Cauliflower gnocchi that sound like something healthy and yummy I can actually eat! How hard could it be to cut up some cauliflower and add some oil salt and flour to it, turns out, harder than I thought. All I needed for this “simple” recipe was cauliflower, flour, oil, and salt. Since I have endometriosis and do not eat gluten I decided to substitute almond flour (which by the way that’s what the recipe said to do if you want gluten-free). I cooked my cauliflower then squeezed out the water with a tea towel (it’s possible I didn’t squeeze enough of the liquid out). Then I added it to my food processor along with the flour, oil, and salt. At this point everything is going according to plan and things are looking good, so I mix the dough in the food processor and its looking a bit wet. I take it out of the food processor and I add some more flour, actually its looking very wet! I continue to add, and add, and add flour till I have added at least a cup and a half more of flour. At this point its not looking completely like dough but it is holding its form so I figure its good enough. I roll it out cut it up and run it along a fork to make the perfect design on each one of my gnocchi pieces and I’m thinking to myself “this is looking pretty good, think this might actually turn out pretty great” but the wet dough was not the worst part of this story. I finally finish making all my pieces and I slide them onto my boiling water, as water splashes onto my hand and burns me, “okay not to bad Christine keep going you are almost done, and you will have some yummy gnocchi to eat in no time.” Yay the gnocchi is cooking and I can finally sit down and take a quick break before I start my vegan pesto. I notice that the water looks like its about to boil over, but more importantly I notice a thick white foamy substance at the time, “that can’t be right.” As I got closer I realized indeed it was not right, did my gnocchi turn into mush? I dip the serving spoon it the pat and it was as if all the gnocchi disintegrated, it was gone! I couldn’t believe it, I had ruined my gnocchi that I had just worked so hard to make. I was so frustrated I literally burst into tears. I started to think, “I could have been studying, I could have been eating something else, that almond flour and cauliflower aren’t cheap. I stopped composed myself and said “what is the positive of this experience?” POSITIVE! How could anything about this be positive! But this was a learning experience, I know for next time to add more flour, to make sure I have a dough consistency before I put them in the pot, and to test just one gnocchi piece in the pot before putting the entire plate of gnocchi in the pot. Sometimes things don’t happen the way we want them to, and that can be very frustrating, but we have to learn how to take something out of every experience. I am going to make cauliflower gnocchi again and it may turn out wrong again, but I know I will be one step closer to perfecting every time I make it, because I will learn from each experience. When life knocks you down get back up and try again don’t just quit because you didn’t get it right the first time. In life we hardly get things right the first time.

If you would like to try the cauliflower gnocchi I added the recipe below. Let me know how it goes and next time I try I will make sure to add my new tips and tricks to this blog post!

Enjoy and good luck!

Cauliflower Gnocchi Recipe

Ingredients

5 cups cauliflower, roughly chopped

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, or gluten-free flour (I used almond flour)

¾ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pesto sauce, for serving (I made dairy-free kale pesto, find in recipes)

Preparation

1. Add cauliflower to steamer basket and set over medium pot of boiling water. Cover and steam for 10 minutes, or until fork tender.
2. Transfer the cauliflower to a clean dish towel and squeeze excess water into bowl
3. Transfer squeezed cauliflower to a food processor. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil and pulse until dough forms a ball
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes, or until the dough bounces back when poked. (my dough did not do this!)
5. Shape the dough into a ball, then cut into 4 equal pieces.
6. Working 1 piece at a time, cut in half again, then roll out a rope about 6 inches long and 1 inch wide. Slice each rope into ½ inch pieces
7. Roll each piece along the back of a fork to create a line pattern
8. Transfer the gnocchi to a large pot of salted boiling water. Boil until the gnocchi float to the surface, 3-5 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon. (this is where everything fell apart for me)
9. Toss the gnocchi with pesto sauce and serve immediately (didn’t get to this step so I had to use my pesto for zucchini pasta instead, but it was very good)

watch the preparation video here:

https://tasty.co/recipe/cauliflower-gnocchi