I’ve never been quite sure what’s kingly about peppers, but it’s tasty so that’ll do me. Yet again using the ever-bounteous frozen chicken, I warm this up with some ham from the deli. Then I add a drained jar of peppers in oil and end up with a very yummy dish that makes me grin all over.
Month: November 2008
Anywho, it’s dead easy. First I fry some spinach with a little sliced garlic until all straggly, then season and add nutmeg before removing to one side to cool. Once it’s cooled I squeeze the juice out and chop finely. Meanwhile I’ve some gnocchi on the boil (note: I made gnocchi myself once – it so wasn’t worth the effort, nor the washing up). Then I fry some pancetta in the same pan, and once crispy I throw the boiled gnocchi in the pan to absorb some hammy flavours. Then the spinach is back in to warm through, finally some creme fraiche, salt and pepper, a touch of parmesan (I added too much the first time) and it’s done. Creamy and extremely filling.
an interesting gnocchi recipe
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 500 g spinach
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1/2 nutmeg grated
- 200 g pancetta diced
- 500 g gnocchi
- 150 ml creme fraiche
Instructions
- Fry the spinach an garlic in a hot pan with a little oil until the the spinach is well-wilted. Remove to a chopping board, add the nutmeg and squeeze the excess juice out with your hands or through a sieve. Run through the spinach with a knife several times to make it bitesize.
- In the same pan, fry the pancetta. Whilst it fries get the gnocchi on to boil. When the gnocchi is ready add it to the pancetta pan and toss well so it gets coated in the pancetta oil. Add the creme fraiche and spinach mix back into the pan, season with salt and pepper and add parmesan to taste. Serve immediately.
Not my finest photography ever. Thankfully it ate a lot better than it snapped.
I fried some pancetta, and added Sunday’s frozen chicken. Then some peas in there. Sticking it in an individual pot and topping with frozen puff pastry was the hardest part. Sometimes I just get a craving for a pie, with a crispy brown top, that slightly soggy undercarriage, followed by a warm and gooey filling. This satisfies those cravings and then some.
An exercise in time-economy this one: make a meal base good for three dinners on a lazy Sunday, reap the rewards x3 during the pressured week.
I diced 6 chicken breasts and fried in batches till coloured and then left to one side. Meanwhile I fried an onion and deglazed with white wine. Once done I started getting my roux on; butter and flour coming together to make a paste, before adding chicken stock to make an unctuous gloop of savouriness. Then a little cream to thin it out, and we’re done.
It doesn’t sound like much written like that, but the process takes the best part of an hour. Now three potential meals are within arms reach. I divide this mixture into three and freeze once cooled in freezer bags, one of my favourite ever inventions.