Veggie Gnocchi Traybake With Pesto

This veggie gnocchi traybake with pesto is a delicious one-pan dinner packed with veggies and drizzled with a delicious creamy spinach and basil pesto. It comes together in less than 40 minutes with minimal prep and will become one of your new favourite dishes (and likely the best creamy pesto you’ll ever make!).

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 1 small zucchini (or 1/2 medium/large)
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp Italian spice blend
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 600-700g gnocchi (or gluten-free gnocchi)

Creamy Pesto

• 3/4 cup spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/3 cup roasted unsalted cashews
• 50g silken tofu
• 1/2 lemon (about 1 tbsp lemon juice)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup water or oat milk
• 1/4 tsp salt

Equipment

• Blender
• Pot
• Baking dish

Instructions

1. Boil water for gnocchi and preheat oven to 375F.
2. Wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them each in half. Slice the zucchini into half moons, and peel and slice garlic into thin pieces.
3. Once the water starts boiling, add in the gnocchi then stir. The gnocchi should start floating after about 2-3 minutes, then drain it and drizzle 1/2 tbsp of olive oil.
4. To a baking dish, add the cooked gnocchi, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and sliced garlic. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil, then season with Italian seasoning and salt. Stir with a spoon until the gnocchi and veggies are well coated with the oil and spices, then place in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. After 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir, before roasting another 10 minutes.
6. In a blender, add the spinach and basil leaves, cashews, silken tofu, lemon juice, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, water or oat milk and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy, adding a dash more water or oat milk if needed for creaminess.
7. Once the gnocchi dish is out of the oven, drizzle with the creamy pesto sauce and enjoy immediately!

Notes

*Depending on the strength of your blender, you may need to soak cashews in boiling water before blending. I find the best blender for cashews is a bullet blender!

*Gnocchi doesn’t save very well for leftovers. If cooking for 1 person, I recommend halving the recipe, or making half of the gnocchi (300-350g) and all of the pesto and saving the remaining half for later.