Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Porcini and Chestnut Velouté Topped With Pangrattato and Lemon Zest
Drawn from the forests and kitchens of northern Italy – a velvet-smooth celebration of porcini and chestnut
Table of Contents
- ✨ Before We Begin…
- The Cook’s Mind
- A Note on Origin: Gnocchi
- Ingredient Focus: Gnocchi
- My Favourite Way To Eat
- Multi-Purpose Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?
- Handpicked to Go With This One
- Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
- Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Porcini and Chestnut Velouté Topped With Pangrattato and Lemon Zest Recipe
✨ Before We Begin…
This is a dish that feels like it should come with a wine pairing and a linen napkin – but you made it in your own kitchen. Pan-fried gnocchi bring golden chew, the velouté is silky and rich with mushroom and chestnut, and the pangrattato topping adds crunch and lift. Finished with lemon zest, it’s pure elegance.
‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer
The Cook’s Mind
This dish invites you to think like a chef – not in complexity, but in care. It teaches you how to build a velouté with depth and balance, how to pan-fry gnocchi until they’re golden and proud, and how to finish a plate with restraint. The pangrattato adds texture, the lemon lifts everything, and suddenly it’s not just a midweek supper – it’s something you’d serve in soft light with a glass of something lovely.
Make-Ahead
Cook the gnocchi and hold it in the fridge for up to 2 days, lightly oiled to prevent sticking. You can also prep the sauce or toppings ahead and reheat gently. For best texture, pan-fry the gnocchi just before serving.
Freezer-Friendly
Freeze uncooked homemade gnocchi on a tray, then store in bags.
Store-bought gnocchi can usually be frozen as-is – check the packet.
Defrost in the fridge or drop directly into boiling water from frozen.
Key Substitution Ideas
- Use store-bought or homemade gnocchi – either works beautifully.
- For gluten-free: choose gnocchi made with rice or chickpea flour.
- For sauce pairings, a vegan butter-based or tomato-rich sauce works best.
A Note on Origin: Gnocchi
Gnocchi have been part of Italian kitchens since Roman times, their name thought to come from nocchio (a knot in wood) or nocca (knuckle). Traditionally made from wheat, potato, egg, and salt, modern plant-based versions lose the egg – keeping the heart of gnocchi alive: small, tender dumplings that turn simple sauces into something quietly extraordinary.
Ingredient Focus: Gnocchi
Gnocchi – soft little dumplings of potato and flour – are cooking at its most tender and reassuring. Though simple in ingredients, good gnocchi have a knack for feeling like a quiet luxury: pillowy but substantial, delicate but satisfying. They’re quick to cook and deeply versatile – happy to swim in rich sauces, crisp up in a hot pan, or tumble through simple herb dressings.
At their best, gnocchi feel almost otherworldly – like something stitched together from clouds and winter kitchens. They’re a way to bring a handmade warmth to the plate without demanding hours of effort. Perfect for those days when only soft, certain comfort will do.
✨ Little pillows carrying the weight of comfort.
My Favourite Way To Eat
There’s a kind of quiet magic in cooking something beautiful just for yourself – no fuss, no audience, just you, a plate, and a little furry soul watching every bite. I love piling the golden, pan-crisped gnocchi onto a warm plate, letting the velvety mushroom velouté pool around the edges, scattering pangrattato and lemon zest with a flick of the fingers. Georgia sits nearby, eyes full of hope and patience, her paws tucked under like a small, expectant guardian. Somehow, eating like this – simply, fully, with love in the room – makes the meal taste even better.
Multi-Purpose Recipe
This recipe has more than one life… Posh enough for a dinner party, comforting enough for Tuesday night. Use the velouté as a soup base or sauce for grains. The gnocchi can be repurposed into crispy leftovers, or tossed with herbs and lemon for a lighter take.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It feels like restaurant food, but you made it at home
- The textures are dreamy – crisp gnocchi, velvety sauce, crunchy pangrattato
- It’s quietly luxurious without being showy
- It balances comfort with elegance
What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?
- How to pan-fry gnocchi for perfect golden edges
- How to make a velvety plant-based chestnut and mushroom sauce
- How to build flavour using dried porcini and umami layering
- How to use lemon zest and breadcrumbs to add brightness and crunch
- How to plate a dish with texture, contrast and polish
Handpicked to Go With This One
A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.
Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
Got something spare – a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less❣️
brown onion, butter, chestnut mushrooms, dried tarragon, fresh garlic, fresh herbs, fresh thyme, gnocchi, lemon, lemon juice, peas, porcini mushrooms, soy sauce, tomato purée, white miso paste, white wine
Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Porcini and Chestnut Velouté Topped With Pangrattato and Lemon Zest Recipe
Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Porcini and Chestnut Velouté Topped With Pangrattato and Lemon Zest
Pan-fried gnocchi meet a silky porcini and chestnut velouté in this rich yet balanced dish. Mushrooms and peas add texture and depth, while fresh thyme and lemon zest bring lift and brightness. Finished with crisp pangrattato, it’s a plate full of contrast – soft, crunchy, earthy, and light in all the right places.
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Ingredients
Ingredients for Step 1
- 10 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 300 ml water | boiling; to rehydrate the dried mushrooms
- 15 ml olive oil
- 125 g chestnut mushrooms | cleaned and roughly chopped
- 125 g brown onion | unpeeled weight; 1/2 large onion; peeled and roughly diced
- 2 units fresh garlic cloves | peeled
- ½ tsp tomato purée
- 125 ml white wine
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp lemon juice | from the fresh lemon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried tarragon | add after processing!
Ingredients for Step 2
- 250 g gnocchi
- 1000 ml water | boiling water from a kettle; to cook the gnocchi
- 1 pinch salt
Ingredients for Step 3
- 30 g butter | unsalted
- 125 g chestnut mushrooms | cleaned and neatly chopped into quarters
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 unit fresh garlic clove | sliced thinly
- 75 g peas | defrosted
- 1 tsp Fresh thyme
Ingredients for Step 4
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 1 tsp fresh thyme | leaves
- 1 lemon | zest; also needed for Step 1
- 2 tsp pangrattato | see Notes
Instructions
1. Prepare the velouté
- Rehydrate the dried mushrooms for 15 minutes.10 g dried porcini mushrooms, 300 ml water
- Meantime, add the oil to a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chestnut mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they release their juices and turn golden brown (5-8 minutes)15 ml olive oil, 125 g chestnut mushrooms
- Add the onion, garlic and tomato purée, and continue to cook until softened and beginning to caramelise (5 minutes). Pour over the white wine and cook until the wine has evaporated.125 g brown onion, 2 units fresh garlic cloves, ½ tsp tomato purée, 125 ml white wine
- Pick out the rehydrated mushrooms, and using a small sieve, pour the mushroom-soaking liquor into the pan. Add the miso, soy sauce, lemon juice and salt, along with the rehydrated mushrooms.1 tsp white miso paste, 1 tsp soy sauce, ¼ tsp lemon juice, ¼ tsp salt
- Tip the pan’s contents into a food processor, and process for at least 5 minutes minimum until very smooth. Return to the pan, and stir in the dried tarragon. Put a lid on the pan and simmer very gently on a very low heat (small ring).1 tsp dried tarragon
2. Boil the gnocchi
- Whilst the velouté is processing, boil a kettle of water and check your gnocchi pieces aren’t stuck together. Pour the boiling water into the pan on a medium heat, add a pinch of salt and when it comes to the boil, add the gnocchi pieces and stir to ensure the gnocchi are separate. Boil for a couple of minutes. They are cooked when they are floating.250 g gnocchi, 1 pinch salt, 1000 ml water
- Drain with a medium sieve, and tip onto a plate in a single layer so that they don’t stick together.
3. Pan-fry the gnocchi, mushrooms and peas
- Put a large frying pan on the heat, add the butter, bring to a medium-high heat, and when you’re confident that the Flora is hot (it has melted and is foaming slightly), add the cooked gnocchi, and pan fry for around 4 minutes. Get some colour on the gnocchi.30 g butter
- Then add the mushrooms and a good pinch of salt, and pan-fry for 2 minutes to soften the mushrooms. Keep the heat up and keep the ingredients in the pan moving.125 g chestnut mushrooms, 1 pinch salt, 1 unit fresh garlic clove, 75 g peas, 1 tsp Fresh thyme
- Add the garlic and defrosted peas and cook for another minute until the peas are heated through.
- Scatter in the chopped thyme, and mix so the thyme wilts slightly and runs through the dish.
- Check the velouté is simmering nicely.
4. Plate and finish
- Take two pasta bowls and pour half of the warmed velouté into each bowl. Top each bowl with half the gnocchi, mushroom and pea mix.1 pinch sea salt, 1 pinch ground black pepper, 1 lemon , 2 tsp pangrattato, 1 tsp fresh thyme
- Top with more fresh thyme leaves and the sea salt.
- Add the pangrattato and finally zest the lemon over the top using the small grater.
Video
Notes
Pangratto Recipe
In a food processor, process 60g of stale bread along with 10g of pumpkin seeds, 10g of sunflower seeds, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/8 tsp salt. Put 3 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan to heat up on a medium heat, tip in the processed mix, and proceed to move the contents around to pan fry until golden brown. Tip onto a sheet of kitchen roll that is on plate to soak up excess oil and to allow to cool and further dry out. Store in an airtight container once dry and cool.Nutrition
Calories: 381kcalCarbohydrates: 71gProtein: 13gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1177mgPotassium: 948mgFiber: 8gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 447IUVitamin C: 26mgCalcium: 133mgIron: 7mg
Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
COPYRIGHT
© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Next Steps?
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