• Preheat the oven to 200oC (400oF). Dust two baking trays with half of the semolina.
• Take 500g of the carrots and slice into 2mm thick coins. Toss on a tray with the olive oil and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until golden.

Make the gnudi:

• Cut the remaining carrots into quarters and add to a pot of boiling water. Leave to simmer on the stove for 20-30 minutes until super soft. Drain and tip into a blender and blitz until you get a mostly smooth puree (I use the tamper stick with the Vitamix to help it all blend up). Tip the puree into a large bowl. 
• Line a plate with two pieces of paper kitchen towel and dump the ricotta out onto it. Cover with two more pieces of paper kitchen towel and press down to flatten the ricotta out (this is to remove lots of the moisture from the ricotta). Peel off the paper towels and tip the ricotta into the bowl. Crack in the eggs and mix together until well combined.
• Add the flour and a generous pinch of salt and ground black pepper to the bowl. Gently stir together until just combined. 
• Use a mechanical ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to scoop up some of the mixture - you want about 2 tablespoons of dough per gnudi. Blob that onto the tray lined with semolina and repeat until all the mixture is used up. Sprinkle the remaining semolina over the top of the blobs (and you can even spoon the semolina off the tray onto the gnudi). Set in the fridge for 2 to 48 hours so they soak up the semolina. 

Make the walnut sauce:

• Tear the bread into small pieces and soak in the water for 5 minutes. Tip the bread and water into the jug of a blender (like a Vitamix) along with the walnuts, parmesan, olive oil and garlic. Blitz until silky smooth then season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

To serve:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Lower in some of the gnudi (I think 4-5 per person is a good amount) and let simmer for 5 minutes. 
• Meanwhile heat the olive oil, butter and sage leaves in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Lift the gnudi out of the pot with a slotted spoon and gently place into the frying pan. Let cook until golden underneath (about 2-3 minutes) then flip and let the other side get golden before removing them from the frying pan along with the sage leaves. 
• Spread a heaped tablespoon of the walnut sauce in the bottom of the bowl. Top with the gnudi, crispy sage and the roasted carrots. You can also grate some extra parmesan on top, if desired! Eat immediately.