Gnocchi Pomodoro Panna Pesto

This is a copycat recipe of a fabulous gnocchi dish I got in a restaurant.

As I tasted this delish, I knew that in some way I would bring this to my family. Yes, the decision was right and it was a pleasure to see how much these gnocchi were appreciated.

• Servings: 4
• Time: 30mins if with ready made ingredients
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Gnocchi

• Gnocchi according to my recipe (https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/gnocchi-di-patate-italian-potatoes-dumplings/) or store bough. About 125-150 g per person.

Tomato and Cream Sauce

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (pelati are great as well) or passata)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

Pesto (alternative store bough), you will need only a few teaspoons of pesto

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 garlic clove chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt

Additional

• Grilled vegetables, I used zucchini (optional)
• Cream of balsamic vinegar
• Parmesan cheese, thinly sliced, quantity to taste
• Herbs for decoration (optional)

Procedure

1. Prepare the gnocchi according to the recipe, but wail for cooking them
2. For the sauce: fry onions in olive oil until tender, add tomatoes, cream and blend shortly. Adjust to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
3. For the pesto: blend together the ingredients.
4. Check you have the additional ingredients ready. I grilled the zucchini and arranged them on dishes and kept warm in the oven (80°C) until the gnocchi were done.
5. Boil the gnocchi, when they come to the surface they are ready.
6. Drain gnocchi and place them in a bowl. Add as mucho tomatoes sauce as you like and toss well.  You do not need to use all the quantity of tomatoes sauce, only to your taste.
7. Arrange the gnocchi on the plates drop 2-4 teaspoon of pesto around, drizzle some cream of balsamic vinegar, add some slices of parmesan cheese and decorate with herbs
8. Serve immediately still hot.

Author: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Avocado, Wild Garlic and Pistachio Pesto

I remember the first time I tried avocado: a shop assistant of a supermarket welcomed the clients with a tray full of pieces of beautiful green plain avocado prepared with toothpicks. Well, I did not find them really tasty and texture not really “special”.

Only a few years later, while travelling, I discovered how good avocados are transformed into guacamole and other sauces.

For this recipe I decided to blend together green ingredients and create a new pesto and try to take an almost monochromatic photo without forgetting the main purpose of the recipe: good food!

The main green ingredients are avocado, wild garlic and pistachio, but in this recipe we have more green ones because I also added olive oil, green chili, green peppercorns and lime zest.

I allowed only two exceptions, two white ingredients which don’t affect the color, but will enhance it by the taste, structure and make this sauce even more delectable: salt and Parmesan cheese.

Note:

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum, Bear’s garlic, or Bärlauch in German) is a wonderful chive cousin and is a very popular European species of garlic. Wild garlic pesto can be used as alternative to basil pesto as addition to pasta, tomato sauces and much more. Pick up the leaves before it had bloomed as apparently the leaves get really bitter after that point. Wild garlic can be confused with Lily of the Valley, autumn crocus and arum which are poisonous. If you have any doubt about your plant, do not eat it. The easiest way to tell if you have wild garlic or not is just to pick a small bit of leaf and rub it between your fingers. In the USA, ramp (Allium tricoccum), a wild plant with more onion-like flavor, is used for similar purposes.

If you don’t have wild garlic, use garlic chives or green garlic leaves, I would add few basil leaves as well; it’s not the same but a variation!

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 45 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Pesto:

• 1 avocados (quantity depends on the size)
• 40 wild garlic leaves, cut with scissors into 1-2 cm pieces
• 1 green chili, seeded and chopped (or quantity to taste)
• 1 teaspoon preserved green peppercorns (in brine)
• 1/2 lime zest
• 1/2 lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil, to taste

Pasta

• 400-500 g pasta, your favorite, cooked al dente

Topping to serve

• 4 tablespoons pistachio, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• Parmesan cheese, grated to taste
• Lime slices as desired

Preparation

1. Combine all the ingredients for the pesto in a food processor and pulse until smooth and almost creamy. If necessary add little olive oil.
2. Cook your favorite pasta in hot salted water, staring add little olive oil and place in a big bowls.
3. Immediately add pesto, stir until well combined.
4. To serve top with pistachios, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle some fresh grated Parmesan.
5. Serve with lime slices if desired.

Pesto con Pomodori Secchi – Pesto with Dried Tomatoes

The summer is over and the first frost is approaching. Perhaps you still have basil that needs to be processed before it’s too late.

In this post I would like to share and keep for save the recipe and the souvenir form the wonderful pesto prepared with a lot of love and passion.

My friend used the Thermomix, but other food processor would be a great help if you have a lot of basil to process. If you don’t have a food processor you can use the hand blender. The traditional way would be the mortar.

You need:

• 80 g basil, fresh
• 30g pecorino cheese, diced (alternative: Parmesan cheese or ricotta!)
• 50g Parmesan cheese, diced
• 30g pine nuts
• 1 garlic cloves
• 30 g dried tomatoes, chopped (quantity to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 120 ml olive oil

Procedure:

Food processor method:

Process basil, both cheese kinds, pine nuts, garlic and tomatoes until the paste reaches the texture you wish, add salt and olive oil.

Hand blender method:

Process first olive oil with garlic, salt and pine nuts, than add in portions the basil. At this point add finely chopped tomatoes and process again. The pesto is ready you have only to add the grated cheese.