Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts

This looks and tastes incredibly elegant for a dish that takes less than 20 minutes to prepare. It’s good enough to serve to company, but fast enough that you won’t mind throwing it together after a long day at work. Although this is a “Winter Recipe” according to Cooking Light, it was surprisingly light and fresh tasting, even with the butter sauce. I certainly wouldn’t mind eating it throughout the Spring and Summer months! If you’re unfamiliar with gnocchi, it’s a pasta made primarily from potatoes, with flour and sometimes other ingredients mixed in. I was excited to find that my grocery store carries whole wheat gnocchi, which has slightly better nutrition information than the average variety.  This is a great dish and the Parmesan cheese finishes it off beautifully. I absolutely recommend this for any occasion you’d like to whip up something that looks impressive with minimal time and effort. To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!

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Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 20 mins

Calories: 309kcal

This dish looks and tastes upscale but comes together quickly and easily!

Yield: 4 (scant 1 cup) servings

Ingredients

• 1 (16 oz) package of whole wheat gnocchi , (you can use regular potato gnocchi if you can’t find whole wheat)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 10 oz fresh baby spinach, torn
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Instructions

• Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
• In a large sauté pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add pine nuts and cook for 3 minutes or until butter and pine nuts begin to brown. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add gnocchi and spinach and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until spinach is wilted. Stir in salt and pepper. Divide evenly onto four plates and sprinkle each serving with 1 T Parmesan cheese.

Notes

To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!

NUTRITION INFORMATION:

309 calories, 42 g carbs, 1 g sugar, 12 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 11 g protein, 5 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)

MyWW SmartPoints per (scant 1 cup) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

Green: 10 SmartPoints/ Blue: 10 SmartPoints/ Purple: 10 SmartPoints

Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

slightly adapted from Cooking Light’s 91 Easy Winter Recipes 2011, Canadian Edition

Author: Emily Bites

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: 20 Minute Recipe, Easy WW Dinner