Best ever low carb gnocchi
The chewy texture of this flour free gnocchi is really similar to the real thing. Coupled with the acidity that comes from the fresh tomatoes, it hits the low carb craving for the Italian dish.
Ingredients
Gnocchi
- 200 g shredded mozzarella
- 200 g ground almonds
- 20 g butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
Tomato and garlic butter sauce
- 1 pack tricolour baby plum tomatoes Can be cherry toms too
- 75 g butter
- 50 ml olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- freshly ground black pepper to taste at the end
- Parmesan to serve
Instructions
- Put the mozzarella and butter in a medium sized bowl and microwave for 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add all the sauce ingredients (not the pepper or Parmesan) to a medium sized frying pan and turn the heat to midway. I have an electric hob that goes up to 9 and I set it at 6. You want it gently frying so that the garlic does not brown and end up tasting scorched.
- Back to the cheese and butter, give it a stir and microwave for a further minute.
- Stir again. The melted butter will not easily stir in, but that's fine. Leave to cool for 2-3 minutes.
- Check on the sauce to check that the butter is melting. Shake the frying pan slightly. Periodically check that it is not frying too hot. Turn it down if it is.
- Put a pan of salted water to cook the gnocchi on to boil. Note the gnocchi will fall apart if the water is boiling too vigorously, so I set it at 6 again. By the time the gnocchi are completely prepped and ready to boil, the water will be simmering with a few bubbles.
- Back to the cooling cheese and butter. Add the almond and eggs. Stir really well and then use your hand to knead the dough that has now formed. It needs to end up uniform in colour and texture so that you don't see streaks of egg yolk and almonds.
- Line a baking tray that will fit in your freezer with baking paper (note they will stick to greaseproof).
- Break off small equally sized pieces and roll each one into a slightly oval ball approx. 2cm in length and lay on the baking paper. You should end up with about 35-40 gnocchi.
- Freeze the tray for 15 minutes. You can also freeze them for later use at this stage.
- Make sure the tomatoes are starting to break apart and that the garlic isn't browning. Turn the heat right down to keep it warm but not cooking anymore.
- Boil the gnocchi in batches of 15 for 1-2 minutes until they float.
- Drain each batch and leave to rest for 5 minutes on a kitchen towel lined plate.
- Warm your bowls. Divide each rested batch between the bowls.
- Season the sauce with ground black pepper to taste and divide the tomatoes and sauce equally between the bowls.
- Serve with parmesan and enjoy!
Notes
The beauty of this dish is that the sauce cooks at the same time as you are prepping the gnocchi. It's really low maintenance and ready when the gnocchi have been boiled.
If using as a starter divide it between 4 people.
The freezing stage can be prolonged if you want to use it up to one month after you prepped it.