Green gnocchi with wild spinach

Have you ever considered cooking your weeds? Well, today we share a recipe that does just that – green gnocchi made with wild spinach, aka lamb’s quarters.

Green gnocchi might sound complicated, but they are surprisingly easy to make. With just a few simple ingredients and some wild spinach leaves, you’ll have your weeds quickly cooked in a delicious dinner. Wild spinach gives gnocchi a unique flavor and a beautiful green hue. Moreover, they’re topped with a creamy, easy-to-make, rich gorgonzola sauce.

Perhaps you’ll want to purposely cultivate wild spinach in your garden next year?

JUMP TO RECIPE

Wild spinach vs. baby spinach

Wild spinach (Chenopodium album), also called lamb’s quarters, goosefoot, pigweed, melde, or fat hen, is a wild plant and common weed across the US, Europe, Australia, India and South Africa. Actually, it’s a close cousin of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Its flavor delicately mimics that of cooked spinach, with a unique, wild, almost floral taste that sets it apart from other cultivated greens.

This undervalued plant can be used in any recipe that calls for spinach. In fact, it boasts higher levels of iron, protein, vitamin B2, and vitamin C compared to homegrown spinach. Additionally, it’s a rich source of calcium and magnesium, and it surprisingly contains a decent amount of protein, too.

While baby spinach is often recommended as a healthy green leaf food, it might not be as healthy as you think. Government testing found that up to 95% of commonly purchased US. fruit and vegetables contained detectable levels of pesticides. Moreover, spinach clearly (again) made its way to the top of the Dirty Dozen produce list in 2024, right beside strawberries, with the highest pesticide residue, which can’t be completely destroyed by cooking and processing.

Isn’t this a good enough reason to stop fighting your weed and change the opinion about lamb’s quarters?

The delight of green gnocchi with wild spinach

Green gnocchi made with wild spinach have a unique spinach-like flavor with subtle floral notes. They look vibrantly green and refreshingly different.

Despite sounding fancy, they are relatively easy to prepare. With a few simple ingredients, you can create a delicious gourmet meal in less time than it would take to get to the grocery store. And it’s a creative way to finally use your weeds instead of composting them.

Whether you find wild spinach in your garden or forage it, it’s a sustainable and cost-effective way to add fresh, organic greens to your diet. These gnocchi are enriched with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber.

They will pair well with various sauces, from rich gorgonzola cream to a simple butter sage sauce or topped with sauteed garlic and parmesan cheese.

Lastly, green gnocchi with wild spinach look stunning. And just like we welcomed early spring with wild garlic risotto and celebrated fall with a savory mushroom tagliatelle and porcini pizza, these adorable green pillows are a perfect way to embrace the arrival of summer.

The ingredients

WILD SPINACH – We used lamb’s quarters growing in our garden in this recipe. However, you can forage for these nutritional leafy greens or replace them with other green stuff like wild garlic, ramsons, stinging nettle’s leaves, spinach or fresh basil. Have you tried our wild garlic green pasta?

POTATOES – Any potatoes will do; we dug ours in the garden together with wild spinach. But I must add that white potatoes with high starch content and low moisture are best for creating light and fluffy gnocchi. And yes, you can skip them and make green dumpling-like gnocchi with flour and spinach only.

FLOUR – We used organic all-purpose wheat flour for our green gnocchi recipe. Whether a wholegrain cup of flour, corn, buckwheat or gluten-free, the flour makes the gnocchi more sturdy when combined with eggs and potatoes.

OLIVE OIL – A tablespoon of olive oil in the gnocchi batter will make them more smooth and make the dough more cohesive. They will look silky when cooked. We used organic extra virgin olive oil.

EGGS – The recipe used two eggs. For a vegan version, skip the eggs entirely or use mug bean proteins.

BUTTER – Butter is combined with gorgonzola and cream to make an easy creamy sauce.

GORGONZOLA CHEESE – Gorgonzola cheese adds a rich, tangy flavor to a creamy sauce, enhancing it with a bold and complex taste. It pairs great with green gnocchi, is easy and quick to make, and it tastes delicious!

COOKING CREAM – Cooking cream is mixed into the sauce. We recommend a heavy cooking cream with at least 36% milk fat. You can dissolve it with milk while reheating if it gets too thick when cold.

SALT – A pinch of salt is enough because gorgonzola is usually already salty enough.

BLACK PEPPER & NUTMEG – We didn’t use any other spices besides black pepper and nutmeg for the sauce, although you might consider fresh sage leaves and fresh parsley. These two pair great with gorgonzola sauce.

How to make green gnocchi with wild spinach

HOW TO MAKE GREEN GNOCCHI

STEP 1: Wash your greens and chop them into smaller pieces. Boil the wild spinach for a few minutes and add a pinch of salt. You can also add a half tbsp of olive oil to the boiling water.

STEP 2: Peel and dice the potatoes. Add a little salt to another pot of boiling water and boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes. When done, thoroughly drain wild spinach and set aside to cool. Do the same with potatoes.

STEP 3: Add chopped wild spinach and two eggs to a food processor or chopper. Add a tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and mix until you get a smooth puree.

STEP 4: When your potatoes cool down to room temperature, add them to the puree. Mix until getting a vibrantly green and silky batter. Alternatively, use the potato ricer for potatoes first and then add the puree.

STEP 5: Transfer the puree batter to another bowl and add flour. Stir until all the ingredients are combined and thoroughly incorporated into a soft dough. Add more flour if needed.

STEP 6: Sprinkle a clean, flat surface with flour and transfer the dough. Knead until you get a nice, sturdy ball of green dough. This step requires about 5 minutes of kneading. You want all ingredients fully fused into the mixture and the dough sturdy enough to work with it further. If the dough is sticky and too soft, don’t hesitate to add more flour.

STEP 7: Start splitting the dough into smaller eaqual pieces, each at a time. Use a sharp knife for clear cuts. You will roll them into long ropes.

Cut the ropes into 3/4-inch (2 cm) chunks. If you want your gnocchi to look the cutest, slide them on the tines of a fork or use a gnocchi board to create a classic ridged shape. Sprinkle them with a little extra flour and toss to prevent sticking together.

STEP 8: Using a dough scraper, transfer them to a large pot of salted water that’s already boiling on medium-high heat. Add only a teaspoon of salt.

They are done when they start floating at the top, which usually takes only a couple of minutes (2 -3 minutes). Take them out with a slotted spoon, drain them, and combine them with the sauce as soon as possible while they are still hot. This will prevent these little pillows from sticking together and drying out.

HOW TO MAKE QUICK GORGONZOLA SAUCE

STEP 9: Gorgonzola sauce is really easy to make. In a large frying pan, heat the cooking cream on low heat. Add pieces of gorgonzola, stir until the gorgonzola melts and sprinkle with black pepper and nutmeg. You can also add herbs of personal preference; sage leaves or fresh parsley are delicious suggestions.

When the sauce cools, it becomes thicker. Add a half cup of milk when reheating it to prevent it from sticking to the pan.

STEP 10: Serve your green gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce while freshly cooked and hot. If you like, you can sprinkle them with grated parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.

The dish will pair great with a good glass of wine like Moscato or Chardonnay. Bon Appetit!

Some tips worth remembering

• Use fresh and young leaves. Pick young, tender leaves of lamb’s quarters as they have a milder flavor and are easier to blend into the dough. Older leaves can be fibrous and taste somewhat bitter.
• Stimulate new growth. Wild spinach will grow new leaves if you cut only the side stems of a grown-up plant. This will encourage the plant to produce more foliage, stimulating new growth from the remaining stems and leaves. By selectively harvesting the side branches, you will get a continuous supply of fresh leaves throughout the growing season. Just make sure not to over-harvest, leaving enough of the plant intact to remain healthy.
• Blanch wild spinach before making the dough. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for two minutes, then wash them with ice-cold water for that vibrant green color. This will also soften them, making mixing them into the dough easier.
• Drain the leaves thoroughly. Excess moisture can make the dough too sticky. Pat them dry with paper towels to remove as much water as possible.
• Choose starchy potatoes; these provide the best texture for gnocchi. They help create a light, fluffy dough that holds together well. You also might want to bake them instead of cooking them to reduce the moisture or cook them with the skin on.

Storage

You can freeze fresh gnocchi for later use. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Once frozen, transfer them to a ziplock bag or an airtight container. This way, they will last for up to two months. When ready to use, cook them directly from frozen without thawing to prevent them from becoming mushy.

Cooked gnocchi are best stored together with the sauce to prevent sticking together. Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator; they will be good for up to two days. We don’t recommend freezing them.

Green wild spinach gnocchi FAQs

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