Recipe: Ottolenghi's Aubergine-wrapped Ricotta Gnocchi with Sage Butter

As a special birthday treat this year I Amazon-ed myself Ottolenghi The Cookbook. I've been following Yotam Ottolenghi's New Vegetarian column since it started in I think around 2006 (alongside Dan Leppard's brilliantHow To Bake); I very much miss spending bits of my Sundays poring over his lists of obscure ingredients in the Observer magazine before tearing them out for my recipe folder(s). I've tried many a recipe from his column - his Royal Potato Salad remains a fancy summer favourite - but the restaurants sadly remain an unvisited Mecca. Two of my best friends and fellow Ottolenghi enthusiastics (arguably more than me) highly recommend green pancakes and shashuska (EDIT: the recipe for which has been removed from the Guardian website); one of them regularly produces hisbloody mary mix to the delight of many an aching head.

So, just in time for the arrival of his new cookbook, Plenty, I purchased Ottolenghi's old one. It contains page after page after page of the most wonderful combinations of flavours and foodstuffs both savoury and sweet (page after page of photos too: I like the complete disrespect for trees in our modern cookbooks considerably less); thirty seconds after the book had arrived I was scrawling down shopping lists and planning dinners for months in advance. I served this aubergine-wrapped gnocchi as a starter for my visiting in-laws; I only wish I'd made twice as many of these barrel-shaped balls of delight. The gnocchi only take a little forward planning, and believe me when I tell you they are worth every single second of the enormous joy they are to make. I give you his recipe verbatim, and very much hope that's ok with him:

Ingredients

1 small to medium aubergine

4 tbsp olive oil

20g unsalted butter, melted

15g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Ricotta gnocchi

30g pine nuts

250g ricotta cheese

2 free-range egg yolks

35g plain flour

40g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tbsp chopped basil

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

a good grinding of black pepper

Sage butter

90g unsalted butter

20 sage leaves

a pinch of salt

1/2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

Method

1 Place the pine nuts in a small frying pan and dry-roast over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring them occasionally so they colour evenly. Transfer to a large bowl and add the ricotta, egg yolks, flour, grated Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir well, then cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

2 Preheat the oven to 180˚/Gas Mark 4. Trim the top and bottom off the aubergine and cut it lengthways into 5mm-thick slices; you will need 8-12 slices, depending on how many gnocchi you make. Lay the slices on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and brush liberally with the olive oil. Place in the oven and roast for 10-15 minutes, until tender and golden (alternatively, you could chargrill the aubergine slices over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side).

3 To shape the gnocchi, wet your hands and scoop out 40-50g portions (about 3 tablespoons). Roll into 8 or 12 elongated barrel shapes. Meanwhile, bring plenty of salted water to the boil in a large saucepan.

4 Carefully add a few dumplings to the simmering water - don't cook them all at once or they will stick to each other. After about 2 minutes, they should rise to the surface. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a tea towel to drain. Pat dry with kitchen paper and brush them with the melted butter.

5 Once the gnocchi have cooled down, take a strip of aubergine and wrap it around the centre of each one, like a belt. Trim the aubergine so that the seam is at the bottom. Place the gnocchi in a greased ovenproof dish and set aside. You can cover them with cling film and keep them in the fridge for a day at this stage.

6 When ready to serve, sprinkle the gnocchi with the Parmesan and bake in the oven at 180˚/Gas Mark 4 for 8-10 minutes, until they are heated through.

7 Meanwhile, quickly make the sage butter sauce, as it needs to coincide with the gnocchi. Place a small saucepan over a moderate heat. Add the butter and allow it to simmer for a few minutes until it turns a light golden-brown colour and has a nutty smell. Remove from the heat for a few seconds to cook thes age lightly.

8 Divide the gnocchi between serving plates, pour the hot butter on top with a few sage leaves and serve immediately.

This recipe serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main course. Eat it, then go and buy the book.