earthy goodness: baked semolina gnocchi and mushrooms with parsley and chestnut pesto

OK. Tasty, light supper. Involving mushrooms. Mustn't take too long. Has to be tasty.

Here we go, then.

First, make your gnocchi. This version of gnocchi is adapted from Denis Cotter's recipe on p207 of his 'Wild garlic....' book. For a couple of people, you'll need 375ml stock (I use vegetable stock, but a meat stock would be fine), 90g semolina, 60g parmesan, and seasoning to taste.

Bring to stock to a rolling boil, and then whisk in the semolina (while pouring it in in a steady stream - the equivalent of patting your head while rubbing your belly at the same time), together with your seasoning. I tend to be generous with the pepper, less so with the salt, as a good whack of salt will come from the parmesan. When the mixture comes back up to the boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and stir continuously for as long as it takes the semolina to cook - go by the instructions on the packet. Once it's ready, stir in the parmesan.

Spread the lot over a swiss roll tray to a thickness of about half an inch - you might want to line the tray with baking parchment first, but I didn't use it, and no damage was done. Leave to cool.

Once cool, cut into whatever shapes you want - I prefer diamonds of about an inch by and inch and a half. You don't want dinky little things for this recipe, but shapes you can see and get stuck into.

Heat the oven to 200/400/Gas mark 6. Bake the gnocchi on a high-ish shelf for about 8-10 mins, or until deliciously golden.

While they're cooking, whizz up a pesto of cooked chestnuts, parsley, a little parmesan, and plenty of olive oil - plus a dash of lemon. Please don't ask me for measurements - I just make this by sight and taste.

In a frying pan, heat a little olive oil and butter together. Slice about 350g or so of mushrooms (for me, chestnut mushrooms give the right earthiness and intensity of flavour here), and a couple of fat cloves of garlic. Saute quickly over a medium/high heat - you don't want the mushrooms to stew or the garlic to burn. Once the mushrooms have taken on some colour, they're ready. At this point, chop a handful of parsley, and throw into the pan. Stir in, and add another knob of butter so that it's all lovely and unctuous. If you're feeling uber decadent, add a few drops of truffle oil - it really makes it.

Right, you're nearly there. Assemble the gnocchi on the plate, and tip the mushrooms over them. Finally dribble the pesto around it all and anywhere else you want it.

Eat. Enjoy. Have some more.