It's been over a year since I've made gnocchi from scratch. It's just so easy to buy them from the fridge in the speciality area of the store. But, for some reason, I googled, "can you make gnocchi from beans?" You can. They are delicious, and they take some much less effort than potato gnocchi since the canned beans are already prepped.
Are they healthier for you? As always, it depends on your individual situation, but generally, here's why beans might be better than potatoes for you. Northern Beans have 3 times as much fiber, 3 times as much iron, and 4 times as much protein as potatoes. Northern beans also provide a decent about of calcium, whereas potatoes give you ZERO grams.
Source: Naturally Ella | Serves: 2-3 | Time: 30 min
Changes: replaced the egg with a flax egg and skipped the cauliflower sauce. We're done with cauliflower. Seriously.
Ingredients
1 cup great northern #beans (drained and liquid reserved)
1 flax egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 cup white whole wheat flour
Instructions
In a food processor, combine the white beans, flax egg and salt in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of the reserved liquid. Puree, adding more liquid, until you have a smooth mixture.
Continue to pulse and add ½ cup of flour. Add more flour as needed until the mixture forms a soft dough (the dough should still feel be tacky, just use more flour on your hands and surface). Place onto a surface covered in flour. Divide dough into three balls and roll each out into 1″ ropes and cut gnocchi 1″ at a time.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Place half the gnocchi in the boiling water and let cook for 5-6 minutes. Gnocchi should be tender and cooked through. Spoon out the first batch and add the second half of the gnocchi. Cook until tender.
I always like to pan fry gnocchi for a few minutes after boiling it. Tonight I sauteed the gnocchi in garlic EVO with some steamed broccoli and cherry tomatoes in a cashew pesto sauce, I've made before.