Gnocchi with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Pesto

Very good.

The pesto was a lot of work to find out the family really didn't care for it. The consensus was that it was pretty bland and there weren't enough shrimp to feed the four of us.

I roasted the shrimp and asparagus in a little olive oil (reduced the ammount in the pesto) at 450° for 7 minutes. The roasting added flavor. It was necessary to add a bit more water to the pesto to get a good consistency, and I used a stick blender for this small ammount. I agree with other reviewers that homemade gnocchi would have been a step up, but the packaged variety I bought (Wegman's store brand vacuum pack) were ok.

when posting a recipe for anything featuring gnocchi, a recipe for gnocchi should be included. The difference between store bought (of any kind) and freshly made is miles apart. I even ask at a restaurant if their gnocchi dish is made with home made/freshly made not frozen or days old gnocchi, it turns into a chewy dough ball no matter what you do. A fresh version, is light and fluffy and absolutely wonderful to use with almost any sauce, even something as simple as a brown butter and sage sauce. Fresh gnocchi is really not that hard or time consuming to make and there are a variety of versions you can make using either ricotta, or potato, etc. Just a suggestion...You can always tell the reader they can buy a "fresh" version at their store, but it wont have the same texture, etc. That said, I would make this recipe with significant modifications in the cooking as others have suggested...sauteeing or grilling the asparagus, adding shrimp as late as possible to the skillet, etc.

OMG! I know the ingredients, I thought it would work.. it was awful. First, maybe I am a snob but the store bought gnocchi was chewy and disgusting - I will stick with homemade from now on. Second, the way the recipe is written it appears you would put the asparagus and shrimp in the water. Gross. So i boiled the gnocchi, made the pesto and then in a separate pan sauted olive oil and garlic and then the asparagus until almost done, then added the shrimp to saute. Emptied that into the bowl with the gnocchi and then poured the pesto sauce over it. It was palatable, but the gnocchi ruined it. Future state: I will prepare an asparagus, shrimp pesto over pasta.... Plus - this actually took longer than I anticipated so it is not a good work night meal.