Gnocchi Caprese Makes the Most of My Summer Garden

What does “feel-good food” mean? It depends on who you ask. That’s why each month our Feel-Good Food Plan—with delicious recipes and a few wild cards—is hosted by someone new. This month cookbook author and recipe developer Alexis deBoschnek shares the quick dinner that makes the most of her garden and time spent outside.

My husband and I, along with my mother, run an Icelandic horse and pastured poultry farm in the Catskills mountains in Upstate New York. On top of that, we have a fairly massive garden with vegetables, perennials, and a cutting garden for arrangements, along with 100 acres of land to maintain. Unsurprisingly, summer is our busiest season by far, when the days are long and we’re able to be outside from dawn till dusk—literally. Romantic? Absolutely. A ton of work? Most definitely. While there’s nothing I love more than the physical demands this type of life requires—from moving horses to new pastures, transferring chickens to fresh grass, and the constant cycle of planting, weeding, and harvesting—by the end of the day, I’m left with little capacity left.

When I finally drag myself inside as the light dwindles, there’s only one thing on my mind: What’s for dinner? It’s in fact the question that I spend 110 recipes answering in my new cookbook Nights and Weekends. The book focuses on low-lift, high-reward dinners, as well as dishes to make when you have a bit more time on your hands (including brunch, snacks, and desserts). During these long summer work days I tend to focus on the former. I want easy meals that require as little time in the kitchen as possible, are delicious, and make use of the bounty of summer produce growing in our garden.

Often the answer to my summertime weeknight dinner quandary is my Crispy Gnocchi Caprese. In just 20 minutes, with 10 ingredients, I can have dinner on the table. Instead of boiling shelf-stable gnocchi, I fry them in olive oil until golden and crisp. Toss in a vinegary dressing with jarred roasted red peppers, freshly sliced tomatoes, basil, and parsley (a trio I pick from the garden), and that’s dinner. Of course, you could roast your own peppers here, but for me the key is leaning into the ease of store-bought pantry staples in order to get dinner on the table faster. (Who wants to turn on the oven for an hour in July anyway?) I add some hunks of torn mozzarella to finish the dish, but salty feta, ricotta salata, or even goat cheese work in its place. Every bite delivers my ideal combination of punchy, creamy, and crispy.

I’m a firm believer that when produce is at its peak, it’s best to interfere as little as possible in the kitchen to really let the flavor shine through. A glug of olive oil and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt on a ripe tomato, a barely-blanched snap pea, or a carrot pulled straight from the garden are hard to beat in my book. I don’t just love how they taste, but I love how I feel as I eat them—the recipes I gravitate to during this season help me hold onto that sensation. Read on for more dishes that celebrate summer, along with a few recent non-food favorites of mine.