The Gnocchi Process

So the reason I sprouted lentils, dried them and turned them into a flour in the first place (see last post) is because I had an idea to make raw sprouted lentil gnocchi. Cool huh? I think Gnocchi translated to layman's terms means "lots of work" - cooked or raw, it seems to be a lengthy process.

I made four different batches, testing, adding, taking away. I didn't come up with a final "This is it!" recipe, and I'm yet to master the texture, but they are pretty fun and very easy to make (if you have the time to sprout, dehydrate and grind - see previous post for instructions).

Here is my lab work:

Juice one onion
Juice a few stalks of celery

ALL GNOCCHI
¼ cup lentil flour
1/8 tsp powdered sea salt (grind sea salt to a powder in a coffee grinder)
a few grinds of pepper
1 tbsp ground chia seeds

variation #1
3 tsp onion juice
½ tsp water
1/8 tsp olive oil
2 pinches each: dried oregano, fresh parsley, dill + cilantro

* this recipe was a bit dry and had a strong onion flavour but quite fluffy inside

variation #2
1.5 tsp onion juice
2 tsp water
1 tsp olive oil
fresh herbs

variation #3
3 tsp celery juice
½ tsp onion juice
1 tsp water
1 tsp or less olive oil
chopped fresh sage

* this variation was good, more olive oil was a nice flavour, but too much will make it more tough. Sage was tasty but I prefer the other fresh herbs such as cilantro, parsley, dill and basil.

Mix ingredients well in a bowl with a spoon.
Roll into small balls and press with a fork to get tine marks
Place in dehydrator for 10-20 mins to warm



I think the trick here is to add some water to make them more fluffy. Celery juice was really nice as well. If you are going to try this at home make a few variations as I did and see what one you like the best. If you don't want them to have a hard outside from the dehydrator coat them in olive oil first. If you come up with a better recipe let me know!

I made two different sauces for these little guys. First was a raw orange tomato vinaigrette and the second was a fresh sage cashew cream sauce w. truffle oil. Both were good but the tomato sauce cut the strong flavour of the lentils nicely. Sprouted lentil flour tastes like fresh peas kind of.

Raw Tomato Vinaigrette
2 medium organic orange tomatoes
about 1/6-1/4 cup raw cider vinegar
1-2 tbsp agave, or to taste
a few pinches of salt
1/2 clove of garlic if u must…
¼ cup olive oil

blitz all but oil in high speed blender. Then whisk in oil. You can also just add the oil to the blender and emulsify, that's what I did.



For the sage cream I soaked and blended raw cashews with lemon juice, fresh sage, sea salt, pepper, water, some celery juice... gosh I can't remember what else, some olive oil perhaps...
Pretty much just follow my recipe for dill cream sauce from the "Peas Out of the Pod" post from August but leave the dill out and replace it with a few leaves of sage and maybe a touch of fresh parsley. Add some celery juice and taste for goodness. Top it all with truffle oil. God I love that stuff.

Happy experimenting!