Pumpkin with a difference: as Italian-style gnocchi, but with local herbs that everyone can vary according to taste. A recipe from the chef at the „Hotel Post Berching" in Eastern Bavaria
Potato and pumpkin gnocchi with wild herb béchamel
After decades in slumber, the „Hotel Post Berching“ is now once again the culinary centre of the Franconian village near the Altmühltal. Chef Matthias Bersch serves us a vegetarian pumpkin-potato-herb dish that fits perfectly with his regionally and seasonally oriented cuisine. He calls it "down-to-earth", but wow, there is sophistication at work, even if his gnocchi are not difficult to recreate.
Already in spring, he takes care of preserving the sprouting variety of herbs as butter or pesto to use later. But even in winter you can still find enough fresh choices at the markets, just let yourself be inspired!
Ingredients for 4 people
Pumpkin gnocchi
- 300 g floury potatoes
- 500 g Hokkaido pumpkin
- 50 g grated parmesan
- 150 g flour
- 2 eggs
- salt
- grated nutmeg
- 25 g butter for frying
Wild herb béchamel
- 25 g butter
- 25 g flour
- 500 ml milk
- grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper
- Wild herb mix, e.g. nettle, watercress, parsley, chives, winter purslane
Tip: Matthias Bersch also likes to add some wild garlic. In spring, he collects the garlic-scented herb, preserves it as wild garlic butter or pesto and can then draw on it later in the year.
Step 1
For the potato and pumpkin gnocchi, peel and wash the potatoes. Wash the pumpkin, cut in half and remove the seeds. Cut both into small pieces and boil separately in lightly salted water until soft. Prepare the flour, eggs and parmesan.
Step 2
Let the potatoes and pumpkin steam out after cooking. Then press both through a potato ricer, mix well with flour, egg and parmesan and season the mixture with salt and nutmeg.
Step 3
Form long "snakes" (approx. 1.5 cm in diameter) from the mixture and cut out gnocchi with a pastry card or the blunt side of a chef's knife. Tip: Dust the work surface with durum wheat semolina beforehand.
Step 4
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Now let small amounts of gnocchi simmer gently for 5 minutes at a time. Then rinse in cold water and dry on a cloth.
Step 5
For the wild herb béchamel, wash the herbs and sort them out. Lightly sweat the butter and flour over medium heat. Pour in the milk and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add the wild herbs to taste and simmer for a while, finally blend everything with a hand blender and season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Step 6
Before serving, heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the gnocchi until golden brown.
Step 7
Divide the gnocchi onto plates and pour over (or pour on) the sauce, garnish as desired with herbs, pickled lettuce or parmesan shavings.
