This tasty and flavorful dish include a delicious sauce, fried gnocchi, fresh and silklike buffalo mozzarella and pistachio nuts. It is easy to make and perfect to serve both for a weekday meal or weekend dinner. This dish is vegetarian and gluten free.
Are you a fan of gnocchi? If you’re not then you might need to try this dish with fried gnocchi and roasted bell pepper & sun-dried tomato sauce to change your mind! I love both cooked and fried gnocchi, they’re great in different ways and depending on what you serve them with. But if I had to choose one of them it would definitely be fried ones. This dish combines a lovely roasted red bell pepper and sun-dried tomato sauce, gnocchi with a crispy outside and a tender and soft inside served with smooth and creamy buffalo mozzarella and crunchy pistachio nuts. It’s a fresh yet hearty dish that combines many different flavors and textures. You have sweet, savory, roasted, mild, hot, salty and acidic flavors creating an aromatic and flavorful sauce. Accompanied with the crispy gnocchi, fresh silklike buffalo mozzarella and crunchy pistachio nuts this dish makes a hearty, flavorful, fresh and delicious dish that is great to make both for a weeknight meal or weekend dinner. It is vegetarian and gluten free.
A few tips:
- I used store bought gluten free gnocchi for this dish. You can also make your own if preferred.
- I prefer to roast the bell pepper and garlic in advance and have it ready to use when making this sauce. But you can also roast them just before starting to prepare the sauce.
- You can use store bought roasted bell pepper and garlic if you want.
- If you don’t have paprika & sun-dried tomato stock fond you can use also use a vegetable stock fond or stock cube. It will affect the taste slightly. You can also add about 1-2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes and 1 tsp of paprika powder more additional to the stock pot/stock cube.
- Mix the sauce in a high speed blender until completely smooth.
- Let the sauce simmer in the pan for at least 20 minutes, to let the flavors evolve and combine. Add a bit of water if needed while it simmers.
- The gnocchi can be fried in a skillet or baked in the oven or air fryer. Fry on medium heat in oil or butter until golden brown and warm.
- Bake in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes or in the air fryer at 190 degrees Celsius for 10-13 minutes. Stir 2-3 times during the baking time.
- Use a creamy good quality buffalo mozzarella to make sure it’s creamy, smooth and silklike. You want it to melt and spread over the warm sauce and gnocchi.
- The sauce can be made in advance and reheated on low heat in a skillet or pot while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Ingredients for this Gnocchi with Red Bell Pepper & Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce:
- Red bell pepper
- Garlic
- Shallot
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Sea salt
- Chili flakes
- Cumin
- Paprika powder
- Stock pot Paprika & Sun-dried tomato flavor (or a vegetable flavored stock pot/stock cube)
- Lemon juice
- Cream (I used reduced fat)
- Gluten free gnocchi (Homemade or store bought)
- Butter or olive oil
- Cherry tomatoes
- Buffalo mozzarella
- Pistachio nuts
- Fresh basil
- Black pepper
Other recipes you might like:
- Sweet Potato & Ricotta Gnocchi with Burrata (Vegetarian & Gluten Free)
- Beetroot Gnocchi (Vegan & Gluten Free)
- Roasted Point Cabbage with Scallion Salsa (Gluten, Grain Free & Low Carb)
- Beetroot Patties with Goat Cheese Cream (Vegetarian, Gluten & Grain Free)
- Baked Sweet Potato Halves with Feta Cheese (Vegetarian & Gluten Free)
- Sweet Potato & Beet Salad (Vegetarian, Gluten & Grain Free)
- Tray Roasted Vegetables with Baked Feta (Vegetarian & Gluten Free)
- Pasta Alla Norma (Vegetarian, Gluten, Grain Free & Low Carb)
- Ricotta & Tomato Galette (Vegetarian, Gluten Free & Lower Fat)
Gnocchi with Red Bell Pepper & Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce (Vegetarian & Gluten Free)
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 large Red bell pepper roasted
- 1 whole Garlic (not garlic clove) roasted
- 1/2 Shallot roughly chopped
- 1/2-3/4 dl Sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) drained from most of the oil
- A pinch of Sea salt
- 1/4-1/3 tsp Chili flakes
- 1/3 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Paprika powder
- 1/2 Stock Pot with Paprika & Sun-ried tomato flavor (can be omitted or swapped for a stock cube)
- 1/2 tbsp Lemon juice
- Water, to thin as needed
- 1/2-1 dl Cream (I used reduced fat)
For the gnocchi
- 2 servings Gnocchi (homemade or store bought)
- Butter or olive oil, to fry
- 10-12 Cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 2 Buffalo mozzarella torn into smaller pieces
- Pistachio nuts roughly chopped
- Fresh basil
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place the garlic in aluminium foil and seal well.
- Roast bell pepper and garlic in the oven or air fryer at 190 degrees Celsius until charred and the garlic is soft. 40-50 minutes.
- Let them cool slightly, remove the skin from the bell pepper.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic out from the skin into a high speed blender together with the remaining ingredients except for the water and cream. Blend until smooth.
- Preheat a nonstick pan over medium heat, pour the bell pepper and sun-dried tomato sauce into the pan and bring to a simmer. Keep simmering on low heat for 20-25 minutes. Taste to check if more seasoning is needed and add water as needed.
- Meanwhile fry gnocchi in oil or butter in a skillet. Or place gnocchi on an oven/air fryer safe baking dish, drizzle with oil/butter and bake in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes or air fryer 190 degrees Celsius for 10-13 minutes. Stir 2-3 times if baking in the oven/air fryer.
- Add the cream to the bell pepper tomato sauce, stir to combine and cook for 3-5 minutes more.
- Add the sauce at the bottom of two plates or bowls. Add cherry tomatoes.
- Next divide the gnocchi between the two plates and top with pieces of buffalo mozzarella, pistachio nuts, fresh basil and freshly ground black pepper.