Eat N- Roasted Beet Gnocchi with Almond Pesto

My Mom was generous enough to give me several large beets from her garden the other day. I was anxious to use them in a creative way, and came across this recipe whilst perusing my cookbooks. More from the Accidental Vegetarian by Simon Rimmer hides this colorful, flavorful gem on page 64 under the category "large platefuls." I really enjoyed making (and eating!) this recipe. It's fairly simple to put together. The most time consuming element of the recipe by far was waiting for the beets to roast all the way. Some many consider this recipe messy, but I consider anything best mixed using your hands to be a lot of fun! Everything in the recipe is measured using the metric system, so I guesstimated close enough calculations based on the ingredients that I had on hand. Here's my approximation and paraphrased version of the recipe:

Gnocchi
2 large potatoes cut into chunks
8 med/large beets
1 egg
salt & pepper
2 1/4 cups flour
olive oil

Pesto
handful of fresh basil
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup almonds
1 garlic clove
a few shakes of parmesan cheese
2/3 cup olive oil

First, set the beets on a baking sheet in  a 400 degree oven. They will take a very long time to roast if they are large- probably 30-60 minutes. You want to roast them until you can pierce them easily with a fork. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in salted boiling water for 20 minutes. Drain and cool thoroughly. When the beets are ready, rinse them thoroughly with cold water and their peelings should easily slide off. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and beets together in a large bowl.

You easily have time to mix together the pesto while you're waiting for the beets and potatoes to cook and cool. For the pesto, use a food processor to mix everything except the olive oil. When combined, drizzle the oil down the processor's feed tube with the motor running to make a loose paste. Stick in the fridge.

Beat in the egg, salt and pepper. Add the flour and mix to form a dough. On a floured surface, divide the dough into smaller, manageable pieces and roll each out pretty thin. Cut off 1 in pieces of the dough.

Drop the gnocchi into a large pan of boiling water. When they rise to the top, scoop them out- they're done. They cook very quickly so it should be only a couple minutes for this step. Drain, toss with a little olive oil, your delicious homemade pesto, more parmesan cheese and a few basil leaves for garnish.



This was an absolutely delicious amazing recipe. It's a relatively healthy, creative take on a pasta dish, incredibly fresh and vibrant, and tastes like little potato pillows melting in your mouth. I would definitely love to try this dish again, and would absolutely recommend trying it to anyone.