These delicate and slightly sweet golden beet gnocchi are served in a light Parmesan sauce. The cottage cheese gives these yellow fluffy pillows a little protein boost.
Making gnocchi seems a little daunting, but it is actually not that difficult. It will require a little patience and belief in the process and you’ll find that it’s a rather satisfying process. The most popular is the potato gnocchi, whether it is plain or made from sweet potato. Potatoes offer a lot of starch and thus the gnocchi ‘balls’ stay easily intact during the rolling and cooking, but you can make gnocchi from beets, carrots, pumpkin, squash, ricotta only and I’ve even seen bread gnocchi. On top of that you can make flavor and color variations. So, you can try your heart out. I am sure you’ll find more gnocchi recipes from me in the future.
Key Ingredients in This Recipe
- Golden beets – the core ingredient that gives the gnocchi this beautiful warm sunny color.
- Egg
- Flour – for the binding.
- Cottage cheese – a little extra protein.
- Parmigiano Reggiano – part of the sauce.
- Salt & pepper
- Parsley
How to make the Golden Beet Gnocchi with Cottage Cheese
Step 1 – Prepare the beets. You can do this by roasting them in the oven ‘naked’ or wrapped in aluminum foil. I decided to cook them in water on the stove as I want to re-use the water to cook the gnocchi in order the emphasize the color.
Cook the beets until they are soft when piercing with a fork. Cool them and peel the skin off. You can do this ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you start making the gnocchi.
Step 2 – Transfer the cooled beets with the cottage cheese and the egg into a blender and blend until smooth. The tiny cottage cheese balls with blend into the smooth mixture.
Step 3 – Combine flour and salt in a bowl and add the beet mixture to this and mix. Mix with a spatula and/or your hands.
Transfer the ‘dough’ onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. The dough will be sticky, so you may need to add a little bit more flour. Try to add a little as possible. Form a ball, wrap it in saran wrap and place it in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Step 4 – Transfer the gnocchi ‘dough’ back onto your floured surface, cut the ball in 4 parts and roll each out into a log or tube. Cut the gnocchi from that log. You can cut them short and chubby, form them into a ball or make them in a random shape; I cut long gnocchi. You may want to toss them with a little bit of flour to make sure they don’t stick together. Place the gnocchi onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place the baking sheet into the fridge for about 10 minutes, so the gnocchi firms up.
Step 5 – Heat up the water in which you cooked the beets. This is nice and golden and will help color the beet gnocchi more intensely.
Step 6 – When the beet water boils, use a slotted spoon and add the gnocchi in batches. Cook until the gnocchi float to the surface and transfer the gnocchi to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 7 – This is the last step of the recipe. Golden beets are rather delicate in flavor, so you want to give that flavor just a little bit of support. You can do this by baking the gnocchi in butter, but I prefer to make a quick and light Parmesan sauce. Discard all the gnocchi cooking water, except of 1/2 cup. Poor that back into the pan, add about 1/4-1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and stir until dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the gnocchi, stir and allow the sauce to coat. Sprinkle with parsley and serve in bowls or on plates. Grate some extra Parmigiano Reggiano cheese over the gnocchi and enjoy!
Alternative and Substitutes
- Golden beets – red beets are the most likely alternative to the golden ones and how beautiful would that be. Fantastic !
- Cottage cheese – ricotta cheese is your substitute for cottage cheese.
- Parmigiano Reggiano – a likely alternative would be Pecorino Romano.
- Parsley – sage, thyme or dill. I would stay away from rosemary as it would totally overpower the beets.
Other beets recipes
- Pearl Couscous with Beets
- Roasted Beet Soup with Apple and Creme Fraiche
- Golden Beet Salad
- Caprese Salad with Yellow Beets
Golden Beet Gnocche with Cottage Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 ounces golden beets (NOTE 1)
- 1/2 egg
- 2 ounces cottage cheese (NOTE 2)
- 7 ounces all-purpose flour
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (NOTE 3) finely grated
- 1/4 cup parsley (NOTE 4) finely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the beets. You can do this by roasting them in the oven ‘naked’ or wrapped in aluminum foil. I decided to cook them in water on the stove as I want to re-use the water for the cooking of the gnocchi.Cook the beets until they are soft when pierced with a fork. Cool them and peel the skin off. You can do this ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you start making the gnocchi.
- Transfer the cooled beets with the cottage cheese and the egg into a blender and blend until smooth. The tiny cottage cheese balls with blend into the smooth mixture.
- Combine flour and salt in a bowl and add the beet mixture to this and mix with a spatula and/or your hands.
- Transfer the ‘dough’ onto a floured kitchen counter and knead for a few minutes. The dough will be sticky, so you may need to add a little bit more flour. Try to add a little as possible. Form a ball, wrap it in saran wrap and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
- Transfer the gnocchi ‘dough’ back onto your floured surface, cut the ball in 4 parts and roll them out into a log or tube. You can do this anyway you like. This recipe I cut long gnocchi, rather than the short rounder ones. Make sure they don’t stick together (you may want to toss them with a little bit of flour). Transfer the gnocchi onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place that in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
- Heat up the water in which you cooked the beets. This is nice and golden and will help color the beet gnocchi more intensely.
- When the beet water boils, use a slotted spoon and add the gnocchi in batches. Cook until the gnocchi float to the surface and transfer the gnocchi to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Discard all the gnocchi cooking water, except of 1/2 cup. Poor that back into the pan, add about 1/4-1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and stir until dissolved. Add salt, pepper to taste. Add the gnocchi, stir and allow the sauce to coat. Sprinkle with parsley and serve in bowls or on plates. Grate some extra Parmigiano Reggiano cheese over the gnocchi and enjoy!
Notes
- Use red beets if you prefer, it makes no difference as far as the recipe is concerned.
- Replace cottage cheese with ricotta cheese.
- Instead of Parmigiano Reggiano you can use Pecorino Romano cheese.
- Parsley can be replace with sage or thyme.
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