I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of family or friends. My husband and I ate, drank and laughed the night away with our close friends’ family, and it couldn’t have been a nicer way to spend the holiday. We left stuffed, full of stories and with plans for a small New Year’s Eve party, for which I’m already dreaming up a delicious menu.
Now, onto the gnocchi: These thick, soft dumplings are a nice diversion from the heavy, hearty fare which everyone gobbles up (no pun intended) this time of year, but still make for a warm and delicious fall meal.
Gnocchi is most commonly mistaken for a kind of pasta, but in fact, it is a small Italian dumpling, usually made from potatoes or bread crumbs. Homemade bread crumbs share the spotlight here, and they’re both easy and essential to tasty spinach gnocchi.
In this vegetarian recipe, the sauteed spinach in the gnocchi dough is pepped up with a dash of olive oil and topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano for a simple, light and flavorful pairing. You could also serve these gnocchi as a side dish, or as the main course for lunch or dinner. For a different taste, toss them in a meat sauce or with a little butter and sage.
Making gnocchi at home is very easy and requires no special equipment, just your hands. It takes only minutes to prepare them, and you can refrigerate them earlier in the day and then cook once you’re ready.
If your tummy full of turkey is craving something light, fresh and flavorful, look no further than a delicious plate of spinach gnocchi. Give these a try and you’ll impress even yourself!
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Spinach Gnocchi
Yield: Makes about 10 -12 gnocchi
Ingredients:
10 ounces fresh spinach
1/3 cup flour
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
a few grindings of pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese *
1/2 cup freshly grated bread crumbs *
Directions:
Thoroughly wash the fresh spinach and place in a steamer basket. Steam until wilted. Remove and place in clean towels and wring out as much liquid as you can. Chop finely.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Shape the mixture into balls and place on a cookie sheet or any prep pan. The mixture will be very wet. Flour your hands or roll the gnocchi in a little flour to shape them into balls a little smaller than the size of a walnut. At this point, you can put them in the fridge until you are ready to cook them later.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. With a slotted spoon or a handled strainer, place a few gnocchi at a time in the simmering water and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove with the slotted spoon to a serving dish and keep warm by tenting with a piece of foil. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.
You can dress these gnocchi with just some olive oil, sea salt and some more grated cheese. This is my favorite way to eat them.
Enjoy!
* Be sure to use freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese - pre-grated cheese in the grocery store will not work as well.
* Make your own fresh bread crumbs for this. Just take any bread and grind it in your food processor. Fresh bread crumbs! It makes a difference.
Certainly shall try them out! My mouth is watering :)
Oh these bring back such sweet memories. I can recall my mother making these in celebration of my graduating from kindergarten many, many, many years ago. I inhaled them. Thanks for sharing!
What an unique gnocchi recipe! I am totally impressed with your creativity. Yes, I shall give the recipe a try.
Looks yummy!!
Yum! They look and sound amazing.
These look so yummy! I’m going to be trying them this weekend to eat during a marathon study weekend! Thanks for the recipe :)
OMG, I am really drooling. This looks fabulous and easy picking for my toddler. YUM
Hi Georgia-What a gorgeous gnocchi/balls recipe, and photos of it. I couldn’t agree more, by using the best Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. No substitute will do. What a flavorful and yummy spinach and cheese goodness!
So you may be impressed with my croissants but I am totally impressed with your gnocchi! It’s something that I’ve been meaning to try for a while but whenever we plan to do it, we always lose track of time! How bout this.. if you try out the croissants I’ll try the gnocchi :)
Gnocchi is something I’ve always loved, but have never made myself. This spinach version looks lovely! Your photos are gorgeous, as usual. :)
I just had gnocchi for for dinner – yum. I cooked it in a cheesy/spinach/cream sauce… double yum. Looks like we were on the same wave length as far as spinach and gnocchi go.
I love the simplicity of this dish and the fact that it does not use much flour. I will remember to give this a try when I am craving a healthy, Italian dish.
Wow, I just commented on another blog about how I loved gnocchi with the kind of sauce she made (vodka)! I’ve never had spinach gnocchi, but it must be amazing. Didn’t realize how simple they were to make!
I’ve had all kinds of gnocchi, but never like this! These are beautiful. Definitely need to try this!
Hi Georgia!
What a stunning plate! I love eating gnocchi, but I’ve never prepared it myself. This looks like a perfect recipe to try. I think the color is just fabulous, and I’m sure it tastes even better. Thank you for sharing with me. I hope you are having a joy-filled afternoon!
This sounds delicious and your photos are beautiful
http://www.gonnawantseconds.blogspot.com/
I have only tried to make gnocchi once and it was such a time consuming recipe. This one doesn’t look so bad though!
Great idea! I never would have even thought of this.
Gnocci is one of my favorites and I love adding spinach to anything…this is such a winner of a recipe :) It would be awesome for a dinner party on New Years Eve… Now you have me dreaming of fun plans too! Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving :)
Georgia – right back at ya with the photos. These spinach gnocchi are gorgeous, healthy & I bet very tasty. You have inspired me with this recipe :) xo
I have just stumbled across your blog, and I love it! I just scrolled down through a few posts, and I think I’m going to have to spend a little bit of time here :)
I had no idea how easy it is to make gnocchi, and you sure made it look beautiful!
Oh how funny – I’ve always thought of them as pasta, but you are so right! These look AMAZING!!!
this looks really yummy georgia, i love the photos too it’s so pretty.
I made these for dinner tonight, they were really delicious, thanks for the recipe!
Hi Allyson,
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for stopping by and letting me know how they turned out! Happy holidays!
Hi Liz,
Wow, I never thought of doing a creamy sauce for these – That’s a great idea! Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for stopping by, and for your kind comment. If you make the scones, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Have a great day!
Hi Georgia – I was checking out Tastespotting this morning and just had to check out your spinach gnocchi. I have a James McNair cookbook with a recipe for this but served with a creamy gorgonzola sauce. It’s been on my to do list for a while now. I used to have Italian neighbor lady who made gnocchi with just ricotta cheese, flour and eggs. They were so light and fluffy and she claimed you could just keep eating them and never get full, which wasn’t completely true. I think she just liked to see people eat a lot of her wonderful food. And her marinara sauce was simply wonderful.
Your blog is lovely and I also checked out your cheddar bacon scones. I might do those this weekend. –Liz
I love spinach dishes. I’ve never had gnocchi, but it looks great.
Gnocchi, gnocchi, gnocchi (sounds like something from the three stooges). Nicely done. And for a variety of flavors I think a person could make them with some blanched parsley or even cilantro.
I just made these! A bit late to the party, I know. They don’t look half as nice as yours, but I’m a fairly inexperienced cook, and they still tasted great. I served them with a chunky vegetable pasta sauce (kept it veggie!), which seemed to work well with the gnocchi :)