I finally ordered new batteries for my camera and they showed up in the mail yesterday. Before they arrived, I could take about 30 photos before the old battery would die and I would have to put my food-photo sessions on hold until it was charged up. Forget the thought of going on a photo walk – out of the question. It finally got to be unbearable, and I am so glad I can now take photos until I feel like I’ve taken enough, and my battery will happily power my camera to take more.
These are purple carrots and parsnips.
They’re really just regular carrots wearing purple jackets.
These are gluten free and all lined up in rows, ready for the freezer.
Some of them were boiled until they floated and sauteed in coconut oil.
Most of them were covered in this Vegan Alfredo sauce with handfuls of parsley tossed in.
And then I thought to myself, this could use more green. So I sauteed up a stack of thinly sliced collard greens.
And mixed.
And my camera still hadn’t died on me, so I smiled, and I got a little closer.
And then I ate them all.
*This post is my version of Joanne’s recipe choice for The Food Matters Project. You can see what the others came up with here.*
PURPLE CARROT AND PARSNIP GNOCCHI – GLUTEN FREE (AND VEGAN OPTION)
serves 4
-1 pound of carrots (with or without a couple parsnips – they’ll add a distinct flavour that I really enjoyed, but the original recipe doesn’t call for them, so if you don’t want to complicate your life, then don’t!)
-3/4 cup whole grain flour (for gluten free I used coconut flour and brown rice flour)
-1/2 cup starchy/binding flour (I used sweet rice flour and tapioca flour) plus more for rolling and shaping
-1 egg (for vegan gnocchi you can totally omit the egg, your gnocchi may be a little more on the dense side, but still delicious)
-pinch of nutmeg
-salt and pepper
-coconut oil for sauteeing
-1/2 cup parsley, chopped
-1 bunch collard greens, de-stemmed and thinly sliced
-1/2 the amount of Vegan Alfredo Sauce recipe (I used olive oil instead of Earth Balance)
I baked my carrots and parsnips at 350F for 30 minutes because I read somewhere that they retain lots of the cooking water if you boil/steam them and then you need more flour. I still felt like mine needed a lot of flour, but then, I did add an egg (that was called for in many regular gnocchi recipes – and I thought might help the texture since I was changing the recipe to gluten-free). If you’d like to leave out the egg, you will likely need closer to 1 cup total flour, so add it slowly so you don’t add too much!
Puree the carrot mix until it’s smooth and mix in the egg (if using), flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mix it all together until it’s combined (no fear of overmixing with the gluten-free flours). It should be firm but not sticky (though mine was a little bit sticky still and I think it would have been too dense if I’d added any more flour).
The nice thing about gnocchi is you can test it as you go. Just boil some water, pinch off a little bit of dough and toss it in. When it floats to the top (about 4 minutes) it’s ready and you can taste it to see if it’s too mushy or it could use a bit more flour (or seasonings).
Once you’re satisfied, quarter the dough and roll each piece into a log. Cut individual gnocchis about an inch long. I squished them with a fork – apparently the ridges help them pick up more sauce, and I love sauce. Refrigerate them for 20 minutes (up to 2 hours, and you can also freeze them at this point).
When you’re ready to cook your gnocchi, toss it into a pot of salted, boiling water. If you’re doing this from frozen, don’t let them thaw first. Stir them so they don’t stick together and once they float to the top they are done, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Saute the collard greens in coconut oil for 7 minutes or until cooked through and getting a little crispy. Pour in the Vegan Alfredo Sauce and the parsley and mix in the gnocchi. Top with extra parsley for garnish.
Enjoy!
