Celebrating Samphire Season.

Prowling hungrily around Waitrose after work the other night, I came across a pack of Samphire - one of my favourite things to eat.  Its bright colour, sharp saltiness and toothsome bite make it unlike anything else - It's great that it's now quite easy to get hold of, but a pity its season is so short.

I usually steam or sauté samphire as an accompaniment to fish, but in a spasm of hunger-fuelled inspiration I decided to try incorporating it into a dish.  Here's what I came up with:

Gnocchi with Samphire and Salmon Roe.

You will need:


For the gnocchi:

500g of potatoes

160g plain flour - ideally '00' grade

1 large beaten egg

Salt

For the sauce:

A handful of samphire - any woody stalk bits lopped off.

20g or so of salmon roe (or less… or more… depending how much you like it)

About 150ml crème fraiche

White pepper, salt, a lug of EV olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, a splash of milk.

Boil the tatties in their skins until well cooked but not collapsing - 15-25 mins.  (Most of the recipes I looked at say to keep the skins on and then remove them once cooked - if anyone can tell me why this is, I'd love to know… I found it a pain in the arse!  I don't see why you can't peel 1st…)

Remove the skins.

Squidge them through a ricer/mouli/sieve and beat until smooth.

Add the flour and egg bit by bit and mix well until you have incorporated them into a soft dough.  You should use all the flour, but probably only 2/3 -3/4 of the egg.  Once the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and seems cohesive, it's probably right (it's a little bit like making choux batter). 

Refrigerate for 30 mins for the texture to improve.

Flatten the dough and shape into a rough oblong on a floured board.  Cut off half-inch-thick slices and roll into sausages.

Slice the dough-sausages diagonally into 3/4 inch nuggets, round off the edges gently and place onto a floured tray.  Bear in mind they will swell a fair bit when cooked

Press each one carefully with the tines of a fork to make little ridges - these help them cling onto the sauce.

Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil, drop the dumplings in and set a timer for 3 mins.  Be careful not to overcrowd your pan - no more than 30 in a large saucepan at once.  They will float to the surface after about 2 minutes, but probably need 3 to cook through.  Once they are done and all merrily jostling for position at the surface, rescue them with a slotted spoon and drain well.

Chuck your samphire into the still-boiling water for no more than 2 minutes then strain and keep with the gnocchi.

Add the crème fraiche to the now empty saucepan over a medium heat.  Add a squeeze of lemon, lug of EV olive oil, pinch of salt and shake of white pepper and mix well.  Add the roe and then finally the cooked gnocchi and samphire.   Fold everything together gently, check the consistency and loosen with a dash of milk if necessary before serving.

The bright orange salmon eggs contrast the pale dumplings and verdant samphire and add a mild fish flavour and saline richness to the sauce.

I looked at various gnocchi recipes  - all very much alike - and sort of 'averaged' them out to get this one.  Some chefs insist on keeping the warmth in the mash while you make the dough, while others suggest letting it cool.  Some prefer waxy potatoes, others like floury ones.    The suggested flour:spud ratio varies and some say you should dry your mash in the oven a little before incorporating the flour.  To be honest, I'm fairly sure than none of this matters much.  Get good, flavoursome spuds (I used Charlottes), cook 'em, mash 'em, bung in the egg and flour and make a dough - it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that!

I used about half the dough that I made - this became 30 gnocchi;  enough to feed me well.  The whole recipe should feed 2.

I think I'll do the leftovers tomorrow with a simple sage butter an some pecorino.