Roast Chicken Gnocchi

You like roast dinners? You also like pasta? And potatoes? This is what happens when they meet. Roast dinner gnocchi.

Done in 3 hours

Dish by Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

For the gnocchi:

1.4kgMaris Piper potatoes

120gplain flour

2egg yolks

2 tbspsea salt

50gunsalted butter

For the roast chicken:

1large chicken

50gsoftened butter

1 tbspsea salt

150mlwhite wine

500mlchicken stock

Other things:

200gblanched tenderstem broccoli

100g blanched garden peas

around 10crispy sage leaves

30gshaved parmesan

Succulent roasted chicken, bouncy gnocchi, gravy, parmesan. All of the nice things in one delicious autumnal dish.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Get the potatoes and place them on a wire rack over a baking tray. Bake for around an hour until they are completely soft.

Carefully (use a tea towel) remove the hot flesh from the potatoes, reserving the skins for another recipe. If you have a potato ricer, use the finest setting and rice the potatoes. Alternatively, use a spatula to press the hot potato through a sieve onto a clean surface.

Immediately (while the potato is still warm but not really hot) cut in the flour, salt and egg yolks. Use a cleaver or bench scraper for this - essentially, you are chopping the ingredients together rather than kneading. If you knead the gnocchi dough you'll wind up with really tough gnocchi.

When you've got a bouncy, smooth dough, separate it into 5 chunks. Roll these on a floured surface into roughly 2cm wide snakes and chop into 2cm pieces. Place them on a floured baking tray or board.

Spatchcock then rub the chicken with the softened butter, getting into all the crevices. Season liberally with salt, then place in a walled baking dish and roast in the 200°C oven for around 45 minutes to an hour, or until cooked through with golden crispy skin. Remove from the dish, leaving the juices behind, and leave to cool briefly.

Place the baking tray over a hob and add a splash of white wine and the chicken stock. Reduce rapidly until thick.

Meanwhile, heat a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil and cook the gnocchi until they've risen to the surface.

Heat a frying pan with a big chunk of butter and fry the gnocchi until nicely browned. Joint and slice the chicken and toss the gnocchi through the reduced chicken juices, broccoli and peas. Plate up, and top with parmesan and crispy sage.

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Hugh Woodward

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Hugh's culinary life began aged 14 when he cooked spaghetti hoop burritos to impress girls. Since then his colourful career has taken him to performing in Skegness, making cheese in Peckham, running a wine bar on Columbia Road and reluctantly working in a (briefly) Michelin Starred restaurant. He likes fish, things cooked on charcoal, cheap dinners and London's rich cultural tapestry of food shops. When he's not cooking or eating he can be found mudlarking by the river Thames, buying bits in flea markets and hanging out with his cat Keith.