Sorrel-Beetroot Gnocchi with Purslane Pesto and Urdă

Well, this dish still reminds me of winter, but it also welcomes spring. This duality is also present in the taste of the gnocchi. Some of you might have been a little confused after reading the name of the dish and checking the photo. There is no mistake made here, and I haven't found any green beets. No! I used that pink-white chioggia beet that simply loses its pinkish colour once baked in the oven. Another great thing about this type of beet is that it also loses its typical earthy, beet like flavour that many don't like and it turns to be incredibly sweet. To balance the sweetness I added some sorrel that is well-known for its acidity. However sorrel loses its green colour very quickly, therefore I addes some home made cholorphyll to the dough. I could have served this dish with some brown butter sauteed purslane, but instead I prepared a pesto with hazelnuts to be served with the gnocchi among some urdă, that is a Romanian fresh cheese made from whey.

Ingredients:
200 g potato
150 g beetroot
1 bunch of sorrel
1 egg
130 - 170 g flour
100 g urdă or ricotta
nutmeg
salt, pepper

Peel beetroot, dice and pack it in foil together with some oil and bake until soft. Cook potato, then press it through a ricer. Blanche sorrel and puree together with the urdă and the egg. Add puree to the potatoes, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add enough flour so that you can knead a dough. Form gnocchi and cook in simmering water.