Yam Gnocchi With Kale

If you love gnocchi but are on a grain free diet, this new recipe is worth a try. The gnocchi is not cooked in water because we used coconut flour, which would break apart in water. We decided to fry them in a tasty rosemary, garlic and shallot butter. We also added raw kale with a side of tomato beet sauce that brought the dish together really well. Kale is high in vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. Vitamin K is a key nutrient in regulating our body’s inflammatory process. See recipe below. Enjoy!

Yam Gnocchi With Kale Recipe:

Serves 2

Ingredients: 

Gnocchi pasta

∙ 1 large organic yam (boiled and mashed, then cooled)

∙ 3/4 cup of organic coconut flour 

∙ 3 tbsp of organic chia seed powder

∙ sea salt 

Updated – Don’t heat the tomato sauce, tomatoes become acidic for the body if cooked. Try the sauce raw! New recipe here.

Tomato beet sauce

∙ 1 small organic shallot

∙ 2 organic leek leaves

∙ 1 small organic red beet

∙ 1 organic carrot

∙ 1 organic celery stalk (optional)

∙ 3 organic tomatoes

∙ 2 tbsp organic coconut oil

∙ sea salt

∙ organic black pepper 

∙ organic cayenne pepper

Rosemary butter

∙ 2 springs of fresh organic rosemary

∙ 1 small organic shallot

∙ 1 organic leek leaf

∙ 1/4 organic fennel (optional)

∙ 5-8 organic garlic cloves (depending on size)

∙ 4-5 tbsp organic coconut oil 

∙ sea salt

∙ organic black pepper (optional)

Other

∙ 2 cups organic kale (chopped, spiced and oven dehydrated for 20 minutes to keep enzymes)

Directions: 

Before you start, make sure you have prepared the mashed yams and have them in a container ready to use. Also, oven dehydrate your kale at 120 degrees F for 20 minutes.* You can do this at the same time that you are boiling your yams, before continuing to prepare this recipe. 

Start with tomato beet sauce ingredients.

1. Finely chop shallot, leeks, beets, carrots and celery in a food processor. Set aside.
2. Cut tomaotes into chunks and then add to a container. Blend tomatoes.
3. Add shallots, leeks, beets, carrots and celery mix to container with tomatoes and continue blending. (Or lightly fry shallots and leeks, then add to tomatoes, along with beets, carrots and celery.) This is going to be your tomato beet sauce. Set aside.
4. In a small pot at medium-low heat, add coconut oil and then pour tomato sauce and stir continuously for at least 2 minutes. Add spices, mix and let simmer.
6. In a large mixing bowl, add mashed yams, coconut flour, chia seed powder, and salt.

7. Using your hands, mix ingredients well and create a ball of dough. Set aside.

8. Begin to prepare your rosemary butter by using a food processor and finely chopping rosemary, shallot, leek, fennel and garlic. Set aside for 5 minutes.

9. Remember to occasioanlly stir tomato beet sauce while it simmers. Turn heat off after 15- 20 minutes.

10. Prepare your gnocchi by breaking off small pieces of dough and rolling it lightly in the palm of your hands (or a flat surface) to form thin ropes. Mold with your hands if necessary. Do this in small sizes (no longer than your finger) because the coconut flour and yams will break apart otherwise (this is where patience is required when using coconut flour for making pasta). You do not need to add any flour to any surface while rolling. Set pieces aside as you go along.

11. Once you have all the pieces of gnocchi pasta in short thin ropes, cut them in smaller, 1 inch pieces. Place them in a bowl and set aside.

12. In a medium sized frying pan at medium heat, add coconut oil and then rosemary mix. This is your rosemary butter that you will fry the gnocchi in.

13. Once pan is heated, add gnocchi pieces and fry for 10 minutes (or until edges are lightly browned). It is easier to shake pan back and forth occasionally, than to use a spatula to try to flip them around.

14. Once gnocchi is ready, divide gnocchi into 2 even portions on 2 plates.

15. Top off gnocchi with kale and add some tomato beet sauce on the side. (The kale balances the yam gnocchi really well because the yam and coconut flour is sweet in flavor. The tomato beet sauce seems to simply add more flavor and bring it all together.)

16. Serve and enjoy!

*We oven dehydrate kale for only 10-20 minutes (at 120 degrees F, with the oven door open) so that we are able to keep the enzymes, but also to soften the kale. If you dehydrate longer, it will start to become crispier, but will also have it’s enzymes.