Nigella's Rapid Roastinis - what a great idea!

Well, owing to a bit of a memory lapse over getting the mince out of the freezer, this week's menu planning has gone to worms.

Meatballs and doughballs - we had them on Friday instead!

As such, after a quick emergency trip to Sainsbury's (being the Supermarket closest to home), we had some oven-bake fish in breadcrumbs for dinner on Thursday, instead of the meatballs and pasta originally scheduled.

Nearly always, we have salad with fish in breadcrumbs but it never seems to be as satisfying a meal as it should be.  I was pondering on the bread -v- chips -v- new potatoes conundrum when I suddenly remembered Nigella Lawson's Rapid Roastinis.

Hubby was cooking that night and was quite happy to investigate the concept.  So, we put a bag of gnocchi on the shopping list.

Well what a blinding bit of inspiration they happen to be!

Incredibly simple to do, you just heat up some olive oil in a frying pan, add a clove of garlic that's been halved and some thyme, then when the oil is hot enough, in go the gnocchi until they're golden.  Takes a matter of minutes!

Drain them on some kitchen paper for a minute or so, dredge with some sea salt then onto the plate in all their crunchy gorgeousness.  It really is that simple.

I can't say that they're "like" any other kind of potato product except maybe those hideous smiley face things - and then only by a factor of around 5%.  Yes, they've got a crunchy golden outside shell and yes, they've got a fluffy potato centre - but there the similarity ends.  Maybe it's the garlic and thyme, maybe it's because they aren't processed to within an inch of their lives.  Whatever the difference is, they're really lovely.

I'd be happy to serve them as a canape, if ever I had the need for same, they're so moreish!

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