Inspired by a true muse, I’ve heartily ripped this wholesale from Giorgio Locatelli.
It really couldn’t be easier: a chicken breast is butterflied and sliced laterally before being battered thin to get the most surface area possible. This means that it can be cooked quickly and keep as much moisture in as possible. It’s placed on a griddle for about five mins, until it develops those lovely char marks and the white is creeping up the sides. Then I flip it over for a minute or so until it’s done all the way through. I made sure it was seasoned on both faces, and left a smashed garlic clove on top while it cooked.
I served it with some lightly wilted spinach and some cheap-ass chickeny noodles (10p from Tesco!), finished with lemon wedges and drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil. Very nice, and super-quick.
The title’s ironic, OK? I posted on Facebook that I was “looking for an interesting gnocchi recipe”, and that a couple of days later I had “found an interesting gnocchi recipe”. Three separate people asked me about – it’s easy to forget the reach that Facebook has.
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.
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.
Uncle Ben’s make this rice stuff, pre-cooked and sealed in packets. It’s dead easy as a side dish, but I wanted to do more. I hit on the idea of a pilaff-style dish.
I started by dry-frying spinach with sliced garlic and grated nutmeg. When it had shrunk to hardly anything (always amazes me how much water disappears!) I removed it and drained the excess water off. Then in the same pan I fried diced turkey breast that had been marinated in cumin and coriander. As it is nearly done I added a packet of vegetable ready-cooked rice, and after a minute added the spinach back in. Served with pitta and lemon wedges.
