a new favourite - ricotta gnocchi

 

that’s not my photo - sadly my ricotta gnocchi look far less elegant. and given how good this recipe is, and quite how smitten i am by these ricotta gnocchi, i wanted to show you them in all their glory to encourage you to try them.

i’ve made ricotta gnocchi before and described them as “incredibly rich, reminding me of a cheese soufflé. they are beautifully light and entirely unlike potato gnocchi” which is quite different to this new version. the originals were a mix of ricotta, eggs, butter and flavourings, whereas this recipe by suzanne goin uses flour as well as eggs, which gives the gnocchi a firmer texture.

the flavour is subtle, just coming from the seasoned mix which means you can pair them with any sauce you fancy but in future i think i will also experiment with flavouring the gnocchi themselves, perhaps with herbs, strong cheese, finely chopped sundried tomatos or porcini powder.

the original recipe, pictured above, serves the gnocchi with wild mushrooms and sweetcorn. of the different versions i’ve made (three in the last month!) i was least keen on this but that is largely down to me not being a big fan of corn. my favourite was a courgette and pancetta mix, flavoured with the same shallots, thyme and sage which the original recipe uses. i also enjoyed them with a simple tomato and basil sauce.

do give them a try, as i said, i’m smitten and now i know they can be frozen i am looking forward to making a big batch for the freezer so we can have them as a quick mid-week supper on a regular basis.

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fig & blue cheese pasta with lemon & rosemary

 

a friend shared this recipe for creamy fig pasta with lemon & rosemary with me a few weeks ago and i’m kicking myself for not having tried it sooner – it really is delicious.

it was a combination of things which drew me to it – the cooler weather is making woody herbs much more appealing, plus we’ve been having some wonderful figs and, of course, i’m a huge fan of blue cheese.

i‘ve left the recipe below as i was given, but i did adapt it a little – i used a very mild blue cheese so increased the quantity of that and reduced the cream accordingly; i also used fromage frais instead of cream, just because that’s what i had in.

the resulting dish has a rich autumnal sweetness about it but this is balanced by the rosemary, chilli and lemon zest, all of which stop it form being to creamy and rich.

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easier than they look

i’m recovering from a crazy busy weekend. we’ve had two sets of friends staying. friday night we went to see caro emerald (fabulous, i’m still singing along four days later) and sat up chatting into the early hours sipping cocktails (old pal and something else i can’t quite remember…) then on saturday, after a late brunch of scrambled eggs and salmon, i put my cook’s apron on and sorted out supper for a second set of friends.

this time the cocktails – apricot mango martinis – kicked the night off. and to keep us going we had these little nibbles to go with them. filo pastry tarts (so easy, just brush a sheet of pastry with melted butter, fold and then cut out circles which you can shape in mini muffin tins while they bake at 190c for 5 minutes) filled with damson chutney, goat or blue cheese, fresh figs, basil leaves and a drizzle of verjuice (i’ve run out of my lovely posh and expensive old balsamic vinegar, otherwise i’d have used that).

i am smitten with these little pastry cases – so quick and easy, they look elegant and create bite size morsels that can easily be eaten without to much mess or fuss. i had pastry leftover and actually made another batch on sunday evening for david and i to snack on while we watched tv – some had roast beef, horseradish and fig and the others had a mix of dressed crab fillings. which, given they were made to use up leftovers, probably gives you a clue about what recipes will follow over the next few days…

pickled pumpkin – version 2

 

this is the second pickled pumpkin recipe i made. the pickling mix varies quite a lot between the two recipes – rowley leigh's recipe uses cider vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup and spicy flavourings whereas this skye gyngell recipe uses white wine, a much smaller amount of vinegar, a small amount of caster sugar plus herbs and mustard seeds.

truth be told there wasn’t a massive difference in the end flavour apart from a slightly more vinegary chilli kick to the first recipe. i’d happily use either version in future and would probably mix and match between the two recipes.

this dish was very different – the spicy sweet pickled squash contrasts well with the bitter leaves (i used a mix of radicchios) the creamy buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil oil. interestingly the few pecans added a really important contrast of textures – don’t be tempted to miss them out. the similarity was that once again i think this is best served as a starter so you don’t get bored of the pumpkin’s very simple flavour.

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pizzocheri

at some point last year i bought a pack of pizzocheri – a type of pasta made from buckwheat, shaped like tagliatelli. i think i’d seen reference to it a in recipe somewhere but of course i’ve never found that recipe and the packet has sat unopened in my cupboard for many months until this week, when i hit google looking for inspiration.

 actually, inspiration was quite limited – every recipe i found was a variation on the same theme, pizzocheri della valtellina – pizzoccheri, potatoes, cabbage, lots of cheese and lots of butter. the cheeses used varied, some of the dishes added to sage and. or garlic to the butter before allowing it to brown and there was  amix of dishes cooked solely in one pan, assembled in layers for serving, and others where the layered dish was baked.

i decided to bake mine, cooked the ingredients separately so nothing would be overcooked, used a mix of gruyere and taleggio, chose spinach instead of cabbage and used both garlic and butter, plus a bit of nutmeg.

the resulting dish is rich, creamy but with surprisingly delicate layers of flavour – the pizzocheri has a very distinctive buckwheat flavour which works well with the strong cheeses (the ones i chose both melt beautifully which i loved) and gentle potato flavours. i really liked the spinach in this – i don’t think cabbage would do such a good job at balancing out the richness. and the garlic, nutmeg and sage were just occasional notes in the background.

if you do fancy trying this, have a look at the recipes online – as i said there is a lot of consistency but also a  lot of variation, so you’re bound to find something you’ll like. if anyone has any suggestions for using the rest of the packet of pizzoccheri, in a different way, let me know!

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