The Weekly Vegetable: Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Spicy Sauteed Greens

For the first meal made with CSA ingredients, I was thinking big. I was honestly thinking of preparing everything from yesterday's "menu exercise" post. But by the time I picked up my share and dragged it - plus other assorted groceries - home, I was sweaty and grouchy and wanted something much less involved. I decided to push the elaborate salad until the next day and just focus on the gnocchi, which would only require a couple of the vegetables, particularly ones that didn't have to be chopped in difficult ways. I also took the logical shortcut and bought prepared gnocchi at Shaw's.

This dish was ridiculously easy to make. By the way, most of these CSA "recipes" that I share with you won't have exact amounts or cooking times. They're designed to be easy starting points for improvisation. (And by "designed," I really mean that I threw a bunch of stuff together in the kitchen, it actually worked out, and now I'm sort of telling you how to replicate it.)

Ingredients Gnocchi (I used prepared; make your own if you feel like it) Greens to sauté (I used Swiss chard and red Russian kale; spinach and broccoli rabe would probably be good alternatives, as well as most other dark leafy greens) Garlic (chopped) Frank's Red Hot Tomatoes (I used a can of diced tomatoes with chipotle that I received at an event ages ago) Olive oil

Directions Start boiling water for the gnocchi. While it's heating up, get your greens washed and torn and ready to be sauteed. Chop up a clove or so of garlic as well. Cook the gnocchi once the water's boiling; the prepared gnocchi that I bought only needed about two minutes. Drain the gnocchi and set it aside for a moment. Heat up some oil and the chopped garlic in a pan large enough to accomodate all the greens. (Keep in mind that greens like kale cook down a lot, so use more than you think you want.) Once the oil is hot, add the gnocchi. Don't shake it around too much at first - let one side start getting crispy. When the gnocchi is almost fried as much as you want, add the greens and the Frank's. (Give it a generous drizzle of Frank's if you like some heat. This is one of the main components of the original Buffalo wing sauce, folks. This and butter.) Finally, add some tomatoes - diced or however you prefer. Cook everything to the desired doneness. It'll probably only need a minute or so more at this point.

That's it! Not very ambitious...but it was delicious!