- Hey, guys, I'm back this week with another
real time recipe for you.
This one is going out to Feline Overload.
You left me a comment a couple of weeks ago
wanting to know a different way to make gnocchi.
Sounds like you're in a bit of a rut making it the same way
week after week and I'm gonna show you
a new way to try it.
I really love this recipe because it's quick, it's easy,
it's inexpensive and again it comes together in 15 minutes
or less, starting now.
First thing we're gonna do is get our water boiling.
Now when you're boiling water and you wanna save time,
two tricks for ya.
One, start with water that's already hot.
I know that sounds like common sense,
but you'd be surprised.
If you start with water that's already hot,
it's gonna get boiling a lot quicker.
Then, we're gonna add a little bit of salt.
That is a great way to get your pasta
to be nicely flavored.
The other tip for ya is to put a lid on your pot.
That's gonna help that water boil up a lot quicker
than if you don't have a lid.
Okay, so while that's boiling, we're gonna get
over here and prep our vegetables.
So, this dish has three of my most favorite vegetables.
They are all the Italian, heat loving vegetables.
They all grow in the same area of my garden.
There is that expression what grows together, goes together.
So, that's a good thing to remember.
The other tip when sauteeing vegetables
is you always want to start with the one
that's gonna take the longest.
For us here, we've got a red pepper, a zucchini
and some tomatoes.
The one that's going to take the longest
is the red pepper.
I'm gonna show you how to cut a red pepper
that's really easy.
What you're gonna do first is lob off each side.
The seeds' going.
Then just clean out any of the seeds and shake 'em out.
Sometimes you find little things in the pepper.
Yeah, you don't want that. (laughs)
Okay, and then, just cut the bottom off...
And the top.
You're gonna use all these good bits of the pepper,
you don't wanna waste that.
Then, what you're left with is the core and top.
Easiest way to cut a pepper.
Okay.
Another trick when trying to cut things
and keep it quick is you want to dice them.
Vegetables will just cook quicker if they're smaller.
We're going to cut these into a nice dice. Just like that.
Cut them up.
Now this recipe will feed three people comfortably
because there are a lot of vegetables in it.
The more vegetable you have, the more filler you have
and the more that everybody feels full.
Also, gnocchi is extremely filling.
It's delicious but it can be a bit heavy,
so it is good to cut it a bit with some vegetables.
Okay.
There we go.
Then we're just gona give that a quick dice.
I also love this recipe because it reminds me
of when I had my first apartment.
I had moved in with my sister.
My sister and I are 13 months apart,
so they call us Irish twins because we look a lot alike
and we act a lot alike.
Especially just 13 months apart.
We had no money and we were always looking
for something that was quick and filling
and we would always go for the gnocchi pesto.
This recipe brings back a lot of memories for me.
Okay, so we're just gonna give that a dice.
Then, we wanna get that going because we want
the peppers to be cooking while we're prepping
the rest of the vegetables.
You're gonna add a little bit of olive oil.
You're gonna get that going.
And you're gonna add your peppers.
Don't you love our new camera angle?
We now have the cook top, so you can see much better
and that is all thanks to all of you guys that left me
all the comments the last time saying
you couldn't see in the pot.
I felt so bad, I wanted to make sure you could see.
Now we are going to cut our zucchini.
The zucchini is the second firmest vegetable that we have.
That's why we want to cut that next
because that also needs a little more time to cook
than the tomato.
Here is my favorite way to cut a zucchini.
You're going to lob off the stem
and a little bit of the end.
Then, you're gonna cut it in half.
Then, cut that part in half.
Then, you wanna put the flat side down.
It's always easier to cut something when it's stable.
You just wanna stabilize it like that.
Then, we're going to cut little match sticks.
Then, that will allow us to cut a nice dice.
This is what we want because a nice dice is gonna
cook a lot quicker than a big chop, okay?
So, off we go.
You can hear our peppers sizzling away.
All right.
There, see, with this recipe there is a lot of multi-tasking
going on, so you gotta keep your eyes on your peppers.
That's okay.
At this point, you want to check our water.
See, once it starts to steam and bubble,
that's good enough for the gnocchi.
The gnocchi, unlike other pasta, cooks very, very quickly.
That's way I love it especially for a week night meal.
It's not like a pasta where you really want
rapid, boiling water.
Just a nice, little simmer will do the trick.
Then, we're just going to pour it in there.
Making sure I don't burn myself.
So, we're gonna put the lid on
and we're gonna let that cook.
The zucchini now are going to go in.
Beautiful vegetables.
There we go.
Then, we're going to add a little pepper.
And a little bit of salt.
Now while that's cooking, we're going to get
on chopping the tomatoes.
The thing with tomatoes that you really need to know
is you don't want to put them in the refrigerator.
Tomatoes hate to be refrigerated.
It just really ruins their texture.
When you go to the store and you buy a tomato,
the best thing to do is to keep it on your counter
or your windowsill to ripen
or if you get these little cherry tomatoes,
I really recommend keeping them in these little
baskets, so you can kinda see.
That way they're well ventilated, so you're not gonna
get any moldy tomatoes.
They'll ripen as they sit out.
They're just gonna be so much better
than if you pop them in the fridge.
Just a little tip for ya.
All right.
Now if you're looking at all of this and you think,
well that looks perfectly lovely, but I don't have time
to cut all these vegetables.
I totally get it and there are nights where I don't have
time to cut up vegetables either, so what I will do
is I will make this recipe with just the tomatoes.
It's really good even with just the tomatoes.
They're quick, they're easy and sometimes
I don't even cut them, I'll just throw them in whole.
If you're really pressed for time,
you have my permission, you can do that.
All right.
We're done with our tomatoes.
We are going to throw those in the pot.
All right.
Now we have all of our vegetables.
Looking beautiful, okay.
Okay, now it's time to add the pesto.
I love homemade pesto, it is great, but really,
store bought is perfectly fine.
Especially if you buy it in a jar, you can keep it
in your pantry and it's always good to go.
But I will say this, if you open it,
you do have to refrigerate it.
I usually will do two to three good
tablespoons of pesto.
But I really love pesto.
But you could just do one.
The idea really is just to coat the vegetables.
Pesto, because there is cheese in it, will kind of
burn if the flame is too hot.
You want to keep it low.
If you wanted to make this vegan, you could
by just using a pesto that doesn't have cheese in it.
The best way to do that is to make your own.
You could just take some fresh basil, whirl it up
in a food processor with about a clove of garlic
and some pinenuts and then slowly add
some olive oil.
That will then create a beautiful pesto that has
no cheese in it.
If you're vegan and you don't eat cheese,
you could still enjoy this dish.
Okay, so that is that.
Then, the final step is just to add a clove of garlic.
I'm a big fan of the garlic press.
It makes mincing garlic so much easier and quicker.
See how quick that is?
Which is great for weeknight meal when you don't
have a lot of time for chopping.
Okay, now we are going to check on our gnocchi
which is perfectly done.
See how that timed out so well?
By the time you cut up all your vegetables
and they're done, the gnocchi is done.
All the more reason to start with the gnocchi
and multi-task.
That's the secret to a quick weeknight meal.
Another tip that I love about this is this is one
of my favorite kitchen tools.
It is a spider strainer.
You can get them at a kitchen store for a few dollars.
Watch this, we're not even going to use a colander.
You don't even have to.
You're just gonna let the gnocchi drain
and pop it into your pot.
If some of that water transfers to the sauce
that is okay because that water is filled
with lots of nice starch that's going to just help
your sauce become smooth and delicious.
We're gonna get all of that. Beautiful.
There we go.
You just wanna coat that well to make sure
that all of the pesto is mixing with all the gnocchi
and all of your beautiful vegetables.
Okay, this is done.
So, now, getting ready to plate.
What we're going to do, we're going to take
a shallow bowl.
We're gonna spoon out some of this pesto gnocchi.
I like to make sure that I get enough veggies
in each serving, right?
There we go.
Final step is we're going to add a little bit more
of Parmesan cheese.
Just because cheese is always good.
A little bit more fresh black pepper.
Then, a little bit
of sliced basil
on top.
Just because it's a weeknight meal doesn't mean
it can't look pretty.
We're also gonna garnish.
(dinging)
There you have it, another weeknight meal
in under 15 minutes or less.
I hope you guys will give this one a try
and let me know what you think.
I think you'll find that this one will soon
become a part of your weekly rotation.
I'll see you soon, bye.