We Shapiro’s love some gnocchi. Making homemade gnocchi is fun and easy, but messy and kind of time consuming. Definitely not anything I want to tackle on a Friday dinner & movie night. Store bought vacuum packed gnocchi to the rescue!
I found this recipe several years ago on Epicurious.com. I made the recipe as written the first time, but took several (tasty) shortcuts the next time. Assuming you put the water on to boil for cooking the gnocchi before you start anything else, this dish is ready to serve in less than 20 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and a green salad (or not).
Lemon Gnocchi with Spinach & Peas (recipe modified below)
1 cup frozen baby peas (not thawed)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach (not thawed)
1 jar roasted garlic Alfredo sauce (I use Classico)
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 pound dried gnocchi (preferably De Cecco)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Simmer peas with Alfredo sauce in a 12-inch heavy skillet until the peas are tender, about 5 minutes. Add spinach and cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring, until heated. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice.
Meanwhile, cook gnocchi in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente, approximately 2 minutes. Drain gnocchi.
Add gnocchi and 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese to Alfredo sauce mixture and stir gnocchi to coat. Serve and sprinkle each plate with remaining cheese.
Enjoy with Airplane! (1980) and a couple of glasses of Rosé.
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