Foolproof homemade potato gnocchi tossed with fresh summer vegetables and a lighter cream sauce.

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Acid flashbacks vs. gnocchi flashbacks.

(Not that I know anything about the former other than what can be found on Wikipedia. But we all know that’s the gospel truth. So.)

Let’s compare.

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Whereas acid flashbacks have no plausible biochemical explanation given the relatively short half life of lysergic acid diethylamide in the blood, I can pinpoint the exact date and time at which gnocchi-making became imprinted in my mind as something to be dreaded, feared, and certainly not to be attempted lest you have at least eight hours of your life to devote to it, none of which you will ever get back.

Not to mention that while acid flashbacks can contain both positive and negative elements, my gnocchi memories are kind of like one of those repeating dreams where you find yourself naked in front of everyone you know, except in this one you are naked and they’re pelting dense potato rocks at you that you’ve spent all day toiling over.

And now you understand why it has taken me five years to even attempt to think about making these again.

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I probably wouldn’t ever have done it, except that The.Boy chose this recipe from my pinterest board as his recipe of the week, and I refuse to let him think even for a second that there’s anything in this world I can’t make.

That, and I love a good challenge.

I’m not sure whether it was Heidi’s recipeย or the fact that I am now an older, wiser, more experienced cook, but this whole meal came together in an hour and it was absolutely delicious. The gnocchi were pretty much balls of fluff that were just a hint smoky from the smoked paprika that I had folded into them, a flavor that paired perfectly with the cream sauce and crisp summer vegetable accompaniment.

So while I can’t say for sure that I’ll never have another mildly traumatic gnocchi naked dream again, I am fairly certain that they’ll be interspersed with daydreams about this dinner and all of the potato pasta meals that are to come.

A gnocchi for every season? Hey, a girl can hallucinateย flashback dream, can’t she.

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Summer Vegetable Gnocchi
 
Foolproof homemade potato gnocchi tossed with fresh summer vegetables and a lighter cream sauce.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 1½ lb Russet potatoes
  • 1½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 egg yolks, beaten
  • ¾ cup flour
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
For the sauce
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 leek, white parts only, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium zucchini, quartered and chopped
  • 1 lb sugar snap peas, coarsley chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups half and half
  • ¼ cup parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • ¼ cup basil, thinly sliced
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400. Scrub the potatoes and poke all over with a fork. Place on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until fork tender. Slice in half lengthwise and let cool.
  2. Scoop out the potato flesh with a spoon and press through a potato ricer. Measure out three cups of the potatoes onto a work surface. Sprinkle with salt, smoked paprika and drizzle the egg yolks over them. Dust with ½ cup flour. Use a bench scraper to gently fold the flour and yolks into the potatoes.
  3. Dust the dough with the remaining ¼ cup flour and parmesan cheese. Again, use the bench scraper to fold the flour and cheese into the dough. Press into a ball and then fold and knead it with your hands for two turns.
  4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. Break the dough into eighths and then roll each into a ¾ inch wide rope. Cut into 1-inch pieces with a knife and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Place baking sheet in the fridge until ready to use.
  5. For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the leeks and zucchini cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the sugar snap peas and garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until snap peas become a bit tender, but still crisp. Add the half and half. Cook for 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced by half. Mix in parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another minute so that parmesan cheese can melt and everything is heated through.
  6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi to the pot and cook just until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer them to the skillet with the sauce. Add the basil to the skillet and fold in. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Notes
Adapted from Foodiecrush
Nutrition Information
Serving size: ¼ of recipe

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67 Responses to Summer Vegetable Gnocchi

  1. I’ve never attempted gnocchi but I do want to give it a try soon. It looks lovely with the summer veg.

  2. Yum – these gnocchi look super yummy! I love all the fresh veggies on top of them as well. I love homemade gnocchi – so delicious and I’m glad these ones turned out to be a better experience for you!

  3. Simply Life says:

    Ugh- gnocchi is one of my favorite foods! I want this for dinner tonight!

  4. Just watching someone on Top Chef try to make gnocchi has been enough to give me nightmares, but these actually look pretty doable (plus delicious!)

  5. Ha! I haven’t tried gnocchi in a few years. I remember it being quite a production, but maybe that’s because I used a recipe from The French Laundry cookbook. :-/ I think it’s time to give it a go, because that plate looks scrumptious!

  6. Beth says:

    Congratulations! Gnocchi is a tough challenge – although, like the.boy, I think you can make anything.

  7. Tahnycooks says:

    This dish looks yummy! I’m glad you gave gnocchi another try!

  8. Oh yum!! I’ve made gnocchi a few times and always how surprise at how easy they are – these look delish ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Monica says:

    I think it’s safe to say you’ve mastered the gnocchi challenge now, Joanne. Looks delicious and I’m sure it was.

  10. Megan says:

    I have gnocchi-making nightmares. I finally got some pumpkin ones to come out OK but I’ve yet to reattempt regular ones. Yours look awesome! I love how you’ve paired them with all these summer veggies.

  11. We both have gnocchi on the brain wayyyyy too much. I make ricotta gnocchi at least once a week. It’s my go-to, no-fail recipe. I’ve been craving potato gnocchi, though.

    With summer veggies? Win! ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. This looks and sounds delectable!
    Glad to have stumbled on your blog today – love your “vegetable and cupcake laden approach to life” – thats definitely how I see it too ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. I’ve never made gnocchi, but reading through your recipe makes it sound fairly do-able! I would kill for this as my dinner tonight! ๐Ÿ™‚

  14. I love that you had an opportunity to clearly successfully complete the gnocchi challenge. They look delightful.

  15. WOW this looks AMAZING! Gnocchi with summer veggies- sign me up!

  16. Margaret says:

    OH! THAT dream…..

    Love making gnocchi. So much fun. I will have to try it with summer veggies.

  17. Homemade gnocchi is the best! These toppings sound killer, too — going to try this soonest!

  18. i made gnocchi long time ago and was pleasantly surprised how easily it came together. I need to use some some summer veggies this way ๐Ÿ™‚

  19. Sam says:

    My one attempt at gnocchi didn’t turn out great, but they weren’t terrible. My Italian Grandmother’s gnocchi were like rocks, so I just sort of assumed my family was missing the gnocchi gene, but I’ll have to give it another go!

  20. I looove gnocchi, but it is SO heavy that it’s hard for me to eat it–like with pizza. But, here you have done what I typically do to stomach pizza: filled it to the brim with veggies! I LOVE IT!

  21. This sounds amazing! Love that you paired gnocchi with a summer veggie sauce!

  22. This looks delicious! Gnocchi is on my cooking bucket list, but I am still in the terrified stage.

  23. Homemade Gnocchi is great , and I made it only once – years ago, and it was a lot of work. But I have to tell you nothing beats homemade!
    Hey girl, your toppings look delicious on these.

  24. I think you are secretly a gnocchi-making expert because this dish looks just as good as any restaurant gnocchi I’ve had. I’ve made sweet potato gnocchi before and it was delicious but a lot of work. Worth it though. The paprika in this recipe is really intriguing. I have to try this!

  25. Pam says:

    I’ve never attempted gnocchi because, I’ll be honest, I am scared. I think I will need to face my fears because this recipe looks excellent! I am certain making this gnocchi would be much nicer experience for me than a bad acid flashback.

  26. Nice job!! I have yet to tackle gnocchi on my own – thanks for the inspiration!

  27. SallyBR says:

    Beautiful job, loved the way you took gnocchi in a completely different direction, I am a boring gnocchi maker, always some tomato sauce, or at most a little brown butter (when I’m in a daring mood)

  28. Kate says:

    You are so brave! And your gnocchi are beautiful.

  29. Kathryn says:

    I love making gnocchi at home and this version with all those lovely summer vegetables sounds just perfect!

  30. Katerina says:

    Perfect summer dish my friend and of course there is nothing you cannot do!

  31. Joanne says:

    This looks amazing, Joanne. I still haven’t tried my hand at gnocchi. (LOVE the site redesign btw!)

  32. Ashley says:

    This looks wonderful! I’ve made gnocchi a few times and it always takes foreeeever, but it’s so worth it. I’m going to have to give this version a try!

  33. I have not made homemade gnocchi in awhile. This might be a good reason to fix that problem ๐Ÿ˜‰

  34. I…have total gnocchi flashbacks too! Allllllll fear-based. One time I made gnocchi and they all fell apart in the water and turned into soup! That was the worst. But this gives me faith that I can do it!

  35. I definitely don’t make gnocchi enough…as in, haven’t in two years…but I LOVE it! Love the sauce, the vegetables, and everything about this! Love, love, love!

  36. I’ve never made homemade gnocchi and I need to soon. I love the fresh vegetables in this recipe and the sauce looks amazing!!

  37. We just made gnocchi last night!! Wish I’d seen this before…lovely!!

  38. Karen says:

    Gnocchi is on my to-make list. This dish looks great for summer.

  39. Suzie says:

    Sounds great Joanne! I love that the boy is picking recipes off of Pinterest. Maybe I should have my hubs take a look at my boards ๐Ÿ™‚

  40. Emma says:

    I can totally relate to the gnocchi fears! I tried a vegan version once which were a complete bust…they disintegrated into the water on cooking….:( I’ll try again some time though. Yours look like the turned out excellently though. The light veggie sauce looks like a great pairing too.

  41. Kelster says:

    I tried gnocchi once and it didn’t work. I might try this recipe.

  42. I have never had gnocchi before, I think because it sounded really intimidating. Maybe I should give it a whirl.

  43. Leeks with pasta is the perfect combination. Your gnocchi looks fantastic, too.

  44. Light Gnocchi are magical (and rare!) – these look great!

  45. Hotly Spiced says:

    This is amazing – I’ve had the exact type of shocking experience making my own gnocchi. Hard, rubbery, tasteless little balls that wrecked my kitchen then I made a sugo that I thought would be ready in five minutes but didn’t read the recipe that in fine print mentioned a two-hour simmering process. I had planned on making this for my husband’s birthday but by the time I got this to the table the clock had pretty much turned over to the next day. But…tonight I’m off to a gnocchi course with an incredibly talented Tuscan chef. I’m hoping he’s going to get the kinks out of my gnocchi skills. I’ll be sure to post the results! xx

  46. I really shouldn’t look at your blog when I’m hungry. It turns thoughts like “that looks totally delicious!” into thoughts like, “I need to eat that right now and will break into the grocery store to get the ingredients.”

  47. Eileen says:

    I’ve certainly had a gnocchi failure or two myself–but they’re so good that I keep trying! Combining the gnocchi with light summer veg sounds like a perfect plan.

  48. ramblingtart says:

    I’m chuckling to myself because my first gnocchi attempt was a disaster too! Soggy little blechy things. ๐Ÿ™‚ Yours look so much better. ๐Ÿ™‚

  49. Juliana says:

    Joanne, I love the new look of you blog…looks really pretty!
    I have not made gnocchi for a while…and you just reminded my how “complicated” it can be ๐Ÿ™‚
    Yours look great, perfect texture and great flavors….awesome.
    Hope you are having a wonderful week my dear ๐Ÿ˜€

  50. Tandy says:

    My one bug bear as well. Thanks for sharing! PS, your settings don’t seem to be tablet friendly.

  51. I love gnocchi, I love veggies, I pretty much love everything about this recipe! yum!!!

  52. You have changed your blog right? It looks so much better! I love it ๐Ÿ™‚ I have not made gnocchi in for ever and a summer version sounds delish. I shall keep the recipe to make soon!

  53. I have never even attempted gnocci – and what is more, it has never occurred to me to do so! I am really impressed ๐Ÿ™‚

  54. Your gnocchi looks super duper delicious, Joanne.

  55. cquek says:

    these gnocchi looks delicious

  56. Trisha says:

    I’ve always had similar feelings about gnocchi, but these pictures may just help me overcome my fears….

  57. Shannon says:

    foolproof gnocchi?? i must try!! my first attempt didn’t turn out so hot, either…

  58. Gnocchi’s generally pretty heavy, but I love how light and summery you’ve prepared it! Lovely summer rendition. I’ve always meant to try making it, but somehow never get around to it… this must change soon.

  59. christina says:

    Hello perfect summer meal ๐Ÿ™‚ my grandmother is 100% Italian and makes gnocchi all the time. About time I start too.

  60. Oh yum! This sounds wonderful. Love the veggies and the light cream here….. I can go for a big bowl of this. Delicious!

  61. Pamela Reed says:

    I have been looking for a good gnocchi recipe and this hits all the right places! I can’t wait, thank you!

  62. Joanne, The gnocchi looks amazing!

    (You are SO good at food photos!)

    Loretta

  63. I might opt for storebought gnocchi and proceed with the rest of the recipe, because it’s summer and I’m lazy and I want to eat this! ๐Ÿ™‚

  64. Christine says:

    I tried potato gnocchi ages ago and haven’t set foot there again. Usually I go with the ricotta version, gnudi and have great success. I may have to venture back to the spud and try your version! ๐Ÿ™‚

  65. Nutmeg Nanny says:

    Oh wow, I am loving this dish ๐Ÿ™‚ looks so incredible!

  66. Nessa says:

    Oh my, does this look good!

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