Brown butter & spinach gluten free gnocchi! Topped with hazelnuts, lemon, parmesan & mint.
This is a very easy recipe, that utilities store-bought gnocchi (though you can of course make your own), celebrates in-season spinach and tastes like heaven. It’s a recipe that’s gluten-free and FODMAP friendly naturally (meaning no strange substitutions or additions), can be ready in 10 minutes AND easily scaled down for one or scaled up for four.
Browning butter
Browning butter is a really simple process that can transform both sweet and savoury recipes. If you’ve browned butter before then I know you’ll know just how good this recipe is and if you haven’t browned butter before then know I’m excited for you to find out! Crunchy hazelnuts and fresh mint make this recipe even better.
Ingredient notes for brown butter & spinach gluten free gnocchi
Gluten free gnocchi – I used the Garofalo brand gluten free gnocchi as it has a lovely short ingredient list
Spinach – I often buy ‘young’ spinach rather than ‘baby’ spinach as it tends to be cheaper, is lower in FODMAPs and – to me – has a bit more of a spinachy taste.
Stock cube – Adding a stock cube to the cooking water (check low FODMAP if needed) is such a quick hack to add extra savoury flavour, but you can omit if you wish
Frozen edamame – a great lower FODMAP alternative to frozen peas (both are in my freezer at all times)
Lemon – Fresh lemon juice lifts all of the ingredients and adds tang and acidity to cut through the rich butter
Ingredients
1 (low FODMAP if needed) stock cube
40g butter
15g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 x 400g pack gluten free potato gnocchi
100g frozen edamame
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g spinach
1 lemon
Small chunk parmesan for grating
Small bunch mint leaves
Method
- Put a large saucepan of water onto boil. Once boiling, add in your stock cube and stir to dissolve.
- Meanwhile, add the butter to a large frying pan (a lighter coloured one will make it easier to see when the butter is browning) and place over a medium-low heat. Once the butter has melted, turn the heat up to medium and cook for a few minutes, or until bubbling and turning golden. Add in the chopped hazelnuts and cook for another minute or so – you’ll start to see little specks of brown in amongst the hazelnuts and bubbles, which are the milk solids in the butter browning, that’s where all the flavour is! It will also start to smell nutty and fragrant and glorious. Tip the butter and nuts out into a bowl to stop the cooking process and keep the frying pan handy.
- Tip the gnocchi and the edamame into the boiling stock/water and cook for 90 seconds.
- Heat a small amount of oil in the same frying pan that you browned the butter. Once ready, use a slotted spoon to move the gnocchi and edamame from the saucepan to hot frying pan. Cook for 30 seconds then add in the spinach and the juice of ½ of lemon, stirring to wilt the spinach. Add the browned butter and hazelnuts back into the frying pan, along with a generous grating of parmesan. Stir everything together so that the cheese melts and the gnocchi is coated in the nutty butter.
- Season to taste, divide between two plates and finish with another grating of parmesan, a grind of black pepper and some fresh mint leaves.
- This recipe uses FODMAP friendly ingredients and should fit in with FODMAP limits. I follow the Monash University app data to create FODMAP friendly recipes – if unsure, as always, please ask your dietician or GP
- Higher FODMAP variation: use frozen peas instead of edamame and a regular onion and garlic full stock cube! You can also up the nuts – although I think just a handful works best
