Olive gnocchi with parsley garlic sauce

Thank you all for being so supportive about my disastrous bread. I learned that KJ and Jenjen, two of my favorite bloggers, did not have any luck with this recipe either. And Syrie, tks for the suggestion of leaving Jamie a message – it had crossed my mind, but I thought I was being too childish... :)

With all the info I have received from you and from the people who read my blog in Portuguese, I ended up thinking that Jamie’s cooking recipes are great, but his baking recipes might not be all that. I say that because the complaints are about cakes and bread and not about pasta and salads.
Anyway, my new book has arrived and I am sure I’ll be baking some amazing bread this weekend. :)

I’ll offer you something savory today: a recipe adapted from here. I omitted the mushrooms just because I wasn’t in the mood for a grocery store trip. But even with this very simple sauce it was a good pasta dish – Joao had his gnocchi with tomato sauce and loved it.

I did have to use more flour than the amount called for in the recipe, but I believe it was the potatoes’ fault. Make sure you use potatoes that are suitable for gnocchi.

Olive gnocchi with parsley garlic sauce
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Gnocchi:
800g (about 3) large desiree potatoes
3 egg yolks
80g (½ cup) black olives, pitted and finely chopped
110g plain flour*
salt

Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
50g butter
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced**
1/3 cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
grated parmesan, to serve – I took the photo before adding the cheese, duh!

For gnocchi, bring potatoes to boil in a large saucepan, cook until tender (25-30 minutes). Drain, peel and pass through a potato ricer into a bowl while still hot. Beat in egg yolks and salt, add olives and flour and gently work mixture together. Turn onto a floured work surface and, using your hands, roll into 2cm-thick logs. Cut logs widthways into 1½cm pieces, pinch in the sides of each piece slightly and set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add gnocchi and simmer over medium heat until they float to the surface (2-3 minutes). Transfer to a tray to keep warm.
Heat olive oil and butter in a large frying pan, when butter starts to foam, add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft (2-3 minutes). Add gnocchi, gently toss until coated, scatter with parsley, sprinkle with parmesan and serve immediately.

* I ended up using more flour because the dough was extremely soft
** I used garlic infused olive oil instead

Serves 6