Gnocchi, shrimp and veggies in Olive Oil

You may kill me.  And I’m sorry in advance for what is going to come out of my mouth.  I made homemade gnocchi.  I know my recipes are usually quick and perfect for that last minute/”oh crap what do I have in the fridge”/”ugh I have to cook dinner” meal but… I had to try making it from scratch (because I love to torture and annoy myself to ‘see’ if I can make it myself 🙄).  

Stop. The. Presses.  Homemade gnocchi are the bees’ freaking knees.  When I buy them in the store, I really just havent mastered cooking them all the way through without the outside being mushy and the inside being hard.  I make pierogis from scratch and that’s a dough product but I wanted simpler and don’t want to use potato like the usual gnocchi are made of (ugh… ending the sentence in a preposition about kills me…).  Hear me out.  

If you don’t want to make your own pasta (which I totally get not wanting to do), skip to the Olive Oil and Shrimp Sauce at the bottom.  You do NOT want to miss this!

Homemade Gnocchi 

• 1 container Ricotta Cheese
• 1 container flour

1. Flip the ricotta out on your work surface.  It will stay in its shape (which is gross but whatever).
2. Use that SAME ricotta container and fill it with flour.  Dump the flour onto your work surface.  Make a well in the flour and put that ricotta in it.  
3. Knead the crap out of it for about 5-10 minutes.  This dough is sticky so putting flour on your hands before you dive in is a good idea.   When the dough is dense but soft (you’ll know it when you get there), the dough is ready.
4. Cut off pieces and roll them into logs. 
5. Cut them into small bite size pieces.
6. Here is where the fun happens…. take those little bite-size pieces and roll them around your first 2 fingers.  The whole idea is that you are making a cave, valley, gulley, etc. that sauce will get all up in. (If you look closely, mine look like pig snouts 🐽.  It may not look great now, but after they cook, they will look fine!)  Make sure you keep them floured!  They will stick on the edges where you cut them!
7. Boil those suckers in salted boiling water.  When they float to the top, I give them an extra minute or two then take them out!

I realize it sounds like a lot, but it’s totally doable!!!  The most annoying part? Clean-up.

Olive Oil and Shrimp Sauce

You will love this.  I guarantee it or your money back.

• 1-2 lbs. Shrimp – cleaned and deveined (This is cooked shrimp but if you have raw shrimp, use it!  Doing so will increase the cooking time by about 2 minutes – big whoop.)
• 1/2 cup-ish Olive Oil – this is the “sauce” so be generous 
• 1/2 stick of butter (not pictured)
• 1/2 lemon
• 4 small cloves of garlic (If you love garlic, add more!  If not, add less.  It’s YOUR recipe!)
• Any veggies your little heart desires!  I used onion, mushroom, tomato and broccoli.  Get creative!  Asparagus?  Sure!  Capers?  Why not?  Cauliflower?  Yep. Do it!
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooked Gnocchi, pasta, rice, etc.

1. Saute olive oil, butter, and garlic until you smell that heavenly aroma. Don’t burn it!!!! (I’m really good at burning garlic.  Actually, with an electric stove, I’m really good at burning anything… lol!)
2. Add your veggies in order of cooking time.  I like my broccoli al dente so I added that last.  (Al dente is a fancy word meaning cooked but still has a slight crunch.  If memory serves me correct, I think it means ‘to the tooth,’ but let’s not get crazy and blame me if you get that question wrong on Jeopardy.)
3. Next add the shrimp, gnocchi/cooked pasta, salt and pepper and lemon juice to taste.  
4. Cover and let it saute and steam for about 5-10 minutes. It doesn’t take long for the flavors to come together and for that shrimp to cook.  If you want to cook it longer, go ahead!  (Again, this is YOUR recipe!)

If you don’t make your own homemade pasta, you can get all this going while the water boils to make your box of pasta, rice, etc!  Overall this sauce is about a 15 minute deal and that includes chopping.  

Speaking of chopping, I have a few pro-tips and time-savers for you!

Pro-tip #1- Use your egg slicer to cut mushrooms.  Cut the stems off, flip them upside down, and slice!  Heyyyy, time-saver!

Pro-tip #2- Buy this tomato slicer pictured.  I found this one on Zulily and makes the annoying job of slicing cherry or grape tomatoes actually FUN!  Throw them in the tube and zip the handle down!  The handle has a blade in it that slices ’em right up!

 

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to want to make this amazing gnocchi.  Kids will love to get their hands in the dough and will not know they are actually working😂 so include them in the fun!  (Or ignore them and let them “clean” your kitchen… lol)

Again, if you don’t want to make the pasta, PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND MAKE THIS EASY SAUCE!!!  You won’t regret it!

Happy Cooking (and eating)!