Sardinian carrot gnocchi with minted caramelised cipollini onions and leeks

Name: Sardinian carrot gnocchi with minted caramelised cipollini onions and leeks
Yield: Serve 4
Ingredients: 250 g fregola (Sardinian semolina or semolina flour); 500 ml milk; 400 g carrots, peeled and left whole; 3 free-range egg yolks; 50 g freshly grated castelli vegetalia (parmesan-style cheese) - plus more for garnishing; ground nutmeg; 12 baby leeks, cut into 8 cm lengths; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint; 50 g unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon caster sugar; 300 g cipollini onions, peeled; 25 g unsalted butter, melted; salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation info

Serve
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Pure Vegetarian

By Paul Gayler

Published 2006

About

The grain fregola is Sardinia’s version of couscous, and is sometimes flavoured with saffron. Commercial fregola is getting easier to find at Italian grocers and speciality food shops; it also comes in different sizes but use the smaller variety for this dish.

Ingredients

400 g carrots, peeled and left whole
500 ml milk
ground nutmeg
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Vegetarian
Pasta
Sardinia

Method

Place the carrots in a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 25 minutes until just tender. Drain and slice them into 2 cm thick slices. Transfer to a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Heat the milk together with salt and a little nutmeg. When it boils, stir in the fregola, little by little, stirring constantly with a whisk so that lumps do not for