Searching around for a new midweek supper, I came across this recipe for Gnocchi with Purple Sprouting Broccoli in Good Housekeeping magazine. It was super delicious (loved the combo of textures and flavours) – especially accompanied by a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc. I’ve tweaked the original recipe as the gnocchi was rather too soft when I boiled it according to the instructions, I subsequently panfried it instead – definite improvement.

Gnocchi with Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Ingredients serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil
50g white breadcrumbs
Zest of lemon
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
10 anchovy fillets, chopped
Pinch chilli flakes
500g bag fresh gnocchi
300g purple sprouting broccoli, cut into 3cm pieces
Parmesan to serve

How to prepare
Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and lemon zest and cook until golden  brown and crisp. Transfer to a plate. Or, if you are lazy like me, skip this stage and just use Waitrose’s ready made Lemon & Pepper breadcrumbs).

In the same pan (now empty) add 2 tbsp olive oil, the garlic and a pinch of salt and cook for 2 mins (don’t let garlic burn). Then add anchovies and chilli flakes and cook for a further 3 mins until the anchovies have melted.

Heat the remaining oil in another frying pan and tip in the gnocchi, frying until golden brown all over.

Add broccoli to pan of salted boiling water and cook for 2 mins. Drain and keep warm, reserving 100ml of the cooking water.

Tip gnocchi, broccoli and cooking water into the large frying pan and cook for 1 – 2 mins stirring to coat with the anchovy paste.

To serve, share among four plates or bowls, top with the crispy breadcrumbs and lashing of grated Parmesan.

Several more fantabulous gnocchi recipes HERE if you fancy having a look