Recipe: Pan-fried Pollock with homemade Gnocchi

Ingredients

The Gnocchi:

• 250g peeled potatoes (but as you’ll be mashing or ricing them use 300g as you’ll lose a little in the boiling water and the pan)
• 100g plain sifted flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• A shake of white pepper
• 1 beaten egg
• Plain flour for dusting

The Rest of the Dish:

• 2 large and thick pieces of pollock fillet, skin on and boned, skin dried on kitchen paper
• 50g nduja sausage
• 150g fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small clove of garlic, minced
• Juice of half a juicy lemon
• 1 tsp white sugar
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Tenderstem broccoli for two
• Unsalted butter
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Groundnut oil or a flavourless frying oil such as vegetable

Instructions

1. Start with the gnocchi. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Boil your potatoes for around 10 minutes until they are just tender, don’t let them get over boiled as they’ll be too wet to use. Drain and place on a baking sheet and let them steam off for about 10 minutes, then place them into the hot oven for 5 minutes to get rid of more moisture.
2. Rice or mash them into a bowl – if mashing make sure it’s very smooth. Sprinkle over the salt and pepper and run through with a fork.
3. Drizzle the egg over the top of the mixture, followed by 3/4 of the flour, and using a metal spoon mix together, incorporating as much flour as you need until you’ve got a crumble-like texture that’s not wet. Turn it out onto a work surface and bring it together, kneading lightly and only for a minute.
4. If using a gnocchi board, break off a piece the size of a cherry and roll it down the board with the board stood up, creating long gnocchis as in the pic (super easy and dead satisfying!). If not using a gnocchi board, break the dough into 4 pieces and roll each out in turn into a sausage, then cut into gnocchi sized dice, pinch each one at its top and bottom (so it looks like a plumped pillow) then press the top with the back of a fork to create the grooves. Repeat until all have been made. Lay them on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust with a little more flour, cover with clingfilm and place into the fridge until they are needed later.
5. Finely chop the tomatoes and put them into a small put with the garlic, a slug of extra virgin olive oil, lemon, sugar and a scrunch of sea salt and pepper, put onto a very low heat with the lid on and let the flavours infuse.
6. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and when rolling add the gnocchis, stir them to make sure they don’t get stuck together and after about 2 minutes (but not longer) when they are floating in the pan drain them. Take the drained gnocchis and put them onto a plate, make sure they aren’t touching. Set aside.
7. Bring another pan of water to the boil for the broccoli.
8. Add a few tablespoons frying oil to a frying pan with with a large knob of unsalted butter and heat on a high heat.
9. Take the pollock fillets and salt their skins, and when the butter is foaming place them into the pan skin side down. DON’T MOVE THEM! Let them sit there untouched for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes put the broccoli onto boil, season the other sides of the pollock in the pan and turn them over. Cook them for another 2 minutes (after 2 minutes you are to tun the heat off and let them sit there to cook through in the residual heat) and after 3 minutes the broccoli’s should be ready to drain.
10. While the broccoli and fish are cooking, add the nduja sausage to another frying pan on a high heat, when it starts to render add a large knob of unsalted butter. Mix these together in the pan and tip in your gnocchis – shake them in the pan to coat them in the sauce and to get them cooked again.
11. To plate take your drained broccoli as your base, top with the fillet of pollock and then dress the outside of the plate with the warm tomato vinaigrette. Finally, add the deliciously chewy fried gnocchis around the edge. Give the fish a scrunch of salt and you’re done.

Credits