Spinach, Squash & Chickpea Gnocchi

If there's one thing that will likely be lacking from this blog, it's recipes involving red meat.  Ever since I was little, I've really only liked red meat in the form of hamburgers (Happy Meals=joy). I dabbled with being a vegetarian in college, but that only lasted for a month or two, mostly because I couldn't avoid the deliciousness that is chicken - chicken breasts, chicken wings, chicken stir-fry, BBQ chicken (I'm starting to sound like Bubba Gump here).  Now I've settled into what I like to call poultry-tarianism, as I substitute ground turkey in any recipe that calls for beef.  It's leaner, and can easily be spiced to suit whatever dish you're incorporating this into. 

Anyhoodle - that's a long way of me leading into the fact that, despite my love for all winged meats, I like to make a vegetarian dish once or twice a week to lighten things up. Besides being good for you, an added advantage of this is that they tend to be extremely inexpensive to make.  I got the recipe for this dish from Eating Well, a magazine that always features simple and healthy dishes. I chose to make this using shelf-stable (vacuum-packed) gnocchi, but if you're watching your sodium then you can easily substitute frozen gnocchi by precooking them and patting them dry before assembling the rest of the ingredients.

Spinach, Squash & Chickpea Gnocchi

What You'll Need

1 lb shelf-stable potato gnocchi

2 cups squash (about 1 small squash) chopped and sliced thin

8 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small onion, diced into small cubes

2 cloves garlic, minced

14 oz vegetable stock

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar reduction (see note at end of recipe)

What To Do

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil (one swirl from a bottle) in a large skillet or dutch oven (this will become important later) on medium heat. Cook the gnocchi for 5-7 minutes or until they start to turn light golden brown, stirring them frequently. 

After they have started to brown, remove the gnocchi from the heat and transfer them to a bowl.  In the meantime, start preparing your vegetables.

Next, heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet and cook the onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add your squash and cook for 3-5 more minutes. 

Then, add the vegetable stock, rosemary, marjoram, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 6-8 minutes or until the squash begins to soften.  Add the gnocchi, chickpeas, and spinach.  I forgot to factor in the volume of 8 cups of fresh spinach, so at this point I had to transfer all of my ingredients to my dutch oven so that they could all fit.

Cook for 3-5 more minutes, or until the spinach is lightly wilted.

I transferred this to a large pasta bowl and drizzled it with the balsamic reduction I had going on a side burner.  Even though it sounds fancy, this reduction is bring very easy to make.  Bring 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar to a boil in a fry pan:

Let this simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until it starts to reach a syrupy consistency.  Be careful not to let it scorch!

Voila! The finished dish.

This dish takes about 35 minutes total, and makes 4 hefty servings with very few calories, almost no fat, and lots of fiber and vitamins.

The first thing that will hit you about this dish is the smell - the herbs, stock, and vegetables all combine to make something extremely reminiscent of crisp fall nights spent curled up by the fire.  According to my husband, it also made the entire apartment smell good, although I didn't notice this (THANKS A LOT, ALLERGIES).  The vegetable stock cooked down nicely to create a thick sauce that the gnocchi both absorbed and clung to, while the sweetness of the squash was countered nicely by the bitterness of the spinach.  What really made this for me was the balsamic reduction; its acidity brightened all of the flavors and really brought it to a new level.  All in all, this will most definitely go into heavy rotation for our winter meals, thanks to the low cost of ingredients, ease of preparation, and amazing flavors.