it would be a headache. It turned out to be easier than he thought as the experiment process is similar to other recipes he has created. One of the difficulties, however, for the French chef was getting the right gluten-free flour ratio for the pumpkin gnocchi. It took him and his team several tries before they could crack the code. “Once we found the golden ratio, everything went smooth sailing for us,” he says.

Mergalet chose to incorporate pumpkin in the gluten-free gnocchi. “Pumpkin is a very versatile ingredient, it works well in both sweet and savoury dishes. By adding the orange squash plant to the recipe, you’ll get a smooth, creamy and delicate texture in one bite.”

For greens to go with the gnocchi pumpkin, Mergalet shares his crowd-pleasing Broccolini & Radicchio Salad, accompanied with a creamy-salty bagna cauda and not-too-sweet compressed peaches. “It’s always better to blanch the broccolini and radicchio in boiling salted water to keep the colours. Be careful not to overdress the salad, this will keep it crisp and fresh,” shares Mergalet.

For wine pairing recommendations, Mergalet suggests the Domaine Dupasquier from France, a red wine that goes beautifully with the salad as it’s herbacious with a rustic character. For the pumpkin gnocchi, have it with Punt Road Chardonnay from Australia. The Chardonnay exudes vanillaesque and buttery notes with a hint of ripe white fleshed fruits.