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Recipe Detail Page
Gnocchi with Rapini, Pancetta & Tomatoes
Autumn 2010
This homey pasta supper is made even better with the addition of pancetta—a mild or spicy Italian bacon available at the deli. Use in soups, pasta or crumbled in a Caesar salad. While store-bought gnocchi are not quite the same as the ones nonna makes, they do the trick in a pinch. Find them in the pasta section of most supermarkets.
Serves 2 to 3
1 bunch rapini
2 oz (60 g) thinly sliced pancetta
2 tbsp (25 mL) olive oil
¼ tsp (1 mL) hot chili flakes
2 cups (500 mL) cherry or grape tomatoes,
340 g pkg
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Generous pinches of salt
1 pkg (500 g) store-bought potato gnocchi
Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, trim and discard tough ends from rapini. Add rapini to boiling water and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Don’t drain water. Remove rapini using tongs and place in a sieve. Press the rapini with the back of a large spoon to remove as much water as possible. Coarsely chop.
2. Thinly slice pancetta into matchstick-size pieces. In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add pancetta and chili flakes. Cook just until pancetta starts to crisp, about 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, green onions, garlic and salt. Cook stirring, just until tomatoes begin to burst, about 3 minutes. Add rapini to pan and stir. Keep warm while cooking gnocchi.
3. If no longer boiling, bring rapini water to a boil. Add gnocchi and cook according to package directions. Remove about ¼ cup (50 mL) rapini/gnocchi water before draining and set aside. Then drain gnocchi. Add gnocchi to rapini mixture in pan, stirring all ingredients together. If it sticks, stir in some reserved rapini/gnocchi water. Serve with grated cheese.
Serves 2 to 3
