Wild mushrooms, leeks, and pumpkin gnocchi
Pumpkin gnocchi in a creamy wild mushrooms and leeks sauce topped with crispy pancetta and sage chips. Enjoy this true autumn dish for lunch or dinner.
Calories:
INGREDIENTS
The creamy sauce
- 220 g Chanterelles (Note 1)
- ½ young leek
- 30 g sage leaves (a handful)
- 6 strips pancetta
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
- 3 garlic cloves (finely minced)
- ½ cup double cream (> 20% fat content)
- ¼ cup gnocchi cooking water
- 50 g parmesan (freshly grated)
- salt & black pepper
The gnocchi
- 480 g pumpkin gnocchi
- ⅔ tbsp salt (kosher)
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the ingredients
- Clean the mushrooms with a brush and a damp cloth to remove any soil or dirt from them.
- Tear the mushrooms lengthwise into bite-size pieces. Set the mushrooms aside. (Note 1 & 2)
- To clean the leek, hold it upside down and cut lengthwise, starting from the middle of the white part, all the way down. The leek will split in half but the uncut top will still hold all the pieces together. Rinse the leek under cold water to remove any dirt between the leaves.
- Using only half of the leek, cut the leek across into 0.5cm strips. Set aside. (Note 3)
- From sage stalks take only the leaves and wash them thoroughly. Pat them with the towel. We don't want any water on the sage leaves. Set aside.
The gnocchi
- In a large cooking pot add water to cover ⅔ of the pot. Turn on medium to high heat to reach boiling point. At this point add salt. (Note 4)
- Once the water reaches the boiling point add the gnocchi.
- As the gnocchi cook, they will start to float freely on the surface. Once this happens cook for another 2 minutes.
- Save ¼ cup of the gnocchi water and drain the gnocchi.
The creamy sauce
- Turn the stove heat on medium and heat the skillet. Add butter and olive oil.
- Add pancetta and sage leaves. Cook until the pancetta starts to wrinkle and the fat part starts to get translucent and a bit golden. Turn it on the other side and cook for another minute or until it is nice and crisp, the fat is golden but not brown. Cook until the sage leaves start to crisp up but not brown.
- Take out of the skillet and set on the kitchen towel. (Note 5)
- Turn the heat on medium to high and add the mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add the leeks and turn the heat down to medium. Saute leeks and mushrooms for another half a minute then add the cream and gnocchi water.
- Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste. Let the sauce boil for half a minute or until it thickens a bit. This should not be too long.
- Turn the heaf off and add the gnocchi. Mix slowly with the spatula couple of times, just to coat the gnocchi. (Note 6)
- Add the parmesan and slowly mix so that all the gnocchi are nicely coated with the sauce. (Note 7)
Serving
- Plate the gnocchi, top with the sage chips, and crumble the pancetta on top.
- Serve immediately.
NOTES
- Tearing instead of cutting the mushrooms introduces rough edges that will hold our creamy sauce better.
- You can substitute other mushrooms for the chanterelles. Just note that the chanterelle mushrooms hold their shape quite good once sautéd, unlike some other mushrooms which wilt by more than half of their mass.
- You can use the remaining half of the leek for soup stock, saute them with scrambled eggs for breakfast, etc.
- It might seem a lot to put so much salt in the water to boil gnocchi. Don't worry most of the salt will remain in the pot, but the water will be properly seasoned and the cooked gnocchi will taste that much better.
- Overcooked sage turns brown which is not very desirable since it also turns a bit bitter as well.
- The heat is turned off because the gnocchi are already cooked so we don't want to overcook them.
- The heat of the sauce will melt the parmesan almost instantly creating a nice velvety sauce.
* Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.