Gnocchi di patate

I made this as I had about 500g of mashed potato, half a tub of ricotta and some double cream (fast approaching its sell-by-date). Not a very colourful dish, but great comfort food! Serves 2.

• 500g mashed potato
• 130g strong (sifted) white flour (plus extra for rolling out the gnocchi)
• 125g ricotta
• 100g gorgonzola (grated)
• 100ml double cream
• Black pepper

Mix together the mashed potato, flour and ricotta. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and thoroughly mixed together. Cut into 3 pieces and roll each into a ‘sausage’ (about 2.5cm in diameter). Cut each sausage into 1cm thick slices (these will flatten out as you cut them as the potato, flour and ricotta dough is very soft), place on a floured tray, and leave in the fridge for at least an hour.

Cook by boiling about 5 litres of water in a large pan. Tip the gnocchi into the boiling water (the gnocchi are likely to be a bit sticky, so you may have to ease them off the tray with a knife/spatula). Remove the gnocchi on to 2 plates as they rise to the surface of the boiling water (using a slotted spoon) and keep them warm in a low oven.

In a small saucepan, gently heat the gorgonzola and the cream, mixing all the time, until it just begins to boil. Pour over the gnocchi and grind over black pepper to taste.

Torta di spinaci e riso

One reason for making this, is that Rachel Roddy said in her column in the Guardian’s Cook Supplement on 30 January 2016 (which provides the recipe on which this is based), “Italy is where … leftovers really do still rule, helping cooking feel like a continuum” – has she been reading my blog?

Anyway, I also needed to use most of a 260g bag of spinach leftover from a stir-fry. Enough for 3 people:

• 200g spinach
• 125g risotto rice
• small onion (finely chopped)
• 20g butter
• 1 large egg (beaten)
• 40g parmesan (grated)
• black pepper to taste
• oil (to brush the cake tin)
• 1 heaped tbsp bread crumbs

Quickly wilt the spinach in a hot pan. Remove it to a plate, allow to cool, and snip into smaller pieces with scissors.

Cook the rice in boiling water and drain.

Heat the butter in a pan and cook the onion very gently over a low heat for about 10 minutes.

Brush a cake tin (about 20cm in diameter) with a little oil and dust with the bread crumbs.

Heat the oven to 200C (Gas Mark 6).

Mix together the spinach, rice, onion and parmesan, and then mix in the beaten egg and add black pepper. Place the mixture in the cake tin, smoothing the top with a spoon.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top starts to brown. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

I served mine with roasted baby plum tomatoes.

 

Gatto di patate

More comfort food – this time an Italian potato cake, based on a recipe in today’s Guardian, by Rachel Roddy. You get lovely warming, buttery, cheesy potato with a layer of melted, slightly chewy, cheese in between. I served mine with lightly cooked broccoli. Enough for four people.

• 750g mashed potato (I baked some largish potatoes, and removed most of the cooked potato, so I could use the skins as a separate snack)
• 60g grated parmesan
• 35g butter
• Nutmeg
• Black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 100ml milk (or a mixture of milk and cream)
• 80g provolone cheese (or mature gouda, or emmental)
• 125g mozzarella ball
• A little olive oil (to grease the baking dish)
• 1 tbsp finely ground breadcrumbs

Mash the potato together with the parmesan, 25g of butter, grated nutmeg and black pepper to taste. Lightly beat together the eggs and the milk, and mix into the potato mixture.

Cut the provolone and mozzarella into small (0.5cm) cubes.

Grease the inside of an oven proof dish (I used a square earthenware dish about 21cm square) with the olive oil. Place half the potato in the bottom of the dish, and sprinkle with the cubed provolone and mozzarella. Place the remaining potato on top and smooth the surface. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and dot with the remaining butter.

Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes, at 180C (Gas Mark 4), or until the top is brown and crispy. Leave to stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

 

Borlotti bean and tuna lunch box

Enough for 2 lunch box portions:

• 1 tin tuna steak (drained);
• 1 tin borlotti beans (drained and rinsed);
• 1/2 small onion (chopped);
• 1 piece of fennel (peeled from a bulb and chopped);
• About 8 sprigs of flat parsley ( roughly chopped);
• Dressing made with olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper.

Mix all the ingredients (except the dressing) together, then mix in sufficient dressing, so that the mixture is moist but not too wet.

As usual, this comes with cherry vine tomatoes, beetroot, spring onions, carrot sticks and oil and vinegar dressing.

Celery and cheese slaw lunchbox

Finely sliced celery and grated cheddar (4:1 ratio by volume), mixed with low fat mayonnaise, Greek yogurt and seasoned with black pepper.

As usual, this comes with cherry vine tomatoes, beetroot, spring onions, carrot sticks and oil and vinegar dressing.

Pork meatballs

Enough for 4 people. I froze half of mine for a later meal.

• 1 large slice of stale bread;
• 1 large portobello mushroom;
• 1 medium sized onion;
• 1 clove garlic;
• 1 small red chilli deseeded;
• Small bunch of mixed herbs (eg parsley, rosemary & thyme);
• 500g pork mince;
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup;
• 3 ‘shakes’ of Worcester Sauce;
• Black pepper;
• 3 tsp tahini;
• Oil;
• Plain flour.

Finely chop the bread, mushroom, onion, garlic, chilli and herbs (I used my Cuisinart Mini-Processor).

Thoroughly mix the chopped ingredients with the pork in a large bowl. Mix in the ketchup, Worcester Sauce and black pepper.

In small bowl, gradually combine a small quantity of cold water with the tahini, until it becomes slightly runny. Thoroughly mix this into the pork mixture.

Using a plate of flour, take ping-pong ball sized piece of the mixture in your floured hands, and roll in the flour until ball shaped. Place on a flour tray. I made made 24 meatballs from this mixture.

Oil a baking sheet and place the balls on it, brushing or spraying them with more oil.

Bake at 200C (Gas Mark 6) for about 20 minutes, until they begin to brown.

I served twelve of my meatballs in a pasta bake, made with penne (3 ‘handfuls’ of dried penne (cooked)), 1 quantity of Tomato Sauce, topped with grated cheddar, and cooked in the oven for 20 minutes at 180C (Gas Mark 4). This will feed 2-3 people.

Lentil and bulgur pilaf

This is based on an Ottolenghi recipe, which he suggests is one of the ultimate comfort foods. My version contains far less oil and butter, but still seems fairly comforting to me. Enough for 2 people as a main meal.

• 5 tbsp olive oil;
• 1 aubergine (cut into 2cm dice);
• 60g bulgur;
• 70g green lentils (rinsed);
• Bay leaf;
• 1 tsp cumin seeds;
• 1 medium onion (chopped);
• 1 clove garlic (finely chopped/crushed);
• 1/2 tsp turmeric;
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice;
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon;
• 170ml water;
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds;
• 1 tbsp raisins;
• Zest of half a lemon (grated);
• 15g butter;
• Black pepper;
• Lemon juice to taste;
• Fresh coriander;
• Greek yogurt (to serve on the side).

Mix 3 tbsp of oil with the diced aubergine. Spread the aubergine on a baking tray and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180C (Gas mark 4), until browned and nearly cooked though.

Meanwhile, cook the lentils with the bay leaf on plenty of water. Bring to the boil, simmer for 12 minutes and drain (they should be al dente).

At the same time, heat the remaining oil in a large oven proof, lidded casserole, and cook the cumin seeds for about 1 minute. Turn down the heat, add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic, turmeric, allspice and cinnamon, and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the bulgur and the water, bring to the boil, and simmer for 3 minutes.

Stir in the aubergines, lentils, almonds, raisins, lemon zest and butter, and season with black pepper. Place in the oven at 160C (Gas Mark 3), and bake for 10 minutes, or until the lentils are just becoming soft.

Stir in lemon juice to taste, and serve sprinkled with coriander and a portion of Greek yogurt.

 

Watercress pesto

I had most of a bunch of John Hurd’s excellent watercress leftover so I made this pesto. Based on a recipe from watercress.co.uk – it serves four people with pasta, and according to the recipe, freezes well. So half of it is now in the freezer, and I shall discover if really does freeze well when I use it! I used my Cuisinart Mini-processor to make this (or you could just chop the watercress really finely, using a sharp knife and the grind the almonds and garlic with a pestle and mortar, and then mix all the ingredients together):

• 1 bunch watercress (wash thoroughly)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 20 almonds (blanched)
• 50ml olive oil
• 50g finely grated parmesan
• Black pepper and a fairly generous squeeze of lemon juice.

Method

Puree the watercress, garlic and almonds (blanched by steeping in boiling water for about a minute and the peeling away the skins – they have a better flavour than pre-blanched, flaked or ground almonds) in a processor. Add the oil and the parmesan and process until well blended. Add black pepper and lemon juice to taste.

Served here with pasta.

Marinated peppers

This is a good side dish to add to a lunch of fresh bread, charcuterie and cheese. Enough for 4:

• 4 large peppers (‘bell peppers’ – yellow and red are the tastiest, but green add some colour contrast)
• 2 tbsp good (tasty) olive oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• Black pepper to taste

Claudia Roden (in The Food of Italy (Square Peg)), suggests roasting the peppers (whole) in the oven at 190C (170C in a fan oven/Gas Mark 4) for 30-45 minutes “until they feel soft when you press them and their skins blister and begin to blacken”. I followed her instructions, which are certainly less labour intensive than charring the peppers over a flame (or grilling them).

Once cooked, put the peppers in a pan with a tight fitting lid (or seal them in a freezer bag), and leave for 10-15 minutes. This helps to further loosen the skins.

Remove the peppers from the pan/freezer bag, and remove the skins, stalks, cores and seeds. Reserve the juice from cooking the peppers.

Cut the peppers into large slices, and place in a shallow dish. Make the dressing with the oil, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of the pepper juice (strained). Season the dressing with black pepper to taste, and pour over the peppers.

Allow to cool and store in the fridge before serving.

Cheese, onion and potato hotpot

We’d just got back from a long weekend and there wasn’t much to eat in the house. I fancied something warming, so I made this – enough for 2:

• 3 medium sized onions (finely sliced)
• 3 fairly large potatoes (peeled and sliced (2-3cm)
• 100g grated cheddar
• 800ml vegetable stock
• Black pepper
• 15g butter
• Grated nutmeg

Take 1/4 of the potatoes and make a layer at the base of an ovenproof dish. Cover with 1/3rd of the onions and then 1/3rd of the cheese. Grate over a little black pepper.

Repeat the above (potatoes, onions, cheese etc), twice; and then add the final layer of potatoes.

Dot the final layer of potatoes with butter and lightly dust with pepper and nutmeg.

Gently add the stock at the edge of the dish.

Cover (either with the lid or aluminium foil) and cook at 180C (Gas Mark 4) for 2 hours. Then turn up the heat to 200C (Gas mark 6),  uncover and cook for a further 15-20 minutes to crispen the top layer of potatoes.

Serve with a salad (if liked). I used baby leaf salad with cherry tomatoes and spring onions, with a honey and mustard dressing.