Summer Gnocchi Salad

Ingredients

• Gnocchi “Spheres” Ingredients

  • 12 pc russet potatoes
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 800ml all-purpose flour
  • Salt to season

• Golden Beet Vichyssoise Ingredients

  • 450g golden baby beets
  • 450g potato
  • 100g leeks
  • 100g onion
  • 10g garlic
  • 2lt vegetable stock
  • 30ml olive oil
  • 50ml golden beet juice
  • Salt to season

• Basil Infused Cherry Tomatoes Ingredients

  • 1lt cherry tomatoes
  • 1.5 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 50g basil (leaves and stems)
  • Salt to season

• Pickled Roots and Morel Mushrooms Ingredients

  • Heirloom baby carrots
  • Baby red beets
  • Radishes
  • Morel mushrooms
  • Baby golden beets
  • 2 cups white wine vinegar
  • 0.25 cups sugar
  • 1 tbsp salt

• Poached Apple and Neufchatel Espuma Ingredients

  • 2 granny smith apples
  • 1.5 cup white wine
  • 1 cup water
  • 0.5 cup sugar
  • 100g Neufchatel cream cheese
  • 100ml cream
  • 1 sheet gelatin
  • Salt to season

• Dish Garnishes

  • Micro-greens
  • Fennel fronds

Preparation

Difficulty:

Difficult

 

1. Gnocchi “Spheres” Preparation

   1. Rinse potatoes and bake in oven at 200 degrees Celsius for approximately 1 hour or until soft.
   2. Split and press through a wire grate to remove skins. Lay a single layer on parchment paper and allow to steam.
   3. Press through a potato ricer into large metal bowl and season with salt.
   4. Bring lightly salted water to a boil in a large pot.
   5. Add egg to warm potatoes and cut in until smooth.
   6. Mix 600-700 ml flour and blend. Add more flour as needed.
   7. Knead lightly and cut into four equal pieces and roll dough into 1/2 inch wide tubes. Cut tube to cherry tomato sized pieces and roll into spheres between the palms of your hands. Cover unused dough with cloth until needed.
   8. Cut and lay on an upside down sheet pan with parchment paper and flour.
   9. Carefully add gnocchi to water. Skim into perforated pan as they float.
   10. Toss with olive oil and chill on parchment.
   11. Cook in brown butter and saute the domes of the gnocchi to give the tops color. Season with salt.

2. Golden Beet Vichyssoise Preparation

   1. Lightly, without adding any colour, sauté onions, leeks, and garlic.
   2. Add the vegetable stock and the rest of the ingredients except the beet juice.
   3. Let it simmer until the beets and potatoes are soft. Take off the heat and cool.
   4. In a Vitamix Blender, purée small batches of the soup until very smooth.
   5. Add in the golden beet juice to the soup to give an extra freshness and season with salt. Chill in fridge.

3. Basil Infused Cherry Tomatoes Preparation

   1. Score a shallow 'x' shape on the bottom of each tomato.
   2. Blanche for 10 seconds in a boiling pot of water. Remove and cool in an ice bath.
   3. When tomatoes are cooled, remove the skins.
   4. Dissolve the sugar with the water in a pot on low heat.
   5. Once sugar is melted place the basil (leaves and stems) in the simple syrup and season with salt. Let the basil steep until cool.
   6. Compress the tomatoes and the basil simple syrup in a Cryovac bag and vacuum seal to infuse the flavor in the tomatoes (if you do not have a vacuum pack machine then simply storing the tomatoes in the basil syrup for several hours will have a similar effect).

4. Pickled Roots and Morel Mushrooms Preparation

   1. Thinly slice all items on mandolin.
   2. Simmer vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved and pour the warm liquid to each item separately and let cool to room temperature.

5. Poached Apple and Neufchatel Espuma Preparation

   1. Poach pealed apples in white wine, water, and sugar until soft. Remove from poaching liquid.
   2. Whisk the Neufchatel cream cheese and cream in a pot on low heat until smooth. Bloom gelatin and whisk into warm Neufchatel cream cheese.
   3. Place the apples and Neufchatel cream cheese in a Vitamix and blend until smooth.
   4. Strain the purée through fine chinois.
   5. Place the liquid in an iSi N20 whipped cream canister and charge with 2 cartridges of N20. Keep in fridge.

6. Final Dish Preparation

   1. Place all items into individual bowls and garnish with micro-greens and fennel fronds.