Summer is here, nice and green vegetables start to fill our gardens and the markets. This fresh and colorful summer gnocchi dish uses a combination of green vegetables available in summer — asparagus, peas and fresh basil from the garden. Delicious, quick and easy pesto made with frozen peas is a perfect served with a green gnocchi and vegetables.
Spinach potato gnocchi is a fun, and delicious dinner. See how easy they are to make from scratch with this recipe.
It’s a very important to use the right type of potato. Once you find the variety of potato that makes good gnocchi, stick to it.
Gnocchi with grooves will trap more sauce
I played around with the recipe many times. Gnocchi can be made with egg or without egg. Just reduce flour amount for eggless vegan version. You can also use the gluten-free flour mix which contains corn or tapioca starches. But if we talk about taste, I prefer the recipe with egg and wheat flour.
How to break off woody ends of asparagus? If you hold the asparagus near the end with two hands and bend it until it snaps, it should break right at the correct place.
Add more healthy and delicious food option to your daily menu. Pesto sauce can turn plain everyday meal as pasta, salad, soup or sandwich into a culinary masterpiece. How to make pesto? It`s easy.
I’ve put a new twist on the classics basil pesto recipe. Green peas and mint instead of a basil, roasted seeds instead of pine nuts and cheese.
This is the first time when I use roasted seeds for pesto and I should say it was a great idea. I added Something to Crow About Original roasted seeds. The nutty flavour of seeds and cheesy yeast flakes makes the taste of the pesto is absolutely delicious. Nutritional yeast which contains in the seed mix is a great source of umami flavor and could work as a natural flavor enhancer.
Roasted seeds are not only a tasty snack, but are also healthy for you. They contain numerous vitamins and minerals that help your body maintain optimal functioning. The convenience of these seeds makes it easy to add extra nutrients to many meals. Eat them alone, or sprinkle over avocado toast, or serve as a dukkah with olive oil and fresh bread.
Ingredients
For Gnocchi:3-4 Serves
- 4 floury Agria potatoes (about 1 kg)
- 1 free range egg
- 3/4 bag of baby spinach leaves
- 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
- Italian tipo 00 flour or all-purpose flour
For Pea Pesto:
- 1 1/2 cup baby green peas (thawed, if you use frozen peas)
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/2 cup Something to Crow About Original Roasted Seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Juice of a quarter of a lemon
- 1garlic clove – optional
- black pepper
Springs vegetables:
- bunch of asparagus, hard parts removed
- a handful of snow peas, split
- basil leaves for garnish
- garlic clove, crushed and chopped
- olive oil
- pinch of salt
- pepper
Directions
- Put the unpeeled potatoes in a large pot. Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover the potatoes and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the potatoes until they are completely tender and easily pierced with a skewer, 30 to 35 minutes.
- Put the spinach leaves in the pan with a half of cup of boiling water, and allow them to boil for about 10 seconds until you see a bright green color. Chill it slightly, then strain the spinach well and just squeeze the leaves to remove as much of the water as you can. Chop blanched spinach finely or blitz using a hand blender. The green coloring is ready.
- Drain, cool slightly, peel and mash potato using potato ricer or sieve. Let cool until almost at room temperature, at least 20 minutes. In the mixing bowl mix together potato, salt, beaten egg and spinach mix.
- Place the potato mix on a work surface covered with flour. Sprinkle potato with 1 cup of flour. Mix with your hands until the flour is moistened and the dough starts to clump together. Add more flour during kneading process if dough too sticky. Knead about few minutes until you get a smooth, supple dough. Use a dough scraper if the dough sticks to the surface. The amount of flour can vary depending on the type of potato, the type of flour and the amount of liquid in the spinach. Add just enough flour to hold gnocchi together but not to make them heavy. Usually, I add 1 – 1 1/2 cups of flour.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece into sausages about 2,5 cm in diameter and cut the sausages into 2 cm chunks. Make the grooves using the fork or gnocchi board (see the video above). Gnocchi with grooves will trap more sauce.
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil (I use 4L pot). Add about 2 Tbsp of salt. Cook the gnocchi in few batches. Throw in the boiling water, stir, then wait for them to rise to the surface. Count slowly to 10, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the skillet with vegetables. Add gnocchi to frying pan and toss to coat in oil. To serve, divide gnocchi and vegetables among bowls, spooning over with pesto sauce. Garnish with basil leaves and enjoy immediately.
- Spring vegetables: Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, add a good splash of olive oil, garlic, asparagus spears and snow peas. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until asparagus and peas are tender. Season with salt and pepper.
- For Pesto. Combine all ingredients for pesto sauce into the blender or food processor and mix well. Add more olive oil depending on how creamy you want it. Store the pesto in a small, covered container in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
