We have a little confession to make: Valentine’s Day it’s just an excuse, we didn’t come up with this to impress our sweetheart, we just wanted to have fun making something that looks as good as it tastes! Which also happens to be of a highly-Instagrammable, rich, pink colour: that’s what we call a win-win.
These dumplings are extremely simple and vegan-friendly as our recipe doesn’t call for eggs, unlike the traditional potato-based ones. They are made only using two ingredients that are very easy to source here in the UK: flour and beetroot. If beetroot is not really up your street you must try these! We promise the flavour is very subtle: just a hint of sweetness, nothing more. So this is a great way to incorporate more of this vegetable into your diet even if you are not so keen on it.
Why eating more beetroot (other than for their fancy colour)? Because beetroots are:
- Rich in vitamins and minerals (i.e. folate, manganese, and copper);
- They are low in calories with only 44 kcal for 100g of cooked beetroots. So beetroot ‘bulk up’ your gnocchi without increasing the calories as much as flour would;
- They are local so consuming them in the UK doesn’t have a massive carbon footprint;
- They give your dough/smoothies/sauces an extremely attractive dark pink colour… wait, we already said that.
Now, a note on the pasta shape.
Although we call these ‘gnocchi’, some might call this a misappropriation of the term as they don’t feature potatoes and have an entirely different texture. That’s true: our gnocchi are chewier rather than mushier, if that makes any sense. And this is going to be our second confession for the day: although we also love and cheerish memories of our grandmother’s gnocchi served in fresh tomato sauce, we never quite agreed with their melt-in-the-mouth texture and the habit to stick to the top of your palate for the whole duration of the meal: we like our gnocchi with more of a ‘bite’ to them! That’s why we came up with a completely different root veg to flour ratio. So our dumplings have probably more in common with an asian rice cake or a pierogi, rather than our Italian grandmother’s Sunday gnocchi.
Did someone say gnocchi board?
Have you always wanted to give this pasta shape a try but always felt intimidated by the shaping process? Fear not: if you nailed the right dough consistency and let it rest enough, there’s no reason why this part shouldn’t be 100% fun and creative. See the examples within the recipe card for improvised tools you can use if you don’t have a gnocchi board handy. A sushi mat, a cheesegrater, a fork: you can make gnocchi with almost anything you want!
What goes well with pink?
Our first answer to this question is: anything! The flavour of these dumplings is so delicate that almost anything will pair well, although we always recommend a pinch of umami to balance the sweetness of the beetroot (i.e. anchovies, capers, nutritional yeast, hard cheese to name a few). If you want to preserve the colour, we suggest a simple butter and sage sauce with a generous handful of grated parmesan or pecorino on top. Otherwise, you could go for a contrasting green sauce like our broccoli pesto: just blend a few broccoli florets with some garlic, anchovies and parmesan and use it to layer your beetroot gnocchi on top. Warning – don’t mix them before hand or you will end up with a dish that’s neither pink or green, but a quite unpalatable in-between hue. Serve it layered with a few little whole florets and let your guest(s) do the mixing.
Beetroot Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Beetroot (or 120g) pre-cooked, pureed
- 250 g Durum wheat flour/Plain flour or a mix of both
- 1 pinch Sea Salt
Instructions
- Put your flour in a mixing bowl. If using a blend of Plain/00 flour and Durum Wheat make sure you sift or combine them well together.
- Using a blender or food processor, blend a medium beetroot until you reach a fine purée texture and add it to the flour and salt. If the dough is too dry and struggles to come together, you can use a bit of water or – even better – beetroot juice to help it. Please be careful to only add a little bit at the time! Knead until a smooth dough is formed. Once Let it rest wrapped in cling film or a sligthly damp kitchen towel for at least one hour.
- Once the dough has rested I like to use a knife to divide it in long, 1cm think section first, and then roll it into little 'snakes'. That's how I proceed: take the dough and cut it into 4 sections (it doesn't matter if they aren't equal).
- Flip and divide each section into two smaller ones.
- Roll them using both your hands into snakes, then arrange them to one side like in the picture.
- Cut little squares, try to be precise here: since the cooking time depends on the size of each dumpling, we really want them to be roughtly the same size.
- Now it's time to have fun! You can shape the gnocchi with anything you have in the kitchen. We used a gnocchi board, it's an inexpensive yet handy tool to have for every passionate pasta chef! You can make various types of pasta, not just gnocchi.
- You can also use a sushi mat…
- … the prongs/teeth or a fork…
- …or the inside of a cheesegrater: the sky is the limit!
- Once all dumplings are formed they are ready to be cooked in abundant, salty, boiling water. If you plan not to cook them straight away, we recommend you cover them with a slightly damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.
- These fresh gnocchi cook quite quickly so keep an eye on the pot: when they rise back on the surface they are ready to be drained with a mesh spoon.
