Glutenfree gnocchi with vegan wild garlic pesto and green asparagus
At the moment, my garden is full of wild garlic. The leafs make a great pesto! It resembles arugula with a hint of fresh regular garlic (and those are good subs for this recipe, if you can’t find wild garlic). The strong taste combines really well with roasted walnuts and hemp seeds, even without cheese. So this pesto is completely vegan. And I don’t use nutritional yeast either, making it Medical Medium friendly as well.
Here I combined the pesto with glutenfree gnocchi and grilled asparagus. The gnocchi are also vegan and glutenfree, made of nothing but potato!
Ingredients
- Wild garlic – I took 25 to 30 large leaves. I used some small young leaves as topping.
- Hemp seeds – When roasted they have a taste that slightly resembles old Parmesan. I use them to substitute both the cheese and the usual vegan sub: nutritional yeast. The Medical Medium protocol discourages eating any kind of dairy or yeast.
- Walnuts – Usually pine nuts or cashews are used for a pesto. But I like to combine walnuts here, because of the strong taste of the wild garlic.
- Lemon juice – The wild garlic, hemp seeds and walnuts are combined with of mixture of fluids. The main element is lemon juice.
- Water – For pastas and gnocchi I like my sauce a bit thin. If you want a thicker sauce, just leave the water out.
- Extra virgin olive oil – I used it as the third component of the liquids. I love the taste, but for some it might make the pesto a bit too bitter. Then reduce or leave out. Also leave it out for oilfree. Then up both the lemon juice and water by a half.0
- Glutenfree gnocchi – If you can get storebought gnocchi that fit your diet, that’s great! Otherwise use Suleika’s recipe for gnocchi (link in the recipe card).
- Asparagus (green) – Take 6 to 10 per serving. I like grilling them but you can also steam them (no more than 5 minutes, shorter if you like them crunchy) or even have them raw.
Wild garlic
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) is also called ransoms, wood garlic or broad-leaved garlic. It grows in forests in Europe, where you can pick it in the wild. I have a lot of it in my garden, it was already there when we bought the house. I didn’t know what is was, until I was working near it. It gave off a great fragrance and it turned out to make an even greater pesto! You can replace wild garlic with a large handful of arugula and a small clove of fresh, raw garlic.
Suleika’s potato gnocchi
I love gnocchi! But unfortunately most gnocchi are made with wheat flour. And most glutenfree gnocchi substitute wheat flour with corn starch. Storebought glutenfree gnocchi usually come with a lot of additives as well. I’m so happy that my MM friend Suleika created a recipe for gnocchi with just potatoes and potato starch. You can find the recipe posted here on this website. Or you can use the sweet potato gnocchi recipe posted on the official MM website.
Potatoes and Medical Medium
Potatoes are a great healing food if you follow the Medical Medium protocol. The healing effect is the greatest when you steam them and do NOT combine them with oil. But still, you can enjoy them boiled or baked. And you also can enjoy the combination with oil (if you are not skipping all fats and oils). For example shown in this recipe on the official MM website: potato rosemary galette.
Other glutenfree & vegan dinner ideas
FAQ
Yes: no cheese in the pesto and no eggs or milk in the gnocchi!
Yes. It’s especially designed to be vegan, glutenfree and yeast/fermentfree. It can be made oilfree by omitting the extra virgin olive oil. But it’s not fatfree due to the walnuts and hemp seeds. Therefore you won’t have the full healing benefits of the potatoes.
No. The pesto has nuts and seeds. Potatoes are nightshades.
It’s best to grow it yourself. If you live in a wooded Eurasian area, you can pick it in the wild. A local farmers market might have it as well. You can replace it with a large handful of arugula and a small clove of fresh, raw garlic.
Gnocchi with wild garlic pesto and green asparagus
This recipe may contain
affiliate linksEquipment
- mortar optional
- grill or steam pan for the asparagus
- cooking pot for the gnocchi
- grater optional, for zesting
- paper towel optional, to dry the zest
Ingredients
- 2 servings gf gnocchi
- 2 servings asparagus (green) = 6 to 10 per serving
- 30 leaves wild garlic
- or large handful arugula to replace the wild and strong taste of the wild garlic leaves
- with a small clove garlic raw, to replace the garlicy taste
- ¼ cup hempseeds + 1 tbsp extra per serving to use as topping
- ¼ cup walnuts + 1 tbsp extra per serving to use as topping
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup water or less for a thicker sauce
For oilfree
- NO extra virgin olive oil but up both lemon juice and water by half, or just leave out for a thicker sauce
Instructions
- Start with the gnocchi first. If you follow Suleika's recipe it assumes you have steamed potatoes already. Then make the dough, boil the gnocchi for 2 minutes and roast them in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
- While the gnocchi are in the oven roast the hemp seeds in a pan (without oil).
- In the meantime mortar the walnuts or crumble by hand. Take the hempseeds out of the pan and roast the walnuts separately. Also without oil.
- Take two tablespoons from both the seeds and the nuts. Set aside as topping for the asparagus.
- Squeeze the juice from the lemon. One large lemon will probably get you just enough, but with smaller lemons you will need two. If you like, before juicing you can take some zest as a topping for your gnocchi. I use a small grater. Use only organic lemons and wash thoroughly. If the zest is wet, you can put it on a paper towel to dry.
- Mix the nuts, seeds, lemon juice, water and olive oil into a pesto. Blend as smooth as possible, so take some time.
- When the gnocchi have about 6 minutes on the timer: cut off the woody part of the asparagus and grill them on both sides for about 2 minutes. If you apply some pressure (flat spatula) you will get more defined grill marks.You can also eat the asparagus raw or steam them for up to 5 minutes.
- Mix the gnocchi with the pesto. Use as much pesto as you like, but you will probably have some left.
- Serve the gnocchi next to the asparagus. Sprinkle the hemp seeds and walnuts over the asparagus. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the gnocchi.
Did you make this recipe or do you have any questions? Just leave a comment!