Extreme Green Dinner: part 2. Quick tip: buy pre-packaged or frozen gnocchi. You’ll save a TON of time, as gnocchi are really hard to make and even harder to make well. We get ours at Trader Joe’s. Mmmm!
Gnocchi with Spring Herb Pesto
Recipe from Emeril. We didn’t put arugula in the pesto, I’m not a big fan of it. But, it might have actually been pretty good! This recipe makes ALOT of pesto – I did about half this recipe and no arugula and there was plenty of sauce. Unless of course, you like a lot of sauce… then go for it!
Makes 4-6 servings.
Ingredients
4 cups baby arugula
4 cups basil leaves
1 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
Salt and pepper
1 pound fresh gnocchiDirections
In the bowl of a food processor, combine arugula, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, and garlic. With the motor running, add 1 cup olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.In a large pot of boiling salted water, add gnocchi. Cook until they rise to the surface, just a few minutes for fresh pasta. Drain well, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
In a large pan or bowl, combine pesto with remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and reserved pasta water. Pesto should become a sauce-like consistency. Add gnocchi and toss to combine. Serve, garnished with extra cheese.
We make this with a ton of Basil when it is in season and no other leaf. No rucola, no parsley.
The rest of your recipe is similar, except that we add olive oil until we have a paste which pours off the spoon. We don’t add Gnocchi water to cook the sauce. We usually serve cold over hot pasta and the pasta warms the sauce before eating.
The sauce can easily be kept in the fridge for a month and retains its vivid green colour…yum!
Well we made it without the arugula completely and it was still darn good! Though maybe a milder lettuce or even spinach or another fresh herb (cilantro maybe?) could be good.
That looks SO good. I wonder what I could substitute for arugula. Not a fan of it. This would be a good dish to make this summer when I grow my own basil!