Summery Gnocchi with Feta and Spinach

 We originally made this recipe from a meal kit many years ago and our recipe has evolved a lot since then so time to add it to the blog. Especially with summer coming, this is a perfect recipe for hot summer nights when we don't want to eat meat but still want something cooked. 

The gnocchi really is the star of the show here and its easy to make but also easy to get wrong. Over many repetitions, I've found that the soaking step and the frying steps are critical to perfectly soft and pillowly gnocchi. 

Ingredients

• 2 packs of fresh potato gnocchi
• Olive oil 
• 2 Red onions, cut in wedges 
• 1 Zucchini chopped
• 1 Red paprika/Bell pepper chopped
• 1 pack of crushed tomatoes 
• 1 bag of baby spinach, washed well and drained
•  5-6 garlic cloves
• Dried Rosemary
• Sugar
• Chicken stock cube
• 2 blocks of Feta cheese, roughly chopped

Method

1. Cover the gnocchi with cold water and soak for 20 minutes. Rinse once after about 10 minutes and drain thorughly right before you fry off, below.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the onions and red pepper and mince the garlic in after a few minutes. After a few minutes add the Zucchini.
3. After about 5 minutes when the onions and peppers have turned glassy, add in the crushed tomato, rosemary, sugar, salt and stock cube and cook till it comes together, probably another 10 minutes or so, on medium to low heat. Turn off the heat once done.
4. In a separate pan, add olive oil and fry off the gnocchi. This will take more oil than you think and you can fry the gnocchi until they have a nice golden crust. You can add the fried gnocchi diretly into the sauce above.
5. Mix in the spinach leaves and crumble the feta into the mix and serve warm.