Cauliflower Gnocchi w/ Alfredo Sauce, Asparagus, and Bacon (gluten-free and dairy-free)
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I’ve been experimenting a lot of cauliflower lately. I think this is my favorite recipe so far. A lot of people have heard of the famous Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi that you can buy frozen. They’re made only using cauliflower, cassava flour, potato starch, olive oil, and sea salt. They’re incredibly easy to heat up and really convenient when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but I found that the consistency was always a little off for me. I decided to make my own and add in some alfredo sauce along with some asparagus and bacon for extra vegetables and flavor. These are a little bit of a time commitment, so just keep that in mind, but they’re sooo worth it!
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
2 cups cassava flour
3 cups asparagus, cut into 1/5-2 inch pieces
4-5 strips of bacon, cut into small strips
1/2 cup cashews
1 cup water
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 garlic cloves
1/2 yellow onion
1 tbsp grass fed butter or ghee (sub with olive oil if you would like to make dairy-free)
truffle oil (optional topping)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and start boiling water in a medium pot. Cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets and boil them once the water is ready. You will know the cauliflower is done when you can easily stick a fork through it.
Place the cauliflower into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the cauliflower pureé to a bowl and slowly mix the cassava flour in, 1/2 a cup at a time. You might need to add an extra 1/2-1 cup of flour if the batter is still too sticky and wet.
Grab a small handful of dough at a time and roll out each ball until it is about a 1/2 inch in diameter and 8-12 inches long. You will then cut little pieces about 1 inch long to make little “pillows”. Keep repeating this process until you have used up all of the dough. While you are doing this, get a new batch of water in the medium pot and bring that to a boil.
Once you have cut your gnocchi into pieces, you will want to place it in the water only for a few minutes, until it floats to the surface of the water. Take it out and place in a strainer until the remaining water drips off. Grease a baking sheet with olive, avocado, or coconut oil. Place an even layer of gnocchi on the baking sheet- you will most likely have 2, maybe 3 sheets of gnocchi pieces. Place each sheet in the oven for 15 minutes and then take out, flip and place back in the over for another 10 minutes.
While the gnocchi is baking, cook the onion, garlic and butter in a large pan until the onion is translucent. Then transfer the mixture into the blender and blend along with the nutritional yeast, olive oil, water, cashews, salt, and pepper. Blend for a minute or two. While thats blending, place the asparagus into the the same pan and sauté for a few minutes.
In a separate pan cook the bacon until its crispy. Pour the alfredo sauce mixture into the large pan with the asparagus. When the gnocchi is ready, add it to the pan. Stir mixture together until well combined and top with bacon. Add a drizzle of truffle oil to add even more amazing flavor.
Enjoy!
With love,
Ashley
