Two ingredients carry this whole dish: the potato and the butter. The gnocchi are made by hand from boiled potatoes, flour, an egg yolk and chopped wild garlic, then dressed in a sauce of nothing more than melted Bordier Wild Garlic and Kampot Pepper Butter loosened with cream. Smoked Black Forest prosciutto and Grana Padano shavings go on at the end. Allow about an hour, most of it boiling and rolling.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Medium
- Serves: 4
- Active time: About 30 minutes of shaping
- Cook: 20 minutes for the potatoes, 3 minutes for the gnocchi
- Key ingredient: 50 g Bordier Wild Garlic and Kampot Pepper Butter
Why this works
Bordier's Wild Garlic and Kampot Pepper Butter, made since 2021, is a semi-salted butter worked with wild garlic and IGP Kampot pepper. The wild garlic goes into the gnocchi dough as well as arriving through the butter, so the flavor runs through the dish rather than sitting on top of it. Kampot pepper is the other half of the story: it is warm and floral instead of biting, which lets it stand up to smoked ham and aged cheese without fighting them.
The sauce is about as simple as a sauce gets. You melt the butter, add cream, and stop. That works because Bordier butter is churned by hand on a wooden malaxeur in Brittany, which leaves it with a plastic, workable texture that melts evenly and emulsifies with cream instead of splitting into oil. The cream is doing structural work, not flavor work: it holds the butter in suspension long enough for the hot gnocchi to get coated. Keep the pan gentle and the sauce stays glossy.
Ingredients
Serves 4. The gnocchi dough, the sauce, and the garnish are all in one list.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Potatoes | 250 g | 8.8 oz |
| Flour | 250 g | 8.8 oz, about 2 cups |
| Egg yolk | 1 | 1 |
| Salt | 1 pinch | 1 pinch |
| Wild garlic, chopped | 2 tablespoons | 2 tbsp |
| Bordier Wild Garlic and Kampot Pepper Butter | 50 g | 1.8 oz, about 3 1/2 tbsp |
| Heavy cream | 70 g | 2.5 oz, about 1/3 cup |
| Grana Padano shavings | 50 g | 1.8 oz |
| Black Forest smoked prosciutto, cut into chiffonade | 6 slices | 6 slices |
Method
Step 1: Cook the potatoes and make the dough
Boil the potatoes in their skins in salted water for 20 minutes. Peel them and mash with a fork. Work in the flour, the egg yolk and the wild garlic, mixing until the dough comes together evenly.
Step 2: Shape, boil, and build the sauce
Roll the dough into logs, cut them into 2 cm slices, roughly three quarters of an inch, and shape each gnocchi against the back of a fork. Boil them in salted water for 3 minutes, then drain. For the sauce, warm the Bordier Wild Garlic and Kampot Pepper Butter in a saucepan and stir in the cream once it has melted.
Step 3: Combine and plate
Add the gnocchi to the sauce. Serve in shallow bowls, topped with the prosciutto chiffonade and the cheese shavings.
Tips from our kitchen
- Dry potatoes make light gnocchi. Boiling in the skin is the instruction for a reason: it keeps water out of the flesh. Peel them while they are still hot and let the steam escape for a minute before you add the flour.
- About that flour ratio. Bordier lists equal weights of potato and flour, which is heavier than most gnocchi recipes. We follow the ingredient list as written, but if the dough feels stiff and dry as it comes together, stop adding flour and work with what you have. Over-floured gnocchi are dense rather than pillowy. This caveat is ours, not Bordier's.
- Handle the dough as little as possible. Mix to just combined, roll, cut, shape. Every extra minute of kneading develops gluten and moves the texture toward chewy dumpling.
- They float, then they are done. Three minutes is the stated time, and gnocchi usually surface within the first two. Pull them out shortly after they rise. Left in longer they waterlog and start to disintegrate.
- Keep the sauce below a simmer. Melt the butter gently, add the cream off high heat, and never let it boil. A boiling butter and cream sauce separates, and you cannot bring it back once the gnocchi are in it.
- Cut the ham at the last second. Sliced thin and shredded, Black Forest ham dries out fast. Cut the chiffonade while the gnocchi are boiling and it stays supple on the plate.
How to serve it
This is rich enough to be a main course for four with nothing beside it but a sharply dressed green salad. Shallow warm bowls, and get it to the table straight from the pan, since gnocchi in a butter sauce stiffen as they cool. If you want to push it further for a special occasion, a few shavings of fresh black truffle over the top works with the wild garlic and the aged cheese. Our guide to Plantin truffles covers which ones are worth buying and when.
Where to buy Bordier Wild Garlic and Kampot Pepper Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Wild Garlic & Kampot Pepper Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): semi-salted butter with wild garlic and floral IGP Kampot pepper, a one-ingredient pasta sauce.
For the rest of the range, including the unsalted and demi-sel blocks, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?
The sauce takes 50 g. Bordier blocks are 4.4 oz, or 125 g, so one block makes this recipe two and a half times over.
Can I substitute a different Bordier butter?
Roscoff Onion is the closest in spirit and gives a sweeter, gentler sauce. The Périgord Black Truffle butter is a luxurious alternative that suits the Grana Padano. Plain Salted butter will make a fine sauce but the dish loses the wild garlic thread that ties the dough to the plate.
What potatoes should I use?
A floury, high-starch variety such as russet gives the driest mash and the lightest gnocchi. Waxy potatoes hold water and push you toward adding more flour.
How should I store the butter?
Refrigerated and well wrapped. Flavored butters pick up other aromas, so keep it sealed and away from strong cheese.
Does Bordier butter need refrigeration?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Put it in the refrigerator as soon as it arrives.
Can I make the gnocchi ahead?
Bordier does not address this. In our kitchen we shape them, spread them on a floured tray and freeze them solid, then boil from frozen for a minute or so longer. Shaped gnocchi left raw in the refrigerator go sticky, so freeze rather than chill. That is our guidance.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Pasta Mancini
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.