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Crispy Gnocchi with Butter Beans, Spinach and Cherry Tomatoes

Shop-bought gnocchi pan-fried until crisp, then tossed with butter beans, garlic, cherry tomatoes and spinach and finished with lemon and hard cheese. A vegetarian dinner ready in 25 minutes.

Dinner

25

Serves 2

A frying pan of golden pan-fried gnocchi with wilted spinach, cherry tomatoes and grated hard cheese, with fresh basil, lemon wedges, vine tomatoes and a wedge of cheese around it

Ingredients

  • 180g/6½oz shop-bought potato gnocchi (from a 500g pack; check the label for egg)
  • 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp (20ml) olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic (about 8g), sliced
  • 1 x 400g (14oz) tin butter beans (lima beans), drained and rinsed (about 240g/8½oz drained)
  • 200g/7oz cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 100g/3½oz baby spinach
  • 1 lemon: 2 tsp (10ml) juice, the rest cut into wedges to serve
  • 20g/¾oz vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese, finely grated
  • A few basil leaves (about 5g), a pinch of salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large (28cm/11in) non-stick frying pan (skillet) over a medium-high heat. Add the gnocchi straight from the pack in one layer and fry for 6 to 8 minutes, turning now and then, until golden and crisp on the outside and soft inside. If your pack says the gnocchi must be boiled first, boil them for 2 minutes and drain well before frying.
  2. Push the gnocchi to the side, add the remaining teaspoon of oil and the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant but not brown.
  3. Add the butter beans and tomatoes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring gently, until the tomatoes start to soften and the beans are hot.
  4. Add the spinach a handful at a time and stir until it wilts. Take off the heat, add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
  5. Serve straight from the pan, scattered with the grated cheese and basil, with lemon wedges on the side. Best eaten straight away, as the gnocchi soften on standing; leftovers keep in the fridge for up to 2 days, reheated until steaming hot. Not suitable for freezing.

Why it works

A serving gives you about 18g of protein and 12g of fibre for 436 calories, from the butter beans, gnocchi and cheese.

Why butter beans with gnocchi. Gnocchi on its own is mostly starch. Swapping part of a usual portion for butter beans adds protein and fibre and keeps the carbohydrate at 53g a serving, inside our limit for the blood sugar tag.

Fry, do not boil. Most shop-bought gnocchi can go straight into a hot pan. Frying gives a crisp, golden outside and a soft middle, and saves a pan of boiling water.

A vegetarian cheese. Traditional Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian. Use a vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese instead.

Contains wheat (gluten) and milk; some gnocchi also contain egg, so check the label. Leave out the cheese and choose gnocchi free from egg and milk for a vegan dinner. For another butter bean dish, try the baked cod with tomatoes, olives and butter beans.