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
(click for printer-friendly version)
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.
Rachel
January 23, 2010 at 6:44 pmI know I'm a little late to the party, but I always ate chick peas out of the can (rinsed first) as a kid, and I still am guilty of it to this very day. Haha
Kim
July 26, 2010 at 4:09 pmI ALSO love chickpeas straight out of the can!! Sometimes I have to stop myself from eating them all before they make it into a dish. 🙂
Francine
December 17, 2010 at 4:42 pmThis dish is delish! BTW- Since becoming vegan I have only cooked from your website and serve it to my husband (who is not vegan) and he loves it all! I also take food with me to friends houses that are not vegan just to share how good all the food is from your website!! Keep em coming
Erica
March 31, 2011 at 1:15 pmThis looks perfect! I have a bag of gnocchi that I am bringing to my boyfriends this weekend so I will have to give your recipe a try!
Julie & Marty
July 19, 2011 at 6:27 pmOMG – AWESOME!
That’s all I have to say! 🙂
Julie & Marty
September 7, 2011 at 4:01 pmDo you have the nutrition information for this recipe?? I would really like to know what it is. I’m starting to count calories and this is now a weekly meal at my house. Thank you!
Carolyn
May 5, 2012 at 3:31 pmAwesome recipe! I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!! 🙂
Couldn’t find vegan gnocchi here in Scotland (all the brands I could find contained milk and or eggs), so I made my own! I used the recipe from this site: http://www.brannyboilsover.com/2009/03/01/vegan-potato-gnocchi/
But instead of the APF, I used wholemeal flour (UK whole wheat equiv). They had a slightly nutty flavour and it was totally worth the effort!
Leslie
September 9, 2012 at 3:40 pmOur household tried this recipe in the late summer with some home-grown zucchini and it was delicious! So good, in fact, that we found it reason to go out and get another package of gnocchi to do it again. We used a combination of cubed and ribboned zucchini, putting the cubes in first to cook a little longer than the ribbons. Great dish!
deb
April 24, 2015 at 11:16 amI never knew that gnocchi could be vegan. I will have to check out a package.
Jean Heath
April 24, 2015 at 8:56 pmHate tinned chickpeas – always overnight soak then pressure cook.