Читать книгу Cooking for Friends - Gordon Ramsay - Страница 18

Jacket potato soup with sour cream

This soup was inspired by one I had many years ago at the acclaimed El Bulli restaurant in Spain. The clear broth is infused with the flavour of baked potatoes and served with home-made potato gnocchi: a surprising and delightful mouthful of flavours and textures.

SERVES 4-6 AS A STARTER

4 large baking potatoes, about 750g

800ml clear chicken or vegetable stock (see pages 258-9)

150ml sour cream handful of chives, finely chopped

Gnocchi: 150g plain flour

1 tsp fine sea salt

2½ tbsp grated parmesan

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

1 medium egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Wash the potatoes well, pat dry with kitchen paper and wrap in large sheet of foil. Bake for 1½hours until tender when pierced with a skewer. Remove from the oven and turn down the setting to 150°C/Gas 2. Wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands, peel the skins off the potatoes while still hot. Spread the skins out on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until dry and crisp. Turn off the oven, but leave the skins inside to dry out further.

Meanwhile, make the gnocchi. Mash the potatoes using a potato ricer. Leave to cool completely. Measure out 400g (save the rest for another dish). Mix in the flour, salt and parmesan. Add the olive oil and slowly incorporate the egg until the mixture comes together to form a dough; you may not need all the egg. Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth. Divide into four balls. Roll out each ball into a long, skinny sausage about 1-2cm thick. Cut the dough into 1cm pieces, then roll lightly between your palms to neaten the shape, but you don’t need to make perfect rounds.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and have ready a bowl of iced water. Blanch the gnocchi in batches for 2-3 minutes or until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge into the iced water. Drain well and toss in a bowl with a generous drizzle of olive oil and some seasoning.

For the soup, bring the stock to the boil in a pan with a pinch of salt and pepper. Tip in the crispy potato skins and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cover the pan and gently simmer for 30-40 minutes until the skins have imparted their colour and flavour to the stock. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Discard the skins. When ready to serve, reheat the gnocchi in the potato-infused broth and simmer for a minute. Divide among warm bowls and garnish with spoonfuls of sour cream and chopped chives.