Vegan, gluten-free pumpkin potato gnocchi with sage, pine nuts, and spinach

This is one of my new favorite dinners! It's so satisfying and rich; it's quite a treat in our house. It's a great dish to impress guests with, while it's really quite simple and can mostly be done in advance. It also goes really well with red wine ;)

You can make the gnocchi in advance. You can leave them out at room temperature for a couple of hours before cooking, just make sure they are not touching each other or they may stick together during cooking. You can also freeze and store up to 3 months. I recommend freezing them well spaced out on a tray, and once frozen putting in an air tight container, then cook directly from frozen.

Ingredients:

2 medium baking potato (about 500 g)

1 can pureed pumpkin

250 g gluten-free flour (about 2 cups)

50 g (1/4 cup) vegan butter

2 cloves garlic

3 sprigs fresh sage

15 g (1/8 cup) pine nuts

115 g (about 4 large handfuls) baby spinach

pinch of nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

vegan parmesan (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse potatoes and prick all sides with a fork. Microwave in 3-4 minute intervals until potatoes are soft. Cut into quarters and allow to cool

2. Using a spoon or fork, scoop the flesh out of the potatoes and place in large bowl. Discard skins. Mash potatoes well using a fork, potato ricer, or potato masher. Make sure there are no lumps

3. Add a large pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste

4. Add flour and pumpkin and mix with a spoon, then knead with your hands once all ingredients are incorporated

5. Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, about 1 and 1/2 cm thick. Cut the gnocchi from the rope, about 1 cm thick. Repeat with remaining dough

6. In a large saucepan, dry toast pine nuts over medium/high heat. Set pine nuts aside

7. In the same saucepan, melt butter. When fully melted, add garlic cloves, peeled, halved, and de-germed. Once fragrant, add sage leaves and cook until fragrant and slightly crispy, add spinach and cook until wilted. Remove from heat

8. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the gnocchi and cook about 2 minutes until the gnocchi are floating. Using a slotted spoon remove gnocchi from boiling water and add to sauce pan and stir. Top with pine nuts and vegan parmesan and serve

Serves 4

Note:

You can microwave the potatoes in advance and store in the fridge so they are cool and ready to use.