Potato gnocchi with prawns

Ingredients

• 750 grams Waxy potatoes
• 2 Eggs
• 2.5 tsps Salt
• 125 grams Plain flour More as necessary
• 170 grams Cold unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/3 cup White wine Maggie uses verjuice - like grape juice
• 1 bunch Sage leaves
• Drizzle Olive oil
• 12 large Prawns, peeled, cleaned, tails intact
• pinch Sea salt
• pinch Black pepper

Directions

1. Steam unpeeled potatoes.  We did this in the microwave, which takes far less time than the stove, but if you’re a purist do it on the stove. The potatoes should be cooked through, but not falling apart.  Note, it’s very important you don’t boil the potatoes – this will add to much water, and will ruin your gnocchi.
2. Peel and mash potatoes in a bowl.  Use a ricer if you have one, but a fork seemed to work adequately.
3. Add eggs and salt to the potatoes.
4. Place flour in a rectangular shape on the bench.
5. Spread the potato/egg mixture on the flour.  Quickly mix to make a dough.  Maggie suggests using a “pastry scraper”, but a spatula works just as well.
6. Our potatoes seemed to be quite wet, so we had to add additional flour.  Just keep mixing gently until the dough comes together.  You need to be able to gently roll it out, but it can still be quite loose.  If you’re not sure if it is combined well enough, try dropping a piece in boiling water.  If it doesn’t come apart you’re doing it right!
7. Now, divide the dough and gently roll into rough logs.   You can cut the pieces, and press with a fork. But I just rolled little rounds.
8. Preheat your oven to 200* (fan-forced, slightly higher if conventional).
9. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil.  Cook the gnocchi in batches – don’t overcrowd the pot or it won’t cook effectively. You will know it’s done when it floats at the top.  Remove and strain.
10. Meanwhile, spread 150g of cubed butter in a large flat baking dish.  Scatter the sage evenly on top.  Put in the oven and bake for 5 minutes until the sage begins to brown and cook.
11. Increase the oven temperature to 230*.  Put your cooked gnocchi in the baking dish with butter and sage.  Bake for 5 minutes.
12. Turn over the gnocchi (you can use tongs), then drizzle with 1/4 cup of wine and return to the oven for 3 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter with a splash of olive oil in a frying pan until nut-brown.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the prawns.  Cook until pink and cooked through.  Be careful not to overcook or they will be tough.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove the prawns and deglaze the pan with remaining wine.
14. Pull out your gnocchi and add the prawns.  Toss to combine and add the prawn juices.
15. Serve and enjoy!
16. Side note – I added broccoli, to make me feel slightly more virtuous.  I simply added the broccoli to the gnocchi water for two minutes and then tossed through with the prawns at the end.