Aubergine-wrapped Ricotta Gnocchi

I made this the other night for dinner and it was really tasty. It's quite straight forward to make, you just need to leave some time to let the ricotta mixture chill before you make the gnocchi. I took inspiration from an Ottolenghi recipe, he really uses some lovely flavours, so I adapted this slightly to what I thought would taste nice. It's quite a light supper, but it's very filling! If you like large portions I would maybe do 1.5 times the recipe, but I found it was enough.

This recipe serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a starter. 
You will need:
1 small to medium aubergine
2-4 tbsp olive oil

30g/¼ cup pine nuts
250g/1 cup ricotta cheese
2 egg yolks
35g/¼ cup plain flour
40g/ ½ cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus a little extra to sprinkle 
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp chopped mint
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For the sage butter:
90g/6 tbsp unsalted butter
20 sage leaves
salt
squeeze of 1/2 a lemon

Dry roast the pine nuts in a frying pan to colour evenly. Transfer to a bowl and add the ricotta, egg yolks, flour, Parmesan cheese, herbs, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt and pepper. Stir well then cover and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours to allow it to firm up. 

Later heat the oven to 180C/350F. Trim the bottom and top off the aubergine and cut it lengthways into 5mm slices (quite thin slices as you need about 8-12 slices from an aubergine). Lay it on a baking tray and brush with a little olive oil and roast for 10-12 minutes until tender and golden. 
Once the gnocchi has chilled for awhile, wet hands and scoop out portions (about 2 tbsp) and shape into barrel shapes. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Once boiling add the gnocchi in batches to the saucepan and boil for about 2 minutes whereby they will start to float. With a slotted spoon, transfer to kitchen paper to drain. Pat dry and brush with a little melted butter. Repeat until all the gnocchi are cooked. 

Once cooled, take a strip of aubergine and wrap it around the gnocchi like a belt and place in a greased ovenproof dish seam side down. Here you can cover and leave in the fridge until you want to finish cooking it. When you are ready, sprinkle with some Parmesan and bake in the oven (180C) for about 10 minutes to warm through. 

Meanwhile make the sage butter sauce. In a small saucepan over a moderate heat, add the butter and simmer a few minutes until golden brown and nutty. Remove from the heat and add the sage leaves, lemon juice and salt. Return to the heat for a few seconds to cook the sage lightly. 
Divide the gnocchi between plates, pour the hot butter on top with a few sage leaves and serve immediately!

*I found the sage butter to be very basic, so I squeezed more lemon onto my final dish which was really tasty. I would feel free to experiment with other sauces as I think a tomato based one would go quite well also and I will be trying it with that next time.*