Spinach Gnocchi

I had a 10lb bag of russet potatoes I snagged for under two bucks last month and decided to do some pasta tonight for a meatless meal. I read somewhere that its a good break for your digestive system so I've been trying to remember to do it once each week (my husband is a steak and potatoes guy so sometimes he's not trying to hear that).

Gnocchi is a potato pasta. If you've ever had potato bread, you know that it has a very light, airy, and fluffy texture. It is absolutely divine. If ever in doubt, potato out. Anyway, gnocchi has a similar light and fluffy texture. You can do a simple gnocchi but in the spirit of trying to get through my frozen stockpile I decided to use some frozen spinach.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 - 3lbs potatoes (red, good, russet, it's all good)

1/2 TBSP olive oil

Salt

9oz frozen (or fresh) spinach, thawed

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg yolk (I used leftover egg I had from making baguettes, using whites doesn't matter, it's just the moisture content that requires yolk only)

5 TBSP flour

Heat oven to 400. Thoroughly scrub and dry potatoes. Pierce with fork. Rub with olive oil and generously salt. Bake 45 minutes to an hour until fork tender. Remove & let cool.

Drizzle olive oil in a pan on medium low and sautée onion until translucent (6-8 minutes). Add garlic and sautée an additional 1-2 minutes until your kitchen smells like garlic. Add spinach and sautée unit wilted (if your spinach is frozen, sautée it until slightly warmed through).

Put spinach in a mesh strainer and use the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Put in blender with yolk and pulse until almost smooth.

Cut each potato in half and scoop out the meat. Discard skins. Add flour and mash together with a potato masher or back of a fork (you can also do this in a mixer with the paddle attachment). Create a well and add half of your spinach mixture. Mix together and add the other half. If your dough is too tacky add additional flour, half a tablespoon at a time.

Divide the dough in fourths and roll out each fourth about 1/2 inch thick on a well-floured surface. Use your finger and make indents down the snake about an inch apart. Then cut them to form small pillows with the indents in the center. Put each pillow onto a lightly floured cutting board or cookie sheet. 

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add one snake of gnocchi to the pot and boil until they float to the top (1-2 minutes tops). Remove gnocchi and top with sauce. If you want a slight crunch, heat a sautée pan with a bit of olive oil and add gnocchi after boiled and sautée a couple of minutes then serve with sauce.

Quick basil Alfredo/pesto Alfredo

4 TBSP of chopped basil (or 4 TBSP of pesto)

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Bring whipping cream to a bubble, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and immediately stir in Parmesan cheese and basil/pesto.

I used frozen basil/olive oil from my windowsill garden. I simply put them in a covered saucepan on low until they melted, added in a jar of Alfredo, added a bit of Parmesan. Removed from heat and added clove of fresh minced garlic. Topped with chopped walnuts and Parmesan when I served it so it had the flavors of pesto and the walnuts added a great crunch, which is needed with such a soft dish.

If you have any leftover dough (I used about half) finish making the gnocchi & simply freeze it on a baking sheet, then store it in a freezer bag. Same cooking process, just add them in frozen & boil until they float to the top!