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Poor beets.  Often the shunned child because of the “canned beets” stigma and to my mother (sorry mom), a taste that is akin to dirt.  I feel that the color alone should reclaim beets from the supermarket shelves and in to fresh produce, but the taste of a roasted beet? Delicious with a hint of sweet.  This was an early crop of beets from the hoop house, the biggest beet measuring just larger than a golf ball.  Nothing too big, everything just right.

I feel like somedays the photos speak louder than any of my words could, so instead of aimless words about this dish, I leave you with photos (and beautiful color.)

I’ve been wanting to make something like this for a while now but when I saw Lakshmi’s Beet Dumplings, I knew it was time.  I should also mention that I had a, “I wonder why I should do this moment” when it came to peeling the beets.  Unless the skin is tough on any vegetable, I leave it on.  After roasting these beets for an hour, I found that the skin was barely there and by the time I pureed everything, I couldn’t even tell.

Finally, the mustard sauce was a moment of, “I just got done making homemade mustard, what can I throw it one!”  So, if you’re not a big mustard fan, I also think these would be delicious tossed in an herbed browned butter sauce.

Beet Gnocchi with Mustard Sauce and Goat Cheese
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian Main Course
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients
  • Gnocchi:
  • 4-5 small red beets (or 2-3 large ones)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1¼ cup-1¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • ½ cup parmesan
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Sauce:
  • ¼ cup homemade yellow/brown mustard
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • pinch salt
  • veggie broth to thin, if needed
  • Topping:
  • ¼ cup goat cheese (or more, if desired)
  • Fresh Herbs

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425˚.
  2. Scrub beets off and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place in a pan and roast until tender, approximately one hour depending on size of beet.
  3. While beets are roasting, make sauce. Pulse garlic in a food processor until in small pieces. Add in mustard, honey, olive oil, and salt. Pulse until sauce is combined, tasting until desired taste is reached. Remove and set aside.
  4. Once beets are done, place in a food processor with skin on. Pulse until beets form a smooth puree. I used approximately 1 cup of the puree and reserved the rest.
  5. Stir in salt, parmesan, egg, and ½ cup of the flour. Continue to stir and add flour until the mixture forms a soft dough (the dough might be sticky, just use more flour on your hands and surface). Place onto a surface covered in flour. Divide dough into three balls and roll each out into 1″ ropes and cut gnocchi 1″ at a time. Indent gnocchi with the tines of a fork. Repeat with remaining dough.
  6. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Place half the gnocchi in the boiling water and let cook for 5-6 minutes. I let the gnocchi go for a minute or two after they float to the top.
  7. Place gnocchi in a dish, drizzle mustard sauce and goat cheese on top. If you use, you can heat mustard sauce up in a skillet and add gnocchi to lightly fry, then add goat cheese.
  8. Serve warm with desired garnish.

Notes
A couple notes. I made this mustard on the spicier side by using a little over half brown mustard seeds. Obviously, if you make your own with only yellow or buy store bought, the flavor is going to change. Also, I’m really careful when I work with beets as they have been known to stain a few things in my kitchen.

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  • Guest

    Such a cool idea!

  • http://londonbakes.blogspot.com Kathryn

    What a beautiful colour, this dish is just so full of life and flavour.

  • http://happyolks.com/ Kelsey

    holy moses this looks good, erin!

  • Lena Mumenthaler

    The gnocchi are beautiful, and I just love that you can leave the skin on. I started to question the need to peel everything, and not doing it when it is not necessary makes life so much easier.

  • http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/ Gina @ Running to the Kitchen

    Gorgeous. My husband has the same opinion as your mom on beets. More for me.

  • http://www.ohladycakes.com/ Ashlae | oh, ladycakes

    I leave the skin on (nearly) every vegetable – I just clean them very well. It drives my boyfriend crazy, but what’s the point in peeling it off?

    The gnocchi is beautiful, and I need, need, NEED to find (err, make?) a gluten free alternative.

    • naturallyella

      Tell your boyfriend you’re trying not to waste anything :)

  • Psgnx4

    These look amazing Erin. Can’t wait to try them…question….I am gluten free. Do you know which flour I could use instead that would work in place of the pastry flour. I use bob’s redmill all purpose flour and I also have quinoa flour, but not sure if either of these would work. thanks again!!

    • naturallyella

      I think you’re all purpose bread mix might work. I didn’t use regular whole wheat flour because I thought it might be a bit too heavy. Maybe try it in a half batch and see how it works?

  • http://hampiesandwiches.blogspot.com/ Eileen

    These sound amazing! Yes, please.

    And there’s a canned beets stigma? But I love pickled beets! Of course, my mom did pickle & can them herself, so maybe I just have a different perspective. :)

    • naturallyella

      Probably just my stigma :) But when I think canned, I think actual cans from the grocery store. I’m sure home canned ones are delicious!

  • http://www.thefirstmess.com/ Laura

    Holy mega yums, Erin! I love those first-of-season beets, even after eating the stored ones all winter. Doesn’t matter to me, still so good. Perfectly composed dish, wonderful colours, just perfect :)

  • Mrs Ferguson

    beets are so underappreciated. this recipe is amazing, thanks for sharing!

  • http://letscookandbefriends.blogspot.com/ Margarita

    Amazing Erin… Just looking at the pictures made me appreciate you even more… your food is beyond lovely…

  • http://cafeterrablog.com Terra

    Oh what a lovely, recipe! And it looks so fun, and healthy:-) I bought a gnocchi maker recently, but still have not used it….I believe it is time to break that fun toy out:-) Take care, Terra

  • Genevieve

    What a gorgeous dish – if this was on a restaurant menu, I would definitely order it! I absolutely love anything made with beets and they pair so well with goat cheese. I’ve made pasta with a beet sauce a few times and I love the way the pasta turned bright pink, but I’ve never made the actual pasta itself from beets – I bet that would taste even better!

  • Laksmi

    Erin, your gnocchi looks fantastic. I suck in making them. Recently I’ve tried using both beets and spinach, and neither was satisfying. To save what there was to be saved, I ended up frying them in LOTS of butter and my husband thanked :-)

    Good point about skins. If they are organic and soft, a good idea to leave them on. Especially roasting makes them the best tasting part :-)

  • patty

    Can I freeze these before I cook them? Or refrigerate? Just to stretch out the recipe.

    • naturallyella

      I’ve never tried but I can’t see why not- I would say freezing would be the best best so they don’t dry out!

  • pao

    I love beets and I made this gnocchis twice already — both times they came out heavy, and not light as gnocchi are supposed to be. Any idea what I’m doing wrong?!
    Thanks!!

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