Gnocchi with Pesto

Last weekend I was inspired to create something with the basil in my garden that was turning into a big bush so I needed to start using it before I start freezing it for soup.

Here are my pesto fixings .. 

1 cup fresh spinach

20/30 leaves of fresh basil

juice from one lemon

Gourmet Garden  Cilantro - 2 tablespoons

1/3 cup of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 

1 to 2 cloves of garlic crushed 

***note*** 

I don't mince my garlic, I'd rather chop it and then smash with salt, this takes the bitter out of the garlic and because I'm not cooking it I would rather have the flavor then the bitter.

I chop, sprinkle with salt then smash with my knife

My secret ingredient ...

Red Pepper flakes..if you've not tried Penzeys Spices pop over to their website..they seriously have some of the best spices I've ever used. I place several shakes, I don't measure, this is just a by taste thing.

I put all of the ingredients into my food processor..

and..

Voila!

Cook up the gnocchi according to the directions on the package..

I don't drain the gnocchi in a colander because it will get smushed (yes smushed is a real word)

I use my wire wok ladle and place in glass bowl and spoon pesto over gnocchi.

For this dinner I decided to make salmon on the grill to go over the gnocchi...

We love our salmon with a little Cajun Foreplay from Dinosaur BBQ

I have to give a shout out to our friend Neal for giving us this bottle, when I run out I'll be ordering online because it is perfect on fish, chicken, pork, burgers..heck it's good on everything.

On the grill the fish went..

off the grill and on to the plate..

The recipe made enough to have two dinners...first night fish...

second night I sauteed some chicken, added a little chicken broth, threw in the gnocchi and

another yummy dinner.

I hope you give my little recipe a try and let me know what you think..

Until Next Time

Forks UP

KA