Gnocchi alla Trapanese

Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes Serves: 2 as a starter

Ingredients

• 20g toasted pine nuts

• 1 clove garlic

• 30g watercress (leaves only)

• 20g vegetarian parmesan

• 250g cherry vine tomatoes, halved

• 50g green beans, trimmed

• 350g gnocchi

• 50g rocket

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Squeeze of lemon juice
  
  

Method

Bring a deep pan of salted water to the boil.

Peel and finely chop the garlic, then add to a bowl along with a pinch of sea salt and mix.
Add the pine nuts to a food processor and pulse once or twice, just enough to break them up but not too finely. Add to the bowl with the garlic.

Finely chop the watercress leaves and stir into the garlic and pine nuts along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Grate in half of the parmesan then mix and season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.

Add the cherry tomatoes to the pesto, crushing with a spoon to release the tomato juices, and mix thoroughly.

Add the green beans to the boiling water for four minutes, then remove from the pan, leaving the water on the heat.

Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they float to the surface. While the gnocchi cooks, chop the green beans into 3cm lengths and add to the pesto and tomatoes.

Drain the gnocchi, reserving about 250ml of the cooking water in a separate jug. Tip the pesto mix and gnocchi back into the warm pan and place over a low heat, stirring and adding a bit of cooking water at a time until everything is heated through and fully mixed.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

In clean bowl, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the rocket and toss to cover.

To serve, divide the gnocchi between two plates, then scatter over the rocket and grate the remaining parmesan on top. Finish with some freshly ground black pepper.