Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons and Portabella Mushrooms

I won’t go into details about my weekend. At this point, all I can remember of it are fragments anyway: birthday bowling party… girls’ sleepover … junk food … late nights … the insidious beat of some Disney “rock” song pounding in my head. E. may have turned 10 last weekend, but the blowout celebration was this one. ALL weekend. All I can say is TGIMonday!

So last night, with all of my energy drained, I set off to make a dinner that 1) included something from the vegetable kingdom and 2) would be done before I fell asleep at the stove. I pulled out a package of pre-made gnocchi that I’d bought for just such an occasion and improvised with the vegetables I had on-hand. In the end, I made two big mistakes. First, I found that shaving the zucchini into thin ribbons may make the dish look better, but cubes probably would have been more suitable to the texture of the dish (and definitely faster to chop up). Second, I discovered that E. hates gnocchi; she picked them all out and ate the vegetables with a can of chickpeas instead. (Do I have the only child who loves chickpeas straight out of the can?)

This dish was good, but I wouldn’t call it a reason to buy (and definitely not prepare from scratch) gnocchi. But if you have some stored away in your pantry for an emergency meal, this is quick to make. Just keep some chickpeas ready for any little gnocchi-haters in your household.

Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons and Portabella Mushrooms
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one 17-ounce package prepared gnocchi (I used this brand)
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces portabella mushrooms, cut into cubes
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise into ribbons (I used a serrated vegetable peeler) or cubed
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Drain immediately and set aside.

Lightly spray a large non-stick skillet with olive oil. Add the garlic and mushrooms, and sauté over medium-high heat until mushrooms soften. Add the tomatoes and basil and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the broth and zucchini and cook until it is just tender (ribbons will be done in just a couple of minutes while cubes take longer). Add the gnocchi and salt and pepper to taste.