Garlic Lemon Sage Gnocchi with Toasted Pine Nuts

and it’s (drumroll)………. GRAIN-FREE (thanks to Cappello’s)!

I’m home from Spain after being gone for two weeks. My husband and I played a little “what are you most excited about doing when you get home” game and cooking was my #1 (his was mountain biking, in case you were wondering).

We left our hotel at 5:45 AM in Barcelona Wednesday and arrived back in Denver International Airport at 1:15 AM Thursday, not walking through our front door until around 2 AM.  Yup, that’s right. We were traveling for about 28 hours. We were all about saving money on the flights so we could spend more of it on food and lodging while we were there. Was it worth it? Totally!

As you can imagine, I’m pretty freakin’ exhausted, but I wasn’t too tired to drop by Whole Foods and pick up some groceries for the week.  I decided to cook up some gnocchi for our first meal back. I mean, who doesn’t love gnocchi? I’m so glad Cappello’s makes these delicious, grain-free pillows of goodness so that I don’t have to spend a ton of time making them from scratch.

Gnocchi is a heavier pasta, which is why I like to toss it in olive oil with bold tasting herbs.  I use this as a side paired with vegetables and meat to make sure I’m getting a good balance of vitamins, carbs, fats and protein. Served that way, this recipe makes four small sides. Here are the deets:

Ingredients:

1 Box of Cappello’s gnocchi

1 Tablespoon of coconut oil, divided

2 Tablespoons of sage, chopped

2 Tablespoons of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon of lemon

1 Tablespoon of nutritional yeast

1/8 teaspoon of sea salt

2 Tablespoons of pine nuts

Method:

Cook Cappello’s gnocchi according to the box instructions, being VERY careful not to overcook

Heat one tablespoon of coconut oil in a cast iron skillet on medium heat

Once oil has melted, add the garlic and let cook for about two minutes while stirring frequently to prevent burning

Add sage and let simmer for approximately one minute

Add the gnocchi, olive oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and salt to the pan with the garlic and sage, and toss to coat

In a separate cast iron pan, turn the heat to high

Place pine nuts in pan for 1-2 minutes, stirring intermittently, and remove once they are lightly browned

Plate gnocchi and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts on top

Tah Dah! Oh, and I’m not sure how much you know about food photography, but lighting is everything. I started to panic as the sun went down and ended up needing to head outside to try and make sure this shoot happened. Our chickens were roaming around and one of them came by to check out what I was doing. She says hi!