Wild Garlic & Ricotta Gnocchi, Brown Butter & Toasted Hazelnut
Hand-rolled, floated, finished in foam — spring on a plate, no mucking about
Wild garlic grows like a weed in every Somerset ditch come March — you practically trip over it. We roll these gnocchi by hand because a machine turns them into rubber, and ricotta keeps them light enough that you'll want seconds. Brown butter and hazelnuts are the swagger here; they make ricotta feel like it's earned its place at the table.
How to Cook It
- 01
Boil and crush the potatoes
Cut potatoes into halves, boil hard-salted water for 12–15 minutes until a knife slides through. Drain, let steam dry for 2 minutes, then push through a ricer or mash very smooth. Warm ricotta through before you start mixing; cold ricotta clumps.
~20 min - 02
Fold and knead the dough
Mound the potatoes on a clean bench, make a well, crack the egg into it, add ricotta and finely chopped wild garlic. Fold gently with a bench scraper, then scatter flour over and knead for 2 minutes until soft and slightly tacky — not stiff. Stop before you overwork it; tough gnocchi are a crying shame.
~8 min - 03
Toasted hazelnut toast
Tip your hazelnuts into a dry pan over medium heat. Listen for them to crackle and smell nutty, about 3 minutes. Tip into a bowl; they'll crisp as they cool. Rough-chop them when you're ready to plate.
~4 min - 04
Roll, cut, rest
Flour the bench lightly. Take an orange-sized piece of dough, roll it into a rope the thickness of your thumb. Cut into 2 cm pieces with a floured knife. Press each gently with a fork to give them ridges — helps sauce cling. Lay them on a tray, don't stack them. If you're not cooking now, chill them uncovered.
~10 min - 05
Brown the butter
In a large heavy-bottomed pan, melt butter over medium heat. Let it sit and watch: first it foams, then the milk solids sink and turn golden, then nutty-brown. The moment it smells of toast and hazelnuts — there — take it off heat. Don't let it burn to black or you've wasted good butter.
~6 min - 06
Float the gnocchi
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Drop the gnocchi in a handful at a time. They'll sink, then float after 2–3 minutes. Let them bob for another 30 seconds, then fish them out with a slotted spoon into the warm brown butter pan.
~8 min - 07
Finish and plate
Toss gnocchi gently in the brown butter. Grate lemon zest over, crack fresh black pepper, sprinkle Parmigiano and chopped toasted hazelnuts. A small pinch of Maldon salt to balance. Serve at once; gnocchi wait for no one.
~2 min
“Spoon gnocchi into warm bowls, letting the brown butter pool around them. Scatter hazelnuts and Parmigiano generously — this is spring comfort, not restraint. A lemon wedge on the side so people can add squeeze if they like. Serve with good bread to soak up the butter, which is the whole point.”
First bite: earthy potato, sweet wild garlic, the creamy give of ricotta. Then the brown butter arrives, toasted and slightly bitter, with hazelnut crunch and salt from the cheese. The lemon zest sits on your tongue last, bright and clearing — it's the note that makes you want another forkful immediately.
Replace ricotta with firm tofu (150g, pressed and crumbled) or cashew cream (blend 100g raw cashews with 150ml water and a pinch of salt). Use aquafaba (50ml, whisked to soft peaks) instead of the egg to bind. Proceed as normal, but knead the tofu version more gently—it holds together less readily. For the butter, use good-quality vegan butter (cultured, not spread) or best-quality olive oil, brown it the same way, and finish with nutritional yeast instead of Parmigiano for that savoury hit. Hazelnuts, wild garlic, and lemon stay as they are. The dish loses none of its swagger this way.
Crisp, grassy, cuts through butter without fighting the garlic and hazelnut; Loire Valley is the safe bet
Something like Timothy Taylor Landlord or a local Somerset ale; malt sweetness echoes the hazelnut, hops stay clean
Honour the season and the ingredient; tannic, herbaceous, no sugar rush to flatten the palate
- ·Don't overwork the dough or you'll have gnocchi like bullets; soft and slightly wet is your target.
- ·If gnocchi sink and don't float within 4 minutes, your dough was too heavy — fold in a touch more flour and try again.
- ·Brown butter can separate if you're not paying attention; keep it on low-medium heat and use it while it's still foaming.
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