I've been going through a bit of a purple patch with my cooking lately again, in that I had lost my way a bit - well, a lot in fact. It happens that way sometimes. Eating is something that we HAVE to do, to keep operating and to stay as well as possible - but sometimes it can be just the most dull, time consuming and tedious thing imaginable. Add to that it being more than a little bit painful to complete and you have all the ingredients for a purple patch.
However, I hadn't lost my interest in all things culinary or my curiosity for new ingredients - so I knew I'd be back to it, if I just wound things back a bit and swung with the tide for a while. So here I am, quietly getting back into the swing of things. I didn't stop cooking, either - we just went through a few weeks of some fairly dull meals, incredibly unhealthy meals and some stellar and spectacularly gorgeous Sunday roasts. Well, it had to come out in some way or another - and I saved it all for Sundays. LOL
I will do a couple of posts detailing some of the Sunday meals we've had - as they deserve to spend some time in the spotlight.
Now don't go thinking that I'm back with dishes of Lark's tongue in aspic, or a new take on Lobster thermidor, far from it. For this week's menu plan (yes, I'm still doing those!) I've tried to come out of my default "meat and two veg" and venture into things - like today's Gnocchi - that I haven't cooked for ages because of lack of inspiration and enthusiasm.
So, all that aside, this evening's meal of Bacon & Pesto Gnocchi was a great start. We all love gnocchi and I had simply forgotten about it. After all, there are so many different ingredients out there, it is impossible to remember them all. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Like a hot gnocchi to an aluminium pan. *wink*
I can't claim this recipe as all my own work, the inspiration and basic idea came from a recipe on the U.K. & Ireland All Recipes site - which you can see here if you fancy having a look. I simply added a couple of extra ingredients - mushrooms and onion - to the recipe, to pad it out a little further and to increase the veggie quota.
I'm currently trying to eat mushrooms whenever I can, having read that folk who eat mushrooms and drink green tea (not necessarily together at the same time, but whatever floats your boat) stand considerably less chance of contracting cancer - of all sorts of types. Now it's not hard work to eat mushrooms and fairly easy to add a cup of green tea to my day, so that's what I've been doing.
This recipe really is simplicity itself. Now I approve of that, because not every recipe needs to take an aeon, involve every pan you possess and take you an hour to get over cooking. Far from it. It sounded easy - it's one of those "put stuff in the pan in order and cook on various heats, boil other stuff, combine the two" recipes. They get a big thumbs up from me.
The peppers do need chargrilling earlier in the day, but if you don't have the time or inclination to do this (it is well worth it though, as the flavour is so much better), you can use them ready done, out of a jar.
There are two odd things about the recipe, however. One is that it involves Philadelphia cream cheese - which isn't odd on its own, it's just that it uses Sweet Chilli Philadelphia. In a dish which is ostensibly Italian. ~scratches head~ Demands the suspension of disbelief to do it, but it's worth it! If it is any consolation, the Sweet Chilli version is one of the low fat types of Philadelphia, so it could be worse!
The second odd thing is the end colour - which, thanks to the green Pesto, is eccentric at best. Don't panic when you see it all combined in the pan before you add it to the gnocchi - the addition of the gnocchi helps to lighten the colour and if served with a green salad alongside, it kind of makes sense.
My menfolk liked it a lot - well, cheese and bacon? It'd have to go a long way to shake off a man's love for bacon. I was a little bit concerned that there wouldn't be enough for everyone, whereas the reality was that it was absolutely perfect. No leftovers and everyone was satisfied. Works for me!
So, having said all that, let's get on and make it shall we?
BACON & PESTO GNOCCHI (serves 3)
Ingredients :
1 red and 1 green pepper
1 onion, chopped finely
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
300g smoked back bacon, chunkily chopped
4-5 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
500g potato gnocchi
3 heaped tsp green pesto (to taste)
3 dessertspoonfuls sweet chilli Philadelphia
1 generous handful of grated cheddar cheese.
Method :
1. If you are using your own home chargrilled peppers, some hours before you begin to make the dish, heat your grill to high and place the whole peppers under the grill. Leave them there for their skins to turn black and blister, turning them until they are completely charred. Cool for a moment, then pop into a freezer bag and seal the top. Condensation will form, which will enable their skins to be removed really easily - and they have such a gorgeous smokey taste.
2. So, place a large pan of salted water on to boil for the gnocchi.
3. While the water is heating, add the oil and the onion to a frying pan and cook gently until softened and just beginning to caramelise.
4. Add the bacon, which will cool the pan - so increase the temperature to cook the bacon until all the water has dispersed, then add the mushrooms and cook on until they have softened.
5. Add the peppers and heat them through - by which time the water should have boiled for the gnocchi, so in they go for their three minutes, or whatever the pack demands.
6. Add the pesto, Philadelphia and grated cheese to the frying pan and stir through until the cheddar has melted and the whole lot has combined. This is where you'll start getting a little bit worried about the colour. Do not despair!
7. As the gnocchi cook, lift them out with a slotted spoon, directly into the bacon mixture. Once they are all done, fold them through until everything is combined, check for seasoning and adjust if necessary - and serve.
I thoroughly recommend serving the gnocchi with a green side salad, which provides a lovely freshness to counteract the richness of the pesto and cheese. Perfect!
Printable version
You know me, I like recipes that are simple. Not just because they are easy to make (and that's an undeniable truth), but because a few good ingredients, combined with care, seem to make such excellent dishes.
I spotted this Goulash recipe on the goodfoodchannel.co.uk website and was immediately attracted to it because of the shortness of its ingredients list. Now I know there are those amongst you who will tut and say "it's not authentic!", but the way I see it, Goulash has been made for so many years by so many different ethnicities of people, that it's probably like my favourite Cottage Pie, in that there are many ways of producing what amounts to the same thing.
So let me say from the word go, that with this recipe I wasn't looking to make an "authentic" Eastern European Goulash, but a Goulash-style beef stew that would fill empty corners and warm the cockles of our hearts. After all, with the snow that's been blowing around our garden, our hearts have needed their cockles warming from time to time!
Now because the recipe uses beef and because of hubby's dislike of even remotely chewy meat, I decided to use the slow cooker. As a result, the recipe has been somewhat re-written with that in mind, but the ingredients stayed (almost) the same. The original recipe can be found here if you are interested but don't want to use a slow cooker, otherwise, read on!
Alongside the Goulash, I serve white rice and garden peas - I just added the frozen peas to the rice saucepan with 5 minutes to go. If you're going to do the same, allow the full five minutes as the ice of the peas reduces the heat of the boiling water and you need time for it to regain a full boil in order to finish cooking both peas and rice.
I also served some roasted carrots, beetroot, radishes and onion. These had been tossed in sunflower oil and seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground pepper before being added to a moderate oven for 35-45 minutes' roasting. It was the first time I'd ever roasted fresh beetroot and I was jolly impressed by the flavour, which - perhaps not surprisingly - went very well with the Goulash. None of us were impressed by the roasted radishes though, as the roasting appeared to concentrate the cabbagey flavour in them, rather than the sweetness or pepperiness. I don't think we'll be doing roast radishes again, somehow!
Along with the lemon soured cream - which made a pleasant change from plain soured cream and provided a lovely acidity which balanced both the Goulash and the sweetness of the roasted vegetables, the whole combination made a very acceptable Sunday dinner. I know that I was completely stuffed by the end of it - and didn't start to get peckish again until breakfast time the next morning. All of which, I consider a real result.
Hubby declared himself rather underwhelmed by the flavours, however I suspect he was anticipating a more pronounced smoked paprika flavour. Smoked paprika is one of his favourites, yet I'm not so keen on it and had tamed the recipe by the use of 1 teaspoonful of sweet smoked paprika along with 1 teaspoonful of hot smoked paprika. Although the original recipe doesn't say what type of smoked paprika to use, I know that hubby was expecting more of the hot version - which could account for his being underwhelmed. He enjoyed the meal - loved the roasted beetroot - and was perfectly satisfied with the Goulash, just expected rather more from it than it delivered. Son and heir thought the Goulash was "lush" and the lot disappeared - including the roast beetroot, which was a major surprise.
Personally, I really liked the end result of this recipe. It didn't compromise on flavour and the use of fresh tomatoes instead of tinned tomatoes was a real revelation to me. I think I'll be swapping those two in future recipes - which will be interesting, no doubt! The red peppers were definitely there, but didn't overwhelm the flavour profile (for once). So often, when you use red pepper in a dish, it becomes the predominant flavour. I think because they were chargrilled peppers from a jar instead of fresh red peppers - and only 50g of them - it made all the difference.
All in all, a great cockle-warmer!
SLOW COOKER BEEF GOULASH (serves 4)
Ingredients :
750g beef brisket, trimmed of fat and cut into chunks
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil - or any combination of the two
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, seeds removed and roughly chopped
50g chargrilled red peppers from a jar, rinsed if in vinegar, sliced into strips
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
400ml beef stock (I used Essential Cuisine beef stock)
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
zest of half a lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
1-200ml soured cream.
Method :
1. In the morning of the day you're planning on eating the Goulash, place the flour and seasonings into a large plastic bag, then add the beef cubes. Seal the bag and give it a good shake to toss the beef in the seasoned flour.
2. Pour the oil into a large frying pan and place over a moderate heat to bring up to temperature. Test whether the oil is hot enough, by touching one corner of a piece of beef to the oil. If it frizzles and fries, the oil is ready. Add (gently!) the beef to the frying pan and reserve any remaining flour.
3. Brown the beef to a stage where it is just beginning to caramelise, on at least three sides. Using a slotted spoon, decant into the slow cooker, leaving any surplus oil behind. Switch the slow cooker on, using the "low" setting if you're wanting to take all day about cooking the Goulash, or "high" if you've only got 4-5 hours.
4. Add the onions and fry, stirring frequently, until softened and golden. Add the garlic and turn the heat down. Cook for another couple of minutes, taking care not to let the garlic burn.
5. Add the tomatoes and continue to fry, until the tomato pieces have softened and begun to break up. Add the paprika and the leftover seasoned flour and stir to combine. Cook for another minute or so.
6. Add the beef stock gently, stirring all the time to combine it with the pan's contents easily and not wind up with lumps.
7. Add the sliced peppers and stir to combine. Bring back up to a simmer, then decant the lot into the slow cooker and give everything a good stir.
8. Cook for the requisite time (4-5 hours on high, or 9-10 hours on low). An hour or so before you are due to serve, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary and if the sauce is rather too thin, cook with the lid half on/half off for an hour, to reduce the liquid. However, if you're doing this, you need to keep an eye on it!
Serve with the parsley sprinkled over and the lemon soured cream beside.
Printable version
