An incredible and rich recipe. The umami of the smoked tofu, mushrooms, and garlic together are quite satisfying! Definitely more of a winter recipe than a summer recipe, but I hope you give this a try.
You can buy gnocchi in the refrigerated section of most stores, but you can also make your own: https://brock280.wixsite.com/rachelsfoodblog/blog/gnocchi
The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
16 oz. gnocchi
1 tsp. vegetable bouillon or salt for gnocchi
4 oz. smoked tofu trimmed and crumbled (or 12 oz. diced chicken breast)
4-6 oz. sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. flour
3 cups destemmed and chopped spinach
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth (or 1 tsp. vegetable bouillon dissolved in 1 1/2 cup water)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan (or Parmigiano Reggiano)
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
1/2 tsp. dried basil (optional)
Dried parsley (optional)
Directions:
Prepare all ingredients by chopping, mincing, crumbling, and measuring.
Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil with salt or 1 tsp. vegetable bouillon. Begin boiling gnocchi, about 20 at a time, until they float to the top. When at the top remove and strain and set aside. Continue until all gnocchi are cooked.
While the gnocchi are cooking, start melting the butter in a large pan on medium heat. Add in the tofu and mushrooms and sauté for 5-10 minutes, or until golden and cooked.
Then add in the minced garlic & flour and sauté for about 30-60 seconds. Add the spinach and cook about 60 seconds until it wilts.
Take the pan off the heat. Slowly pour in the broth and mix it in.
Put the pan back on low heat. Add the seasonings (oregano, basil, and black pepper), and parmesan and let them melt and wilt into the sauce. Then add in the gnocchi.
Serve with additional parmesan and dried parsley, if desired.
Keeps in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
3-4 servings
After trimming the edges of the tofu and before crumbling.
After crumbling the tofu into ~1 cm pieces. Make sure to prep the other ingredients ahead of cooking as well!
Cook the gnocchi in batches. When you add them to the boiling water first they will sink.
When they rise that means they are done cooking and you can strain them and start the next batch.
Here are some of the gnocchi after cooking.
While cooking the gnocchi, you can start the sauce:
First melt butter in a pan.
Then add your tofu and mushrooms and start frying.
After frying the tofu and mushrooms, now we can add the garlic (next picture)
Then you add your garlic, mix and cook for about 60 seconds.
After cooking the garlic you add the flour and cook in about 60 seconds as well.
After cooking in the flour. Next we add the spinach and cook it down. And then add the cream mixture to make the sauce.
After mixing in cooking the spinach and adding the broth and cream. Then stir in the
Final step is to mix in the gnocchi.
And we're done! Your sauce may look smoother than mine :)