Bille and Victor’s Gnocchi with Mussels, Wild Garlic, and Parmesan

Start by pricking holes in the skin of the baking potatoes for your gnocchi with a roasting needle or a fork. Then bake them for 1 hour at 180°C. Meanwhile, set a pot with about 5 liters of water to boil.

Halve the baking potatoes as soon as they come out of the oven and let them steam off for a few minutes before mashing the insides through a sieve (a drum sieve works best) with a plastic dough scraper.

Weigh the mashed potatoes, add 20% fine wheat flour and 1.5% fine salt, and knead the dough into a homogeneous mass with your hands. It is important that the dough mass is still warm when you knead it.

Sprinkle a handful of flour on the table, roll the dough mass into ‘sausages’, and cut it into the desired gnocchi size.

Carefully pour the gnocchi into the pot of boiling water until they come to the surface. Once they have drained, place them in the refrigerator.

Rinse your mussels in cold water and clean them thoroughly of beards and other impurities.

Place half of your mussels in a pot with cold water just enough to cover them and let them simmer for about 30 minutes. It is important that it does not boil!

Strain the mussels and the broth through a cloth and reduce the strained broth until you think the taste is just right.

Steam the remaining mussels in white wine in a pot with a lid until they open. If there are mussels that do not open, they are dead and should be discarded.

Remove the mussels from their shells and place them in a bowl in the refrigerator.

Now pour your mussel broth into a sauté pan and heat it slowly over low heat.

When the mussel broth is warm, add the gnocchi to the warm broth and season with salt and freshly squeezed lemon.

When the gnocchi are also warm (if they get too much heat, they become mushy), toss the mussels, cold butter, and wild garlic into the dish until the sauce thickens.

Serve in deep plates, and grate plenty of fresh Parmesan on top.