Pea Gnocchi with Browned Butter Radishes

Every now and then you find a recipe suits the season perfectly! This is one of those recipes that celebrates spring and all you need to make it is a bag or two of frozen peas, fresh radishes, parsley, butter...and some time. 

Sandy d'Amato, a local, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurant-owner, writes a weekly food column in our Sunday newspaper. This recipe was one that he featured in his column just a couple of weeks ago.

Since we had the entire family over for a triple birthday celebration Saturday night, I had the perfect excuse to make it.  I did test it on my husband the week before and it was given 2 thumbs up (RIP Roger Ebert).  The recipe is time-consuming, but when I made it for my family, I tried some time-saving steps that worked great.  

The peas need to be blanched, puréed and then pushed through a strainer to remove the outer skin of the peas.  I did this a day ahead.  You also need to bake a couple of potatoes and pass those through a ricer.  I did that a day ahead also.  Then, you need to either make your own clarified butter or buy ghee if your food market carries it.  It was really quite easy to make the clarified butter and I followed instructions I found after doing an online search.  I did that 2 days in advance. 

The morning of the party, I made and boiled the dumplings and sliced the radishes and kept them refrigerated so all I had left to do was sauté the dumplings and radishes - which I did right before everyone arrived and simply lightly reheated them at dinner time. 

  

Pea Gnocchi with Brown Butter Radishes

Adapted from Chef Sandy d'Amato
~from Savoring Time in the Kitchen

Makes 4 servings (about 70 1-inch dumplings)

1 pound Idaho potatoes (two 8-ounce potatoes)
1 pound peas (fresh-shucked or frozen); one-fourth reserved for garnish
1 egg
2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
3/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces flour (about ¾ cup)
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces clarified butter
2 tablespoons whole salted butter
8 medium radishes, trimmed and sliced 1/8th inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup loose-pack fresh Italian parsley leaves, cleaned and dried

Bake potatoes 1 hour, until tender.  While still warm,  pass through a ricer or food mill into a bowl.  Cool and refrigerate, if necessary (Can be made a day ahead)

Blanch the ¾ pound peas in boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain and shock in ice water. Dry on a towel and purée in a food processor until fine. Pass through a medium strainer into a bowl to remove all skin (scaping off the bottom of the sieve occasionally to release the all of the strained pea purée.  (Can be made a day ahead).

When ready to make the gnocchi, add the cooled and riced potatoes to the strained peas in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk egg with salt, nutmeg and pepper. Add to potatoes and peas and work together. Add flour and mix to just incorporate.  Do not overwork the dough.

Divide the dough into 5 pieces. Dust lightly with flour and roll out each piece with your hands into a rope shape about ½ inch thick and 14 inches long. Cut into 1-inch lengths to yield about 70 dumplings total.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add about a tablespoon of kosher salt to the boiling water.  Quickly add half the dumplings, one by one, so they don't stick together. Turn heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let the dumplings poach 3 minutes. Remove and drain with a skimmer to a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with just enough oil to keep them from sticking together. Repeat with remaining half of dumplings and cool all of them (they may be covered and refrigerated until needed at this point).

When ready to serve, place 2 nonstick saute pans over medium-high heat. Divide clarified butter between pans. When butter is hot, divide dumplings between the pans and sauté 2 to 3 minutes until lightly brown.  Remove the dumplings to a large bowl. 

Divide the whole salted butter between the 2 pans. When the butter browns, divide the radishes and reserved peas between the 2 pans and stir for about a minute. Return the dumplings to the pans. Season lightly with salt and pepper (I love lots of pepper), toss and place on a serving platter.  Garnish with parsley leaves