I am still testing recipes from Lorraine Pascale‘s cookbook Fast, Fresh and Easy Food! and this vegetarian main course caught my attention: Pan-fried mascarpone gnocchi with dreamy basil pesto. In the past I tried home made boiled potatoes gnocchi and not only did it take me hours to prepare them, but the final result was a complete disaster. My gnocchi ended up as a potato gruel that we forced ourselves to eat!
Reading Lorraine Pascale’s recipe, I liked the fact that no boiling process was involved but instead was pan-frying. I also appreciated that the main ingredient was mascarpone and not potato! I skipped the making of the pesto and used pesto from a jar. I also doubled the amount of ingredients so that I could freeze half of the gnocchi raw for another day. Then, the other night, I cooked the other batch of gnocchi I had prepared with a tomato and parsley sauce (made with a tin of chopped tomatoes, some balsamic vinegar and chopped fresh flat leaf parsley). My boys loved both styles!
Ingredients: 
Halfway through, put a large frying pan on a medium to high heat with a drizzle of olive oil.
Leave the gnocchi to cook on one side for a minute, before carefully turning them over with a fish slice.
Cook for a further four minutes, continuing to gently turn them every so often until they are crisp and golden all over and warmed through.
If the gnocchi didn’t fit in your pans then tip the cooked ones in a bowl, cover with tin foil to keep warm and cook the remainder, adding more oil and butter as necessary.
Once all the gnocchi are cooked, stir the pesto or tomato sauce (or any sauce of your choice!) through until evenly coated. 
Ingredients:
- 100g parmesan (or a similar cheese alternative like gruyère), grated
- small handful of fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked (or 1 tbsp of dried oregano)
- 350g mascarpone
- 300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 eggs
Tip the parmesan into a medium bowl.
Add the thyme (or the dried oregano) along with the mascarpone, plain flour, eggs and salt and pepper, to taste.
Mix together to give a soft dough.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead together to form a smooth ball.
Divide the mixture and roll each one out into a sausage.
Cut each “sausage” in pieces.
As you can see my little boy is already licking his lips!
Leave the gnocchi to cook on one side for a minute, before carefully turning them over with a fish slice.
Cook for a further four minutes, continuing to gently turn them every so often until they are crisp and golden all over and warmed through.
If the gnocchi didn’t fit in your pans then tip the cooked ones in a bowl, cover with tin foil to keep warm and cook the remainder, adding more oil and butter as necessary.
Once all the gnocchi are cooked, stir the pesto or tomato sauce (or any sauce of your choice!) through until evenly coated.
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I just made the gnocchi with pesto. I think I did something wrong as the whole dish was quite dry. Were your gnocchi oozing (as described by Lorraine? ) I thought there was maybe too much flour? I think the gnocchi I have frozen would probably be better with a tomato sauce as you have suggested.
Yes Helen, it was quite dry and that is why I sued tomato sauce instead of pesto! It was definitely not oozing! I think the gnocchi made with potato mash are not so dry!