Method

• 1.
  Place a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the spinach and allow it to wilt, using tongs to help push down the leaves. Once wilted, drain the spinach, reserving the liquid from the spinach (plus any liquid in the pan) as a good-quality stock for another use. Once the spinach has returned to room temperature, place in a clean tea towel and squeeze hard to drain all the liquid. Finely chop.
• 2.
  Place the cheeses and egg in a large bowl and stir well to combine. Add the spinach, breadcrumbs, lemon zest and freshly ground pepper (you should not need salt). If the mixture is too wet, add more breadcrumbs until you can easily form walnut-sized balls with slightly damp hands. Ideally, the gnocchi should be cooked within a short time of making; don’t let them rest too long.
• 3.
  Preheat oven to 100ºC/80°C fan-forced.
• 4.
  Bring a wide shallow pan of lightly salted water to a slow rolling boil. At the same time, in another wide shallow pan, melt half the butter over medium-low heat. Place extra breadcrumbs for rolling on a plate close by.
• 5.
  Carefully lower 10 or so gnocchi into the water with a slotted spoon. After a few minutes, once the gnocchi start rising to the surface, lift them out with the spoon and carefully place them on the plate with the breadcrumbs. Now roll them with your hands so they have a fine covering of breadcrumbs. Place the gnocchi in the pan of melted butter and cook for 1 minute on each side, turning them over with a spoon so the surfaces become golden. Carefully lift onto serving plates and pop the plates in the warm oven while you cook the remaining gnocchi in the same way. You will need to add more butter to the pan as it gets absorbed by the breadcrumbs.
• 6.
  Once you have cooked all the gnocchi in the butter, wipe the pan clean and melt a few extra knobs of butter in it. Pour over the gnocchi on the warmed plates and serve with extra grated parmesan to pass around at the table.