I recently had stuffed gnocchi at a restaurant and have been itching to recreate the dish at home, with my own little twists of course. I decided to stuff my homemade gnocchi with pieces of Nabulsi cheese, which is Persian black sesame cheese. I chose this particular cheese because I like the way it melts when it is cooked. It’s not as messy as mozzarella, but it does become soft and a bit stringy. I paired the cheese-stuffed pasta with homemade romesco sauce, which contains pine nuts, almond butter, olive oil, bread, a head of roasted garlic, sherry vinegar and roasted red bell pepper. The bright, red color pops against the gnocchi. And since the sauce pairs so well with seafood, I served fried fish on the side.
Lya, Lulu and I had so much fun filming the ”how to make gnocchi” video a few weeks ago, and this dish brought back the memories. My little munchkin was sad that she didn’t get to help roll and form the gnocchi last time, so I made sure that she got her chance today. She enjoyed it so much, mostly because she nominated herself to be the official taster. Making gnocchi is very interactive, and I’ve found it’s a great way to get kids cooking. It doesn’t hurt that it tastes great too!
1. Info for Stuffed Gnocchi (Cheese Stuffed Pasta with Romesco Sauce Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 8
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Stuffed Gnocchi (Cheese Stuffed Pasta with Romesco Sauce Recipe
- 1 (14-ounce) can whole peeled plum tomatoes, drained and diced
- ½ cup whole almonds
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly dry-toasted
- 1 red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded and finely chopped
- 1 cup stale white bread (I used a baguette), diced
- 1 head roasted garlic
- 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce, to taste
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon honey (optional)
- 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 bowl of homemade gnocchi dough
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 (20-ounce) package Nabulsi cheese
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons coarse grain mustard
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
3. Directions:
- Dry-toast the fennel seeds and cumin seeds. Place them in a spice grinder with the smoked paprika and chili flakes until it becomes a fine powder. Set the seasoning mix aside.
- Place the almonds in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil for about 3 minutes. Drain and remove the skin. Coarsely chop them.
- Grind the blanched almonds in a food processor or in a blender until it turns into a coarse almond butter. Add the pine nuts and pulse one more time. I use the VitaMix Dry Blade Container. The result should be pasty.
- In a bowl, squeeze out the softened garlic cloves from the roasted garlic.
- Dice the bread into about 1-½” cubes. Put the diced bread into a food processor and pulse several times; it’s okay if there are remaining chunks of bread. The moisture from the tomatoes will soften the bread. Add the tomatoes, spice mix, honey (if used), sherry vinegar, roasted garlic, nut butter,Tabasco sauce, red bell pepper and water for a smoother flow. Thicken the sauce with 1/3 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cut the Nabulsi cheese into matchstick pieces. Gather 80 small pieces.
- Sprinkle your work space with a little flour.
- Create 4 (1-¼” diameter) 16-inch logs. Using a paring knife, cut the logs into 1-¼” pieces.
- Flatten each piece, creating an oval shape. Place a piece of cheese and roll the dough on itself to wrap the cheese.
- Bring about 3 quarts of water to boil. Add the gnocchi, bring back to a boil, then immediately lower the heat to a gentle boil. That way the pasta is cooked all the way through evenly. Cook the pasta for about 3-4 minutes total until the gnocchi float to the surface. Salt the water half-way through the cooking process (it will bring out the natural flavor of the gnocchi and it will be fluffy and more tender) and keep gently stirring every now and then so the gnocchi doesn’t stick to the bottom.
- When the pasta is cooked, reserve about 1/3 cup of pasta water and drain the gnocchi (do NOT rinse). Let stand in a colander.
- In a large NON-STICK sauté pan, heat the rest of the olive oil. Add the garlic cloves and cook until they’re slightly golden. Add the gnocchi pasta. Toss the gnocchi by moving the pan in circular motion (the pan should be lifted in a low angle to facilitate the movement). Season with coarse-grained mustard, salt and pepper. If the pasta starts sticking to the bottom, add the reserved pasta water. Add parsley.
- Pour the romesco sauce onto to a large serving platter. Top with the cheese stuffed gnocchi. Garnish with more parsley.
- Bon appétit!
