Discovering I could pan fry gnocchi instead of just boiling them was a revelation. It does wonders for the texture to have a bit of crisp contrast to the pillowy inside. It goes well with a creamy sauce and some greens to cut through the richness of the dish.
- 1 lb gnocchi
- 6 oz baby spinach (or peas also work well in this recipe)
- ½ oz parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 3 oz mascarpone cheese
- ½ tsp garlic, finely minced
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Whisk together mascarpone, ¼ cup water, lemon juice (include a little zest too if you want to boost the lemon flavor), garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Gently break apart any gnocchi that are stuck together, then add the gnocchi to the skillet in an even layer. Cook, without stirring, until browned and crisp on the bottom, 4-5 minutes.
Add spinach in 2 or 3 large handfuls, stirring after each addition.* Once all the spinach is in and just barely wilted, reduce heat to medium low and stir in the mascarpone sauce and most of the grated parmesan. Simmer 1-2 min, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. Season to taste. Serve with the rest of the parmesan on top.
*If you swap out the spinach for peas, add the peas and sauce together and let them simmer for a couple minutes until the peas are cooked.
It’s worth noting that this recipe doesn’t seem to make for the best leftovers, so I’d suggest only making enough to eat in one sitting. We’re big pasta eaters, so 1 lb of gnocchi is one sitting between the two of us.
Pasta variants
Could you do this with homemade gnocchi? Of course, but in my experience, gnocchi is tricky to get just right, and what you buy in a store is probably going to be better. Really good homemade gnocchi > store-bought gnocchi > mediocre homemade gnocchi. That said, it can also be fun to try. All you need is starchy potatoes like russets, flour, salt, maybe egg yolk, maybe olive oil. The biggest tip, and where I’ve probably gone wrong in the past, is you really want to eliminate moisture from the potato. If you want to try, The Curious Chickpea has a pretty good guide that I would follow if I try again. However, it does go against the advice I’ve found elsewhere to rice your potatoes immediately after baking to really help the steam escape. But handling hot potatoes sucks.
This recipe also applies well to tortellini/tortelloni, which is also very good pan fried. Just make sure you’re using fresh tortelloni and not dried. The method is slightly different because they take a little water to cook properly. Heat the oil, add tortelloni and cook without stirring until golden brown on the bottom, 2-3 minutes. Add ½ cup water and cover. Cook about 4-5 minutes until tender. Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates and tortelloni is crisp, 1-2 minutes more. Then continue with your spinach and sauce as above.
Oh, and I meant to say – buy the kind of gnocchi that comes refrigerated. The quality is better than stuff that comes frozen or room temperature (dried? Well I don’t think the boxed room temperature stuff is fully dried – it’s not brittle like boxed pasta – but they do something to help it keep at room temp and it doesn’t help the texture).
Gnocchi is definitely food I can eat.
And gnocchi is one of the easiest pastas to make from scratch. There’s a little trick you can do with your thumb at the end to give them even better mouth feel. It’s the same move you do when making cavatelli, which is also food I can eat.
My mouth is watering like crazy just reading this.
Mmmm – lovely!
Excellent. Thank you for posting.
I thought later to add: pan-frying the gnocchi is not something I’ve done or had at any restaurant do, and yet it seems like a simple, why-the-hell-not kind of deal. Looking forward to trying this!
Gnocchi is one of my favorite foods, I never knew they could be pan fried! I like peas too. I will make this.