Gnocchi and sherried mushrooms
 
These gnocchi must be made fresh and served with a strongly flavoured sauce.  Mushrooms are plentiful in autumn and most greengrocers will have an interesting selection available.
 
2kg baking potatoes, washed and dried
250g coarse salt
325ml (1 1/2 cups) cake flour
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 whole egg
pinch of salt
60g parmesan, grated
pinch of grated nutmeg
 
Sherried mushrooms
olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, grated
650g assorted mushrooms, sliced
50g fresh oreganum, chopped
80ml (1/3 cup) sherry
150ml (3/5 cup) cream
salt and pepper
 
100g fresh basil, sliced into ribbons
grated parmesan cheese
 
Preheat the oven to 160C.

Prick the potatoes several times with a fork to allow moisture to escape as the potatoes cook. Sprinkle the salt over the base of a deep baking tray, add the potatoes, and bake in their skins until tender, about 1 hour. Scoop out the potato flesh and pass it through a potato ricer and into a large bowl. (If you don’t have a potato ricer, you can mash the potatoes by hand and fluff them up a bit with a fork.) It is best to work with the potatoes while they are still warm. Add the flour, egg, salt, nutmeg and parmesan and mix by hand into a pliable ball. Do not over mix

Dust the work area with flour. Take the mixture, a piece at a time, and roll it out gently with your hands until you have tubes of dough about 2cm in diameter. It is very important to keep a light touch while you are rolling the mixture. Gently roll out the mixture with your fingertips while exerting the lightest pressure outwards, not down, to draw the mixture out.
Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about 5cm long. Using either the tines of the fork or your fingertip, press the dough lightly to form an indentation (good for catching the sauce). As gnocchi are made, place them on a flat baking sheet that has been lightly dusted with flour or lined with wax paper. At this point you can freeze the gnocchi ahead of time. Once they are frozen, put them into a freezer bag for more easy storage.

For the sauce, place a saucepan over a medium heat. Add some olive oil and fry the onion and garlic until cooked and translucent. Add the mushrooms and oreganum and fry until the liquid from the mushrooms has disappeared. Add the sherry and allow reduce by half. Slowly stir in the cream, and season with salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to thicken.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil and gently drop the gnocchi, a few at a time, into the water. As soon as they rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon, draining well, and arrange them on a warm serving dish. Continue cooking the rest of the gnocchi in the same manner.

As soon as all the gnocchi are ready, add them to the heated sauce, toss quickly and serve with the basil and grated parmesan.
 
Serves 6
 

Wine suggestion: Barrel-fermented Chardonnay