The purple potato gnocchi are my “purple” version, and gluten-free, because they use buckwheat flour of a classic of Italian cuisine: the gnocchi.
🌸Zucchini flowers in the kitchen are also known as “fiorilli” and are both the flowers of the zucchini plant and those of the pumpkin plant. The difference is minimal, zucchini flowers have more pointed petals and a more orange color than pumpkin flowers, but they are less fragrant. The taste is very similar. For simplicity, we call them “zucchini flowers,” even when they are from zucchini.
🌸Male flowers are generally sold in bunches, while female ones are attached to the zucchinis. If you have a garden, it is advisable to pick only the male flowers and leave the female ones so that they can produce the fruit. Male flowers have a stem that remains thin, while female ones thicken at the base, where the zucchini will then form.
The recipe involves using another edible flower, which besides being decorative, is also edible: the rose. I have flavored the cooking water with rose petals.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, All seasons
Ingredients
- 3 cups purple potatoes
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 egg
- 15 zucchini flowers
- 2 cups pecorino cheese (grated)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 oz almonds
- to taste rose petals
Steps
Boil the potatoes, then mash them (with the skin) using a potato masher.
Add the egg, flour, and salt.
Work the dough until you achieve a smooth consistency.
Cut part of the dough and create small sausages. Cut each sausage to create gnocchi.
Place them on a floured work surface.
Gently wash the zucchini flowers, removing the internal pistil.
Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 10 minutes.
Toast the almonds after coarsely chopping them.
Boil the water with rose petals; when it reaches a boil, salt it and remove the petals.
Add the gnocchi; when they float to the surface, they are ready. Use a slotted spoon to collect them in a container.
Thin the pecorino with the gnocchi cooking water until you form a creamy sauce.
Plate the gnocchi, add the pecorino cream, and decorate with zucchini flowers and toasted almonds.
You can choose as you like and use peeled almonds or not.
For a classic version, I invite you to watch my video, made in collaboration with my mother, for the preparation of the classic Mom’s Gnocchi with Genovese Pesto:
For a classic version, I invite you to watch my video, made in collaboration with my mother, for the preparation of the classic Mom’s Gnocchi with Genovese Pesto:
