Asparagus Gnocchi

A great batch of asparagus plus a great batch of gnocchi, what could be better than that? If you wanted to load this up with more veg, consider adding peas, courgettes and any other spring/early summer greens or perhaps adding some chopped olives and toasted pine nuts too. The asparagus isn’t cooked for long and beautifully contrasts the soft mouthfuls of gnocchi. Be generous with the olive oil, lemon and Parmesan.

Serves 2-3

100g asparagus, cut into small pieces
50g butter
1/2 lemon zest (and juice)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, grated
30g parmesan, grated
Handful mint, finely sliced
400g gnocchi

Trim the ends of the asparagus and then cut the asparagus into small pieces. I split the heads to match the size of the stem.

Melt the butter into a pan, add the asparagus and lemon zest and let the lemon toast in the oil and season the asparagus while it cooks.

Add a little olive oil and the garlic and cook for a minute longer.

The pasta will take a second to cook so make sure you have all your other ingredients prepped to go once it’s finished cooking. Cook the gnocchi and add a shallow ladle of the cook water to the asparagus. Once the gnocchi is cooked add Parmesan, lemon juice and black pepper to the asparagus sauce and then mix the sauce as well as the mint through the pasta gently, not crushing it as you do.