I have been obsessed with Masterchef Australia lately. It’s always nice to see contestants from around the world cook dishes that are not native to you (which is Indian, in my case). Despite the fact that most dishes cooked tend to be meat-based, it is still fun to lazily watch them after a hard days work, and make mental notes of different cooking methods and styles.
I generally get excited when contestants make desserts, but ever so occasionally, I get to witness savory dishes that adequately fits my dietary requirements and tempts me into recreating it. For example, I was watching an episode from the sixth season of Masterchef AU over the weekend, and one of the contestants made a rolled gnocchi, stuffed with dried porcini mushrooms and sage. It looked so unbelievably good! I was close to salivating as the judges tested her dish out. Best part was, the dish was vegetarian! Total win. I had to try it out.
But instead of porcini mushrooms, I used portobello instead, and sage was replaced with cilantro. Given that I usually only work with button mushrooms, I am so happy I used portobello this time round.
On a side note, after watching numerous episodes where contestants made various flavoured oils to compliment their dishes, I really wanted to try that out too. So using one of Chef Vikas Khanna’s recipe, I made cilantro oil to drizzle over the gnocchi. The oil turned out quite good, but what I loved the most was the gorgeous colour it had, immediately uplifting the dish to another level altogether.
End result: the gnocchi was so scrumptious that I made the dish again immediately the next day, and did not have any leftovers either of the times.
This combined with the fact that it is a masterchef inspired recipe should be a reason good enough for you to make plans on making it too!
Ingredients:
Gnocchi:
- Starchy potatoes – 2 medium, boiled and peeled
- Plain flour – 1/2 cup
- Portobello mushroom – 1, diced
- Onion – 1 medium, diced
- Cilantro – 1 bunch, leaves picked, finely chopped
- Garlic – 2 cloves, crushed
- Salt – to taste
- Black pepper powder – to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil
Cilanto oil:
- Cilantro – 2 large bunch, leaves picked
- Extra virgin olive oil – 1 cup
Method:
Gnocchi:
[Recipe adapted from: Laura Cassai – Masterchef AU contestant]
- For the filling, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frypan over medium heat and add onion and mushrooms
- Fry until golden and add cilantro; sauté for 2-3 minutes
- Remove from heat and set aside
- For the gnocchi, finely mash potatoes in a bowl, ensuring there is no lump
- Add flour, 1 tsp olive oil and salt (to taste) and stir to combine
- Mix dough with light hands so that it does not become too dense
- Dough should be loosely formed; soft and light
- Lay a piece of saran wrap on a work surface
- Place dough on top and roll it out into a rectangle, spreading it to 1 cm thickness
- Add stuffing and evenly spread across the rolled potato
- Roll tightly into a log and secure ends to make a firm roll
- Bring a saucepan of water to a boil over high heat
- Add potato roll and cook until set; this should take about 12-15 minutes
- Whilst the gnocchi roll is cooking in water, prepare the coriander oil (as indicated below)
- Remove gnocchi log from water, unwrap plastic and slice the gnocchi into 2 cm thick discs
- Tip: use lightly greased knife for slicing
- Heat olive oil in a pan over medium flame
- Gently add gnocchi slices and fry until lightly brown on both sides
- Set gnocci slices onto an absorbing paper to drain excess oil
Cilantro oil:
[Recipe credit: Chef Vikas Khanna]
- Blanche the cilantro leaves in boiling water and immediately place them in ice bath
- Strain and squeeze the water from the leaves and blitz it till it is pureed
- Gradually add the olive oil to the blender, until it is all incorporated and well blended
- Place a muslin cloth over a sieve and strain the oil through it
To serve:
- Place the gnocchi slices on a plate and drizzle cilantro oil over it
- Serve hot
Note: You can also add freshly shaved parmesan onto the gnocchi pieces for umami
theveggiecooker 