Carrot Gnocchi with Walnut Cranberry Pesto

The first time I experienced gnocchi {nyoh-kee: a potato dumpling} I was 21. I was in Sorrento, Italy studying the Mediterranean Diet and taking Italian cooking courses. It was heavenly - the gnocchi, the food, the scenery.

I have had gnocchi since that time, but it has never been the same. Gnocchi is not difficult to prepare it just takes some time.

While browsing through recipes I found this recipe for Pumpkin Gnocchi and Cranberry Walnut Pesto. Doesn't it looked divine?

I changed it up a bit. Since it's spring {everywhere but Utah} and I bought a 5 pound bag of carrots, I thought I would try carrots instead of pumpkin. I also added in an egg instead of tofu and the nutritional yeast because I didn't have any. I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, which did make the dough a bit more heavy than it should. And since I made the gnocchi non-vegan, I decided to make the pesto non-vegan by adding freshly grated Parmesan cheese in place of the nutritional yeast.

I still think there are a few kinks that need to be worked out, but overall it was pretty yummy. My 10 month old loved it. My 3 year old loved only 3 bites of it.

{Italian cooking class 6/2005}