Lunch · Dinner · Italian
Crispy pesto gnocchi with peas
Nobody told gnocchi it could skip the boiling. Crisp outside, soft in the middle.
- Start to finish
- 20 min
- Hands-on
- 15 min
- In the fridge
- 1 day
- Freezes
- Not well
VegetarianContains gluten, dairy, nuts
Ingredients
4 portions- 1kgGnocchi
- 2 tbspOlive oil
- 200gFrozen peas
- 100gBaby spinach
- 190gGreen pesto
- 1Lemon
- 30gItalian-style hard cheese, finely grated
Plus salt, pepper and water.
Method
- 1
Finely grate the cheese and the lemon zest. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in your biggest frying pan over a medium-high heat.
- 2
Add half the gnocchi straight from the packet in a single layer, breaking up any that are stuck together. Leave them alone for 3 minutes, then turn and fry for 3 more, until golden and crisp. Tip onto a plate and repeat with the rest of the oil and gnocchi, or run two pans at once.
- 3
Return all the gnocchi to the pan with the frozen peas and a splash of water. Cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the spinach until it just wilts.
- 4
Take the pan off the heat and stir through the pesto and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Scatter over the cheese and lemon zest.
On the day
Straight from the pan, with extra cheese at the table. It softens as it sits, so it is best tonight; leftovers crisp up again in a hot frying pan.
Cook’s tip
Stir the pesto in off the heat. If it cooks, the basil turns dull and the oil splits out.