Gnocchi and Pesto with Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia

Last night I made focaccia and gnocchi for dinner.

I used the recipe for Gnocchi in Poh's Kitchen recipe book. Firstly potatoes are boiled with skin on, and while still hot, skin removed and mashed with a fork. I then pushed it through a very fine sieve (very hard work - i had to call on reinforcements!). The potato is mixed with flour (i used 75% wholemeal 25% plain), an egg, finely grated parmesan and seasoning. I only mixed until everything came together and it was lovely and soft.

The mix is then rolled out on a floured bench and cut into pieces. I boiled salted water and added the gnocchi in batches, as soon as they floated (about a minute I would say) I moved them straight to a bowl containing the pesto sauce.

I used the recipe for the pesto and focaccia from Delicieux. The pesto is pretty straight forward with blended basil (loads in our garden - if anyone needs some.....), parmesan, toasted walnuts and pinenuts, garlic (I boiled in skin with the potatoes) and oil. Because I added the hot gnocchi to the pesto sauce it did brown very quickly. But it was so delicious, and the gnocchi was melt-in-your-mouth soft. The generous amount of pesto also worked well with the gnocchi.

The focaccia I could not have been more pleased with. I only made a quarter of the recipe (so one small focaccia) and instead of adding rosemary I topped with sliced sun-dried tomatoes. I also used half wholemeal flour and half plain flour. It worked perfectly. The best bread I made yet - I think I'm getting addicted!