Just tried this with some brown rice pasta, sauteed spinach, and a few tofu dogs. The sauce is wonderful! You’re right, Heidi, it’s not gorgeous, but it’s definitely tasty. Have some extra, plan on pouring it over leftovers tomorrow. Thanks for the great recipe!

I made this recipe this evening and it was delicious! I added baby spinach to the sauce at the end, which injected some more flavour and colour into this tasty dish. Thanks for such an easy but impressive meal.

Possible stupid question: Do you boil the gnocchi before pan frying them?
HS: Hi Jay, no boil – just straight into the pan.

Hi Heidi!
I tried commenting on your latest post (holiday cookies) but for some reason it wont let me.
Thanks so much for posting all of the cookie recipes in one place! It’s so funny.. yesterday I visited your blog to look up cookie recipes to make for a work potluck and the first thing I saw was “Christmas cookie recipes” It was perfect! I made the triple ginger cookies and added more star anise. They turned out yummy. It was my first time using molasses ever. That stuff is so thick! Thanks a bushel for sharing your recipes 🙂
-alex

I have a large jar of sliced green olives in the back of the fridge… now I know what to do.. THANKS!

Amazing idea! I’ve made a spread with kalamata olives, but that was for chicken. Great thinking!

I love green olives, black olives, and especially kalamata olives. This recipe sounds delicious. Is it just as good with Kalamata olives?

Fried gnocci is definitely the best! This looks absolutely gorgeous. We had some wild boar, homemade gnocci on Mljet island in Croatia, so rich I found it difficult to finish but it was delicious. My favourite gnocci recipe is wild mushroom with chilli, really simple to nock up but so satisfying… I think I cook that one too much so I am glad that I’m going to get to try out this new one

I made this for dinner last night. It was so wonderful. I used milk instead of cream and it turned out great. I added all of the extra toppings and that just made it perfect. I will be making this again.
Hedi, I love all of your recipes. Thank you!

This looks amazing, cannot wait to try it!
PS just a quick note to say thank you so much for all these wonderful and generous recipes. Everything that I’ve made from this site and your books has been gorgeous, so thanks Heidi!
HS: Thanks for the nice notes Mrs. D and everyone else! Hope you all are having a good week.

Green olives remind me of growing up in Egypt – I spent so much time in the countryside where they grow olives and this recipe just brings me back there… I will hopefully be making this for the hubby soon!

Many years ago, I wanted to make a ‘pasta sauce’ based on green olives and artichoke hearts. I must say… it was not pretty, but it WAS delicious! Although, I wish I would’ve written down the recipe I came up with but… c’est la vie!
Inspiration perhaps for someone else to post….

I am sooooooo going to try this tonite! Thank you!!!! I love olives so much that I even put olive oil in a blender, add olives, whiz, and use for salad dressings. :))

Even if the sauce is unattractive, it sounds delicious. And, with the store-bought gnocchi, manageable time-wise. A good incentive for me to try green olives for something more than garnish.

I’ve never made gnocchi before because I thought that it would be too difficult. These look manageable, and delicious! Thanks for the tips

I made this last night for dinner and it was delicious! I added roast broccoli, a large pinch of cumin, and fried paneer. It was so tasty and I can’t wait to play around with other additions the next time I make it.

Great recipe, I love this coupling. Olives from groceries are definitely far better than canned ones, I only use them for my plates.

Hi
It took me such a long time to appreciate olives, like wine they seem to be an acquired taste only adults warm to, however, once that taste is acquired it stays with you and olives suddenly seem to feature in every dish possible. I also love tapenade, which is a great way to utilize these little green or black jewels in a sauce.
Maggie’s Harvest is a book I have longed to own for a while with it’s beautiful embroidered cover and beautiful recipes, albeit $75 Canadian!
I use the photographs on your site, Heidi, as a reference for my husband, as he is helping me learn some Photoshop basics for my own blog. – We look at your photos and then improve my own. Thank you
HS: Thanks Delyth! I like that top-down rainbow chard shot a couple posts back on your site – in the skillet with the wooden spatula. Really nice. Keep at it! -h

This recipe reminds of an amazing Persian dish, that roughly translate to ‘enhanced olives’, but has similar ingredients minus the gnocci, and is served as a tapenade or meat garnish. But what a beautiful colour the olives bring out with the pasta, I’ll have to try some experimenting with similar ingredients. Thanks for the post.

I’m not much of a commenter, but I wanted to let you know that I have truly enjoyed every one of your recipes that I’ve made – and the list is long. So I’m sure this one will be no exception. Olives and gnocchi – two of my favorites. And speaking of olives, I am in love with your olive biscuit cookies. They are so tasty and savory. Plus there is the added bonus of watching people’s expressions when they get their first taste of olive. I’ve given several people the link to the recipe. Thanks so much.
HS: Thanks so much for the nice note Jill. I’m getting the sense that you spend more time in the kitchen than I do! I’m really enjoying your recipe notes in the library. -h

Mmm, amazing… and perfect for those of us who love both olives and gnocchi! Thank you for your everyday natural inspiration!

This is so delicious! Made a great, super quick lunch today – thanks!!

Love gnocchis and love green olive…. this is for me!

This is a great idea, and one I will have to try! Do you think it could be made the same way with kalamata olives? I love the green ones, but my husband has a weakness for kalamatas….seems like it would be hard to go wrong either way!
Hmm. I think you might end up with an oddly purple sauce – but I bet it would taste good! A creamless version w/ kalamata might be great though.

You never fail to amaze us. Your readers are always satisfied for sure. And green olives are one of my favorite things on earth!
Looks good on the gnocchi! 🙂

this sounds like heaven! love gnocchi sooo much.

Heidi: What brand packaged gnocchi would you recommend? I try to go for whatever is highest in fiber and lowest in “exotic” ingredients. I shop mostly at TJ’s and occasionally at Whole Foods.
HS: Hi Sarah, a lot of farmers markets have a pasta seller/maker. If you can find freshly made gnocchi that way, that’s the way to go. I’m not sure about brand off the top of my head, but look for gnocchi in the refrigerator section at WF for starters. The gnocchi on the shelf in the pasta aisle will work too – it’s just not quite as good, its a bit drier and more dense.

Simple and fresh, looks fabulous!

Hi Heidi
Your recipe is fantastic!! Thank you!!.
I invite you to visit my blog, also it is a food and cooking blog, few friends (Peruvian and Spanish people) and I write in the blog for a little time. We wait for you. One kiss

P.S. Trader Joes had whole wheat prepared gnocchi which browned better than white.

Made this tonight. My store (Stop and Shop) had green olives with minced garlic at the olive bar, so saved me a step. This was “eyes rolling back” good. I didn’t have a lemon and didn’t miss– olives were plenty tart. Might add lemon zest on top next time for appearance. Didn’t bother measuring cream and broth. Used enough to make the amount of sauce i needed and maintain proper consistency. The magic was in the texture; the creaminess of the sauce and gnocchi insides contrasted with the crunch outside the gnocchi and the breadcrumbs/caper topping. Put sauce on bottom of plate so gnocchi stay crisp. Capers and olives made it a really salty dish (which I loved!) but others might want to use low-sodium broth to cut down. Bravo!
HS: Glad you enjoyed it Cynthia!

Wow, that looks insanely delicious – beauty is after all in the eye of the beholder. I am a huge Maggie Beer fan, so I totally have to try this. Must also see if I can track down Maggie’s recipe for the actual gnocchi as well – but then that might just be the excuse I need to get that book 🙂
Sue

Wow, that looks insanely delicious – beauty is after all in the eye of the beholder. I am a huge Maggie Beer fan, so I totally have to try this. Must also see if I can track down Maggie’s recipe for the actual gnocchi as well – but then that might just be the excuse I need to get that book 🙂
Sue

I’m starving right now and these beautiful pictures certainly aren’t helping…

Love gnocchi, love green olives–never thought of putting them together. Yum!

I have never tried making anything with olives. It does sound interesting though. I will have to try this and share it with my friends because I do not believe they have tried it either. It will be a treat for all of us. You are always coming up with great ideas and you are never say never to any recipe. I think that is great.

Well, you certainly tricked me today!
Intrigued by the visual image my mind projected of lovely green and herb-flecked little gnocchi, I clicked through to find regular gnocchi napped in a bold olive sauce! I still think I might make this sauce first, then try pureeing a half cup or so of it, and adding it to the great gnocchi recipe on your site, to make the little green-flecked pillows I pictured!
(https://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/how-to-make-gnocchi-like-an-italian-grandmother-recipe.html)

I love you for posting this! I love olives more than chocolate and have never come across a recipe like this. Thank you!

You are making my mouth water! My husband won’t go anywhere near an olive. I will have to save this one to cook when he is traveling.

Heidi — this looks delicious!! One question…do you parboil the gnocci first? Or just saute them from the package? thanks!
HS: Straight from the package! 🙂 Super simple.

Thanks for this. It looks fantastic. The internet needs more green olive recipes!

LOVE this! It is promptly going on my dinner list for next week!

Ohh, would have never come up with this one. Glad you found it. Glad you tried it.
I’ve had the same experience as Christine with the mushy gnocchi. I gather you did not boil at all. Good to know. Thanks!

You say it’s not an attractive sauce, but the pictures are lovely… is the sauce in the main photo? Either way, I really can’t wait to try this.
I also love the look of the new book cover:)

Will have to try this since I’m a HUGE green olive fan! I’ve never had good luck with gnocchi–either homemade or pre-packaged. Like Christine above, I’ve only boiled them and thought, “Ick.” But I’ll try pan frying them–maybe that’s the trick to making them more interesting.

I LOVE green olives! I will be making this recipe for years to come 🙂

This sounds INCREDIBLE. I always seem to have a couple of half jars of olives in the fridge and this sounds like the perfect way to use them up.
I bought a packet of gnocchi once and boiled them. They were mushy and, well, odd. I’ve never bought them again.But I’ve never thought of frying them. Brilliant! Do you need to boil them first or do they go straight from the package into the pan?
Thanks for the glorious inspirations!

My mouth is watering reading this! I looooove green olives and have yet to find any as good as those I ate in Italy. Do you have a favorite brand? I’ll be sure to make this when my fiance isn’t home, as he’s not an olive eater, and I’d be more than happy to eat this all to myself anyway 😉 Thanks!

I’ve been searching about ravioles and gnocchis today and here I am ogling at your dish. it sounds so simple I will give it a try! Yum!

If you have any more green olive surplus, try this recipe for vegetarian green olive tapenade, it’s delicious!
1 cup green olives (preferably pitted, just to save yourself the work of pitting them)
½ cup toasted, peeled almonds
2 tbs capers
olive oil
salt
pepper
baguette
Preparation
1. Cut bread into big diagonal slices, toast and set aside
2. Crush olives, almonds, capers and olive oil in a food processor until you get a paste. Add salt and pepper to taste
3. Refrigerate
4. Spread the green olive tapenade on toast and serve
Cheers
Elena

Ooh I love gnocchi. I am yet to try making a gluten-free version, so it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten it! Must put it on my to do list, along with this recipe 🙂 Thanks Heidi

What a lovely idea & it solves my problem have an olive tree & do not want to brine them so as the other alternative was to make oily pickles as am from Bangladesh. Its great thanks for the idea.

so nice to see maggie’s reciepes getting recognised on international websites ( she’s an aussie cook)

it might be an ugly sauce, but it looks absolutely delicious. it’s on my list.

Gnocchi + olives = 2 of my most favorite things! I think the toasted bread crumbs and broccoli would be welcome additions to this plate.

Delicious! I made this for dinner tonight. Two of my favorite things are gnocchi and good olives, so this was a no-brainer must-try!
I substituted half and half for the cream, because I already had some. I added the chives and toasted almonds as a garnish–didn’t do capers or breadcrumbs.
I ended up tossing the gnocchi with all the sauce, and whatever was left over on the plate we sopped up with sourdough bread.
I also want to add that this came together really quickly, probably no more than 20 minutes.
Thanks for the great recipe!

This is so up my alley. I think I would toss in some blanched and sauteed kale because I love dark greens with olives.
Thanks for always keeping it interesting. You always introduce me to a new flavor pairing I had never thought of 🙂

I LOVE olives and I was just thinking about ways to cook with them. I’ve always wanted to make gnocchi. Yay! Now I have a new recipe!
I just posted my Magic Gingerbread Cake recipe on http://www.bakedinmaine.com. I think that this yumminess would be a perfect dessert with gnocchi. YUM!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Lisa
xo

when left with little in the fridge but left overs,i have been known to eat pasta with kimchi.so this doesn’t sound too outlandish.will try this in the near future.

YUM.

This looks yummy. I love cooking with olives. One of my favorite dishes is sauteed tomatoes with olives basil and pine nuts if I have them on hand. I sometimes add chicken or shrimp too.
And I love Gnocchi. I’m going to have to try this.
Thanks
Sandy

I love, love, love green olives! I make a tomato sauce that’s loaded with chopped green olives and capers – the briny goodness is addictive. I absolutely cannot wait to make (well… eat) this recipe. Thanks for posting it Heidi!

Mmm…looks delicious. Love gnocchi and olives.

Mmm…looks delicious. Love gnocchi and olives.

I love Gnocchi

I admit it as a culinary shortcoming of mine; I just don’t get the allure of olives. Granted entire regional cuisines are based on the greasy little orbs, but for me I see them as key to just one recipe: the martini.

@LoisO – the answer is in the order of the words in the recipe.
you gather 1 2/3 cup green olives
then you pit and chop them
otherwise it would be 1 2/3 cup pitted and chopped olives.
make sense?

This sauce sounds great! I think I will try it over zucchini ribbons with some sun dried tomatoes. If you are still looking for ways to use up your green olives, I have a super healthy Artichoke Heart And Olive Dip on my blog- I think you would love it!
Thanks for sharing!

sort of a nit-picky question – but -I always wonder:
1 2/3 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
If you don’t weigh the ingredient – is that 1 2/3 C before or after chopping?
It looks delicious!

What if you don’t do dairy? What could you use instead of cream?

Can I ask what brand of gnocchi you bought and/or where you bought it? I’ve always been intrigued by store-bought gnocchi but have been hesitant to try.

I never thought of pairing the two together. My boyfriend would love this! Great idea!!! 🙂

I’ve never tried making gnocchi, and I’ve never even THOUGHT to try to make a sauce using green olives! This is a cool recipe – I’d probably go the way you did and use store-bought gnocchi, but I’m really looking forward to trying this! And great idea to add in the chopped broccoli for some extra veggies!

This looks delicious! I’ve never made gnocchi with olives before, so I’ll definitely have to try. Thanks for sharing!

Mmmm I LOVE green olives. The sharp saltyness of them would go beautiful with the doughy gnocchi. This is definitely a bookmarked recipe to add to the list.

Dear Heidi…my hubby will be over the moon with this one…you know that large jar? Well we had one for about a month. He got from our children as a Christmas present one year they thought to be funny,. He ate every single one!!! This he will love. Thank you for sharing your world with us in your love of cooking.

Beautiful, Heidi…love the green olive sauce…so fabulous!

Fabulous recipe. I love olives and this looks wintery, even Christmasy to me.

superb…

I wonder if throwing some spinach leaves into the sauce and then pureeing would brighten up the green?
Anyway, it looks awesome, Heidi. I love fried gnocchi!

I used to make green olive sauce frequently – basically tapenade on pasta – you have ramped it up and I’ll have to try it again – for snacking olives, notheing beats the canned tree ripened olives for flavor – your recipe ideas are fantanstic!

I’m hungry thinking about olive sauce. I love olives and love the idea of making a sauce from them. I’m inspired. Thanks Heidi.

This looks delicious. Love the olives! Will definitely try.

Wow, I cannot wait to try this! I have started a new blog that focuses on how to eat healthy (vegan style) and lose weight while on a strict budget. I’ll be posting your recipes (with the link to your blog) because this site is the one I refer to the most when looking for simple, tasty, healthy meals.
Thanks Heidi!
http://poorgirlsvegandiet.blogspot.com/

I have been meaning to try making gnocchi again, I had a failed attempt and got turned off. This has inspired me to try and try again!
Thanks Heidi.

Mmm…green olives! What a wonderful looking sauce! I imagine it would go well over all sorts of things.

Middle Eastern grocers also often have wonderfully extensive olive bars, and the prices are pretty hard to beat (a fraction of Whole Foods prices).
What an inspiring recipe, thank you!

I love the combination of olives and pasta. Unattractive sauce or not, I’ll definitely give this a try

I never had gnocchi with olive sauce, it must be great on pasta too. On the other hand I did make a green olive sauce, with preserved lemons, a moroccan recipe . It is just the two of them blended together, but it does taste much better than you’d expect, and it goes really well with grilled things.

I enjoy a good olive sauce and combining it with gnocchi sounds like a really good match. Even more I like this for mixing into brown rice or grains. Replacing the cream with a finishing olive oil sounds appealing to me.
Really nice. Can’t wait to try this.

oh, I`d like to try such a delicious looking gnocchi!
have a nice time,
Paula

I make fish with cream, olives, and capers sauce, and it tastes great, so I would think that olives could also work with gnocchi, which are usually quite bland on their own. And, like you, I like experimenting in the kitchen.

This is a really interesting recipe. I often find myself stuck with a whole bunch of olives and have no idea what to do with them! I’ll give this a try 🙂

It definetely looks great! Gonna try it and post about it later! =)

Maggie Beer’s recipes always seem so have a lot of ‘heart’ to them. This green olive sauce looks delicious. I can only imagine the endless possibilities with it!

So many things to thank you for! A non-tomato pasta sauce for my tomato-allergic mother, and you use store-bought gnocchi so I don’t have to feel guilty about not being up to my arms in mashed potato. Thank you!

This recipe sounds wonderful, being the avid olive fan that I am. I’ll definitely have to give this a try. Too bad a I don’t have a huge container of green olives laying around, though, or I’d be making this straight away.

This looks and sounds divine – I just love good olives and pan frying the gnocchi is a great idea. Thanks!

Heidi, apart from this looking absolutely delicious, I am so excited that you have chosen one of Maggie Beer’s recipes – we love Maggie here – she has been such a great contributor to the Australian food scene for a long time. Her books are gorgeous – do you have any of her others?

Gnocchi is the best, and those olives look so delicious! Thanks for sharing a yummy sounding recipe. Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters

I love the idea of briny olives with heavy cream, and tender bites of gnocchi perked up with bread crumbs. Lots of wonderful balance.

I adore gnocchi and this is SO unique!

i have to say that i ADORE green olives and this is a great excuse for me to go buy more and more and more of them 🙂

Earmarked for when my olive loving daughter arrives in January!

I’ve never tried cooking gnocchi, been to busy mastering mexican cooking.. but this look they are worth the try!

Looks delicious! My Italian roommate also likes to eat pasta with green olives, ricotta and a bit of olive oil.

never ever heard of this! Will try

I love that you call this sauce quirky! What a great word for food. I have been on a major olive kick so this is great!

My goodness. I never would have thought to use olives in this way! Sounds like some salty deliciousness.

Oh what a great idea for green olives!

Lovely looking recipe, I LOVE green olives and can’t wait to try it in this gnocchi. Cheers!

My mommy would go crazy for this! I had your sweet gnocchi recipe tagged, but this one has stolen the number one spot!

Wow! That just speaks to me right now! I wish I had the ingredients on hand… if I did, I’d make this tonight.
Can I ask where you got your laaaarge container of pitted herbed green olives, or what brand it is? My husband eats them like candy and the “olive bars” can get pricey.