Pan-fried gnocchi & kale

August 17, 2015

I bought a bag of Maria's gnocchi on a whim last time we were at Piedemonte's without any plans for it at all. Our blog archives and my link list held a few recipes, but none of them really grabbed me. I had better luck browsing 101 Cookbooks, where Michael zeroed in on a recipe for pan-fried corona beans and kale containing a small note that Swanson was "confident you could do this preparation with gnocchi... in place of beans".

We bought a small bunch of kale on Monday night and went with it. This is a single pan saute of lightly browned (not boiled!) gnocchi and shredded kale layered with the piquant flavours of walnuts, garlic, lemon and parmesan. It's winter comfort food that's assembled with little fuss, exactly what I needed at the end of an unusually long workday.

Pan-fried gnocchi & kale
(slightly adapted from a recipe at 101 Cookbooks)

small bunch of kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
500g bag frozen potato gnocchi, just barely thawed
1/3 cup walnuts
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt

Wash the kale, slice off the stems and roughly chop the leaves.

Set a large frying pan over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. When it's hot, add the gnocchi and spread them out evenly across the pan. Give them a couple of still minutes to brown on one side, then toss them to brown on a second side. After a further minute or two, add the kale and a shake of salt, and tossing them through the gnocchi. 

Give the kale a minute or two to wilt, then stir in the walnuts, garlic and nutmeg. Pour in the lemon juice and sprinkle over the zest. When the lemon juice has mostly evaporated, turn off the heat. Serve the gnocchi in bowls and grate the parmesan over the top.