Earlier this week, something amazing happened. I was doing my ordinary grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, when I stumbled upon something I'd never seen before. Nestled behind the frozen cauliflower gnocchi was a new frozen product: kale gnocchi.
Anyway, I grabbed three bags because I knew this baby was going to fly off the shelves as soon as shoppers heard about it. Then I walked home to try it for myself.
And let me tell you, just when you thought kale was sooo 2018, Trader Joe's new frozen kale gnocchi will probably convince you to get back on board the kale train.
I was glad to see that this time around, the instructions tell you to sauté the kale gnocchi in olive oil, butter, or ghee. (That's how I always cook the cauliflower version, despite the fact that the directions say to boil it.) It gives the gnocchi a nice and crispy texture. So I heated some ghee in a pan and added the frozen kale gnocchi.
I cooked the gnocchi for about seven minutes, stirring it occasionally until the outside was slightly crispy and the inside was totally defrosted and soft enough to pierce with a fork.
I was worried that the kale gnocchi would have too strong of a flavor given that it's pasta, but it is really good, far better than I was expecting. It doesn't even taste like kale, per sé. It's mild in flavor but has much more substance than the cauliflower gnocchi, and it has an aftertaste almost like spinach ravioli.
The outside is crispy, but the inside is melt-in-your-mouth light and airy, just like gnocchi should be. You could definitely dress it up with a variety of sauces and ingredients, from tomato sauce and pancetta to pesto and white beans.
Compared to the frozen cauliflower gnocchi, the kale version is slightly more caloric. There are 190 calories per serving and 470 calories in the whole bag, which is still far fewer calories than regular potato or sweet potato gnocchi.
In any case, Trader Joe's has done it again, and you're going to want to go grab a bag of this quickly, before it flies off the shelves.
