Gnocchi In Sage Butter

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1. 1Step 1: Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6
2. 2Step 2: Wash and pat dry the potatoes, then pierce all over with a fork. Scatter the rock salt into a roasting tin, sit the potatoes on top and bake for one and a half to two hours, until soft.
3. 3Step 3: When the potatoes are ready, take them out of the oven and leave to cool until you can handle them. Halve the potatoes, scoop out the flesh, mash the potato flesh with a potato ricer or by passing it through a coarse sieve, then put on a clean work surface and sprinkle over the flour. Season well and grate over the nutmeg
4. 4Step 4: Make a well in the centre, pour in the egg and gradually work to a soft dough. Take care not to overwork the mixture though: just knead until everything is just-combined or the gnocchi will be tough.
5. 5Step 5: Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and drop it into the boiling water to check it holds together. If it doesn’t, you may need to add a little more flour and test your dough again
6. 6Step 6: When you’re happy, cut the dough into four pieces, roll each into long sausage shapes about 2cm thick, then cut each sausage into 3cm lengths.
7. 7Step 7: Fry the sage leaves until crisp (see ‘Perfectly crisp sage leaves’ recipe), then drain on kitchen paper. Put the sage pan back on a medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and the butter, then add the greens and cook for four to five minutes, stirring until wilted
8. 8Step 8: Reduce the pan of water to a brisk simmer. To cook the gnocchi, drop in batches into the pan and cook until they rise to the surface – about two and a half minutes
9. 9Step 9: Use a slotted spoon to add the gnocchi straight into the greens pan and leave to take on some of the butter. Save some of the pasta cooking water.
10. 10Step 10: Finely grate most of the parmesan and lemon zest over the gnocchi, toss well, add 100ml cooking water and reduce to a thick sauce.
11. 11Step 11: Divide the gnocchi between two to four plates, grate over the remaining parmesan and finish with a little drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.