Recipe: Creamy Green Garlic & Avocado Pesto Over Gnocchi

Erin Gleeson
Erin Gleeson
Erin Gleeson is the New York Times-bestselling cookbook author and artist behind the lifestyle brand The Forest Feast. After working in New York as a food photographer, she left the city for a cabin in the woods which took her work in a whole new direction. Inspired by local California produce, she has now created 5 vegetarian cookbooks and a line of products that showcase her unique blend of photography overlaid with watercolor illustrations and hand lettering. Erin’s goal is to inspire people to be creative at home, to cook more with vegetables, and to share meals together. She lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California with her husband Jon and their 3 kids.
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updated May 2, 2019
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Credit: Erin Gleeson

Serves4 to 6

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(Image credit: Erin Gleeson)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Hello! Erin from The Forest Feast here, bringing you the second recipe in my series of Farmers Market Feasts for the month of May. There is a fantastic little seasonal farmers market that recently began down the road from me in the mountains. I try to go every week, and I’ve been getting to know the farmers, which is fun! This week I picked up some green garlic and fresh basil to make a creamy avocado pesto.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Erin Gleeson)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The basil they had at the market was called “sacred basil.” It was flowering, so it was too pretty not to buy. I blended these items in my food processor with avocado (for added creaminess), plus parmesan cheese, olive oil and salt. I substituted the usual pine nuts for sunflower seeds since they are much less expensive and still very tasty.

A note on green garlic: green garlic does not have cloves that need to be peeled like regular garlic does. Instead, you simply cut off the roots and slice it like you would an onion. The stalks are edible as well, like scallions.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
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Creamy Green Garlic & Avocado Pesto Over Gnocchi

Serves 4 to 6

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 1

    ripe avocado, pit removed and flesh scraped from the skin

  • 3

    bulbs of green garlic, with a bit of the green stalk (substitute 3 cloves of garlic if you can't find this)

  • 1 cup

    fresh basil leaves (packed)

  • 1/4 cup

    shaved Parmesan, plus extra to serve

  • 1/4 cup

    olive oil

  • 1/4 cup

    sunflower seeds (roasted and salted), plus extra to serve

  • A pinch of coarse salt

  • 2

    (16-ounce) packages gnocchi

Instructions

  1. Blend the avocado, green garlic, basil, parmesan, olive oil, sunflower seeds, and salt in a blender until smooth.

  2. Cook the gnocchi according to package instructions. Drain and combine the gnocchi with the pesto. Enjoy right away, garnished with sunflower seeds and parmesan shavings.

Recipe Notes

The pesto recipe above makes enough for two 16-ounce packages of gnocchi. If you are just cooking one package, you may consider using half of the creamy pesto as a dip with crudite, or on crostini. The pesto is also great on pasta!

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

(Food images by Erin Gleeson; Photo of Erin at the market by Anna Rosales)

Filed in:
dinner
easy
Ingredient
italian
Main Dish
pasta