Am I the only one to realise that brussel sprouts are in fact brussels sprouts? Insane. It’s like that moment when someone asked what I was saying and I replied with “play by year”. My shock levels equated to those of finding out that I wasn’t cool anymore because I didn’t know what dab or whip was on the dance floor. It’s true. I’m old and not cool. I eat brussels sprouts, love early nights, happily spend all my money on table napkins and take my makeup off before I go to bed every Saturday night. Past me would be horrified. Current me is impressed with the state of my pores. Win.
Pea & Walnut Gnocchi with Charred Brussels Sprouts
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
1 cup of frozen peas
Handful of brussels sprout, halved
3tbs olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Handful of walnuts
1/2 cup of parmesan
Knob of butter
Dash of cream or milk
500g gnocchi
Salt & pepper
Method
Bring a pot of water to the boil and add your sprouts and peas. After a few minutes, drain and separate the spouts from the peas. In a food processor or hand held blender, blend the peas, olive oil, garlic, walnuts and parmesan until a nutty, textural pesto is formed. Taste, season with salt and pepper then leave aside.
Melt the knob of butter in a big pan and over a medium heat, add your blanched sprouts. Once they start to caramelise, reduce to heat and leave to continue cooking.
Add your gnocchi to a pot of salted boiling water and as soon as a few float to the top, take them all out. Work quickly here as you don’t want them to turn mushy. This will only take a minute or two. Once drained, add them to the brussels sprouts and turn up the heat. If the pan is dry add a little extra butter. Pan fry the gnocchi until just about coloured then add the pesto and cream or milk.
Stir through until the pesto has heated up and thickened a little then serve with extra cracked pepper and parmesan.
Kitchen notes...
If you’re not into gnocchi, this will also work with any pasta. Just skip the browning stage and add the pesto straight to the pasta and sprouts.