Gnocchi and White Beans with Bouillon
Vacuum-packed gnocchi, a bean pouch, and a bouillon cube. Dinner in eight minutes without a drain.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 16 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 250 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Shelf-stable gnocchi | 1 lb package | the vacuum-packed kind, not frozen or fresh |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked white beans | 1 pouch (about 8 oz) | pouches beat cans, no liquid to pour out |
| Bouillon concentrate | 1 cube or 1 tsp paste | |
| Tomato paste | 2 tbsp | tube, not can |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried garlic and Italian herbs | 1 tsp | |
| Nutritional yeast | 2 tbsp | |
| Chili flakes and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Heat the oil in the pot. Add the gnocchi straight from the package and stir for three or four minutes until some of them brown and stop sticking to each other.
- Add the herbs and garlic and stir for another thirty seconds.
- Pour in 250 ml of water, drop in the bouillon, and squeeze in the tomato paste. Stir until the cube dissolves.
- Simmer three minutes. The gnocchi will soften and the liquid will thicken on its own.
- Stir in the beans and heat through, about a minute. Kill the heat, add the nutritional yeast and pepper, and eat out of the pot.
Gnocchi is the most useful thing in this pot. It comes shelf-stable in a vacuum pack, cooks in about three minutes, and never needs draining, so the starch it sheds thickens the broth instead of going down a hole in the ground. Browning it in oil first is worth the extra few minutes: raw gnocchi dumped into water turns gluey.
The bouillon and tomato paste are doing the work a long-simmered sauce would do at home. Concentrates are compact, they weigh almost nothing, and they save you from carrying a jar. The bean pouch is the protein and it goes in last, since it is already cooked and only needs warming.
Packing
Gnocchi and beans ride in their own sealed packages, so nothing needs repacking. Put the bouillon, herbs, and yeast in one small bag or tin. The tomato paste tube goes upright in a side pocket where you will notice if it leaks.
Variations
- A block of shelf-stable tofu, cubed and browned first, adds about 20 g of protein.
- Swap the beans for a foil pouch of sardines or chicken.
- Powdered milk stirred in with the yeast makes it closer to a cream sauce, if dairy is not a problem.
https://daraeats.com/camping-meal-helpers