I’m so tired this morning. This, despite the fact I had a nap yesterday afternoon and then went to bed at nine o clock, I feel like I could sleep for a week. Thankfully, God invented caffeine and I’m sure that the second cup of strong coffee will be the charm.
Anyway, meal planning. A quiet week ahead with some nice food to look forward to.
Monday: Pan fried salmon with Bois Bourdan sauce and crushed potatoes. A Heston Blumenthal recipe from his “At Home” book.
Tuesday: Creamy butternut squash and red pepper soup, homemade flatbreads brushed with smoked butter
Wednesday: Kale and blue cheese gnocchi
Thursday: D is out, so filled pasta for me.
Friday: Skate wings with black butter and capers. This is one of my all-time favourite things to eat but, dear Teapot, butter is high in points. The recipe I’ve used before suggests 75g butter between two people. That’s 14 points worth of butter a portion! I mean…I’m going to eat it, but I will be licking any excess butter off the plate when I’m done and will probably be whingeing about it a LOT.
Saturday: A homemade fakeaway - Nando’s chicken pitta. Now, we went to Nando’s the other week on a pre cinema jolly and I was SO disappointed. I think they might have changed their recipe, or else we just got a really duff cook because it was not nice at all. Too much chill heat without any rounded flavour, woolly, over cooked chicken and the chargrilled vegetables were not so much chargrilled vegetables as crappy, overcooked mulch. So I’m going to make my own Piri-Piri style chicken at home and it will likely cost a hell of a lot less than the £30 we paid for two of us to eat remarkably mediocre food.
Sunday: roast dinner. Probably chicken. Depending on the weather, I’ll either do roast potatoes and standard trimmings, or we’ll have it with a couple of salads, maybe some bread. It’s distinctly cooler and greyer this morning here in Leeds, perfect roast potato weather, but we’ll see how the week pans out.
Showing posts with label gnocchi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gnocchi. Show all posts
Monday, 13 August 2018
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Recipe corner – Spinach, ricotta and roasted tomato gnocchi bake
Catchy title, eh?
It struck me that a lot of the recipes listed in this blog are of the ooey-gooey, stodgy variety, often featuring some sort of cheese, and this bake is no different. I wonder if it is reflective of the way I eat – I don’t think so. Our daily diet is pretty varied. I suppose one of the reasons I started this blog is that I wanted to prove to myself as well as other people that following a healthy eating plan didn’t mean permanently going down the steamedchickenorfishandveg or stir fry route, so I like to share recipes that tick both the WW appropriate and the indulgence box. Which is not to say that I do not eat stir fries. I don’t generally eat steamedchickenorfishandveg though. It doesn’t sound overly interesting.
Anyway, back to the bake. I cooked this for tea last night and thought it was scrummy. Ricotta and spinach are an absolutely classic combination but it wouldn’t have occurred to me to use them with gnocchi had it not been for this recipe here. Ricotta is significantly lower in fat than mascarpone, but a good substitute to my mind.
I added the roasted tomatoes partly because I wanted to give this rich, creamy dish a bit of acidity and partly as a nod to one of the most popular (judging by page visits) recipes on this blog, the ricotta and roasted tomato risotto. I’m glad I did – the little bursts of freshness really worked well.
Incidentally, this recipe (which serves two) calls for half a tub of ricotta – I’ve found that it freezes perfectly well so the other half needn’t go to waste. OR you could make risotto the next day should you feel so inclined…
Ingredients
250g potato gnocchi (one day I will make my own, but shop bought sufficed here)
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Balsamic vinegar
Onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
125g ricotta cheese
Several large handfuls of fresh spinach
Lemon zest
Nutmeg
20g Parmesan
125g ball reduced fat mozzarella, sliced
Serves 2, 11 pro points each
The first thing you want to do is roast your tomatoes. Cut them in half and sit them, seed side up, on a baking sheet. Season well, drizzle with balsamic and put in a medium oven (say, 150) for an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how dehydrated you want them (the longer they are in, the more intense the flavour).
To prepare your spinach and ricotta sauce, soften the onion and the garlic over a low heat (I used a small splash of water to save points, but you could use a little oil if you feel so inclined) then add the spinach and cover. Allow to wilt for a couple of minutes. Then stir in the ricotta. Add lemon zest to taste (I used about a third of a large lemon) and good grating of nutmeg, black pepper, half the Parmesan cheese and salt if required. Simples.
Cook the gnocchi in boiling, salted water – they will float to the top of the pan when ready. Combine the gnocchi with the sauce (gently, to avoid breaking up the dumplings). Add the roasted tomatoes to the pan and crush them lightly with the back of the spoon so they bleed a little of their juice into the creamy ricotta.
Tip the gnocchi into a baking dish and cover with the sliced mozzarella. Bake in a hot oven (180) for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve topped with the remaining Parmesan.
It struck me that a lot of the recipes listed in this blog are of the ooey-gooey, stodgy variety, often featuring some sort of cheese, and this bake is no different. I wonder if it is reflective of the way I eat – I don’t think so. Our daily diet is pretty varied. I suppose one of the reasons I started this blog is that I wanted to prove to myself as well as other people that following a healthy eating plan didn’t mean permanently going down the steamedchickenorfishandveg or stir fry route, so I like to share recipes that tick both the WW appropriate and the indulgence box. Which is not to say that I do not eat stir fries. I don’t generally eat steamedchickenorfishandveg though. It doesn’t sound overly interesting.
Anyway, back to the bake. I cooked this for tea last night and thought it was scrummy. Ricotta and spinach are an absolutely classic combination but it wouldn’t have occurred to me to use them with gnocchi had it not been for this recipe here. Ricotta is significantly lower in fat than mascarpone, but a good substitute to my mind.
I added the roasted tomatoes partly because I wanted to give this rich, creamy dish a bit of acidity and partly as a nod to one of the most popular (judging by page visits) recipes on this blog, the ricotta and roasted tomato risotto. I’m glad I did – the little bursts of freshness really worked well.
Incidentally, this recipe (which serves two) calls for half a tub of ricotta – I’ve found that it freezes perfectly well so the other half needn’t go to waste. OR you could make risotto the next day should you feel so inclined…
Ingredients
250g potato gnocchi (one day I will make my own, but shop bought sufficed here)
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Balsamic vinegar
Onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
125g ricotta cheese
Several large handfuls of fresh spinach
Lemon zest
Nutmeg
20g Parmesan
125g ball reduced fat mozzarella, sliced
Serves 2, 11 pro points each
The first thing you want to do is roast your tomatoes. Cut them in half and sit them, seed side up, on a baking sheet. Season well, drizzle with balsamic and put in a medium oven (say, 150) for an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how dehydrated you want them (the longer they are in, the more intense the flavour).
To prepare your spinach and ricotta sauce, soften the onion and the garlic over a low heat (I used a small splash of water to save points, but you could use a little oil if you feel so inclined) then add the spinach and cover. Allow to wilt for a couple of minutes. Then stir in the ricotta. Add lemon zest to taste (I used about a third of a large lemon) and good grating of nutmeg, black pepper, half the Parmesan cheese and salt if required. Simples.
Cook the gnocchi in boiling, salted water – they will float to the top of the pan when ready. Combine the gnocchi with the sauce (gently, to avoid breaking up the dumplings). Add the roasted tomatoes to the pan and crush them lightly with the back of the spoon so they bleed a little of their juice into the creamy ricotta.
Tip the gnocchi into a baking dish and cover with the sliced mozzarella. Bake in a hot oven (180) for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve topped with the remaining Parmesan.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Recipe corner - Gnocchi and butternut squash with chilli, garlic and sage
This post was supposed to be about fish and fruit. But that will have to wait for another day because last night's tea needs to be recorded for posterity (and, hopefully, your delight and delectation.)
I really wish that I could take credit for it but nope, it is all D's work. I just stood on the sidelines warning him to watch the butter content. Then took one of my trademark Pollockesque food photos.
It was absolutely yummy - so much so that the other half of the gnocchi has already been earmarked for a repeat performance.
Ingredients
Butternut squash, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 red chilli, finely diced
2 tsp chilli flakes
salt and pepper
250g gnocchi
50g butter
8-10 sage leave - finely sliced
10g Parmesan cheese
Serves 2, 11 pro points per portion
NB: The cooking times below were for pieces of squash about 1cm cubed, but feel free to go chunkier if you wish, just adjust timings accordingly.
Toss the diced squash in two cloves of crushed garlic, the diced chilli and half the chilli flakes along with plenty of seasoning. Roast in a 140 oven for about an hour - you want it soft but not on the verge of disintegration.
Blitz half of the squash pieces.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the gnocchi and boil for 3 minutes. You'll know they're ready when they float to the top of the pan.
Meanwhile, finely slice the final clove of garlic. Melt the butter until foaming, and then throw in the garlic pieces for a scant ten seconds. Add the blitzed squash sprinkle with the other tsp chilli flakes and fry for one minute before adding the sage leaves and the roasted squash cubes. Cook through for another couple of minutes.
Drain the gnocchi and put into two bowls. Divide the squash mixture between them and toss a little to combine. Finish with the grated Parmesan.
Serve with a fork and a smile
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I really wish that I could take credit for it but nope, it is all D's work. I just stood on the sidelines warning him to watch the butter content. Then took one of my trademark Pollockesque food photos.
It was absolutely yummy - so much so that the other half of the gnocchi has already been earmarked for a repeat performance.
Ingredients
Butternut squash, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 red chilli, finely diced
2 tsp chilli flakes
salt and pepper
250g gnocchi
50g butter
8-10 sage leave - finely sliced
10g Parmesan cheese
Serves 2, 11 pro points per portion
NB: The cooking times below were for pieces of squash about 1cm cubed, but feel free to go chunkier if you wish, just adjust timings accordingly.
Toss the diced squash in two cloves of crushed garlic, the diced chilli and half the chilli flakes along with plenty of seasoning. Roast in a 140 oven for about an hour - you want it soft but not on the verge of disintegration.
Blitz half of the squash pieces.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the gnocchi and boil for 3 minutes. You'll know they're ready when they float to the top of the pan.
Meanwhile, finely slice the final clove of garlic. Melt the butter until foaming, and then throw in the garlic pieces for a scant ten seconds. Add the blitzed squash sprinkle with the other tsp chilli flakes and fry for one minute before adding the sage leaves and the roasted squash cubes. Cook through for another couple of minutes.
Drain the gnocchi and put into two bowls. Divide the squash mixture between them and toss a little to combine. Finish with the grated Parmesan.
Serve with a fork and a smile
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
