Small green gnocchi with raw ham and béchamel sauce

The Recipe:

Wash the spinach thoroughly and blanch it in slightly salted boiling water. Boil the potatoes with their peel on until soft. Strain the spinach, squeeze it well and blend it finely in the food processor. Remove the peel from the potatoes and mash them. Place the potatoes on a pastry board previously dusted with flour. Add the spinach and combine the ingredients, adding the finely grated lemon zest and a pinch of salt.

Kneed the mixture lightly to prevent the gnocchi from becoming too hard. Cut it into small pieces and form long fine cylinder shape rolls using your hands. Now cut the rolls up into the traditional gnocchi pillows.

Wash and trim the mangetout. Take a non-stick pan, roast the pine nuts until slightly crunchy and then set them aside. Using the same pan, fry the raw ham for a few seconds, then add a drizzle of oil and the mangetout cut into lozenge shapes. Salt and pepper to taste, adding a small piece of chilli pepper. When the mangetout is ready, but still crisp, remove from the heat.

Boil the milk in a small saucepan and sprinkle in the flour, stirring all the time. Now add the melted butter, salt and nutmeg and when the béchamel sauce starts to thicken, remove it from the heat. Drop the gnocchi into plenty of boiling salted water and when they start to float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and add them to the sauce of mangetout and ham. Plate up and decorate the dish with the pine nuts and a few drops of béchamel sauce.