Mexican Gnocchi and Guacamole

The perfect weekday comfort food: Potato gnocchi in a creamy Mexican spiced sauce!Chantal found this (vegan) recipe over at One Green Planet and it turned out to be a delicious one-pot supper that – especially with store-bought gnocchi and enchilada sauce – is on the table within 20 minutes. The creamy sauce – based on coconut milk – is delicately spiced and not necessarily hot, so very suitable for the entire family and it serves 4-6.

As a bonus, their recipe also linked to a great and simple enchilada sauce recipe. As you, unfortunately, can’t easily find prefab enchilada sauce in Dutch stores yet, I have taken that one up here as well, with only minor adjustments. The original recipe had two mentions of cumin in different quantities and I replaced the smallest quantity with coriander powder. Furthermore, the original quantity of chili powder was halved in view of the wellbeing of the kids. It should be noted that their pictures and narrative do suggest that the dish has beans in them, but they were missing from the actual recipe. Surely, they would be great to add as well.

Enchilada Sauce

This recipe will take about 15-20 minutes and yields about 4 cups / 1 liter of great enchilada sauce, but you only need 1 cup / 250ml for the gnocchi recipe. Nevertheless, the remaining sauce freezes well for later use, for, like, actual enchiladas…

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp cumin powder
• ½ tbsp chili powder (double this quantity for an extra kick!)
• ½ tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ¼ cup  / 35g flour
• ¼ cup / 55g tomato paste
• 4 cups / 1 liter of vegetable stock

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium-high and once the oil is hot add all spices and fry for about 1 minute.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and when combined add the flour so it will form a ball and let it cook for about 1 or 2 more minutes.
3. Slowly add the broth, stirring as you go, until the sauce has a fully smooth consistency.
4. Bring sauce to a boil until it thickens and then set it aside.

Mexican Gnocchi

The gnocchi recipe was also slightly tweaked. I halved the quantity of dried oregano as the taco seasoning I used already had quite a bit in it. The nutritional yeast was skipped as well as I thought that the dish was already seasoned well enough.

• 2 cups / 500ml coconut milk
• 1 cup / 250ml enchilada sauce
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 large tomato, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup / 50g sweet corn (from can or frozen)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (if using)
• 18oz / 500g pack of potato gnocchi (store-bought is fine)

1. In a large bowl, mix the coconut milk, enchilada sauce, and taco seasoning well and set aside.
2. Heat a large frying pan on medium heat, then add the olive oil and red onions and cook them until they start to soften for about 3 minutes.
3. Then add the bell pepper and let them slightly soften as well for about 3 minutes.
4. Add the tomato, sweet corn, oregano, garlic powder, gnocchi as well as the sauce mixture and stir (gently) to combine
5. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook everything until the gnocchi are soft (about 10 minutes).

   

Guacamole

For garnish, I used chopped coriander leaves and a good blob of guacamole. Here is my standard guacamole recipe that you can whip up in 5 minutes by combining the following ingredients:

1. • 2 avocados, peeled and roughly mashed with a fork
   • 2 spring onions, finely sliced
   • 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
   • 1 tomato, finely diced
   • juice of 1 lime
   • a couple of tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander leaves
   • season to taste with some salt and a good splash of (chipotle) tabasco