Greek style gnocchi

This has become a new favourite way to eat gnocchi. We love it in the more traditional Italian style too but sometimes it’s nice to have a change.

Although this is good by itself or with a simple salad, it’s also great as a side dish alongside lamb steaks.

- Finely chop a red onion and 2 or 3 large cloves of garlic and fry them in a table spoon of good olive oil
- Finely chop a variety of herbs… we use basil, thyme, chives and oregano, and add them to the onion and garlic once they have softened.
- Add a large table spoon of soft cream cheese to the pan and mix well, add salt and pepper at this stage. You could use feta instead of the cream cheese.
- Leave the cheese, herb, garlic and onion mix on a low heat whilst you cook a pack of gnocchi in boiling salted water which will take around 3-5 minutes to cook.
- Add the cooked gnocchi to the cheese and herbs and stir through so that the gnocchi is well coated. Serve immediately.

Paella

We love paella. It’s so easy to make and virtually fool proof. Brown the meat, add veg followed by rice and stock, then cover and leave to cook. Add any shellfish and peas for the last five minutes and garnish with herbs and lemon.


We vary ours depending on what we fancy but this one is a favourite…

Ingredients (serves 2 but is easily doubled etc):
3 chicken thighs
4 mini cooking chorizo sausages
1 red pepper (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
Pinch of saffron
¼ tea sp smoked paprika
Large handful of shell fish (we used mussels, langoustines and prawns)
½ cup frozen peas
200g paella rice
500ml chicken stock
1 lemon
1 small bunch of parsley

- Cut the chicken and chorizo into bite sized chunks and brown in a little olive oil. Set aside.
- Next fry the peppers, onions and garlic for 5 minutes or so until softened. Add the meat back into the pan.
- Add the saffron, paprika and rice and stir well.
- Add the stock and give everything a good stir. Cover the pan with a double layer of foil and make sure it is tucked tightly around the edges so steam doesn’t escape.
- Let the paella cook on a low-ish heat for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes lift the foil and add the peas and any shellfish. Re-cover with foil.
- After a further 5 minutes remove the foil and check to see that the shell fish is cooked.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and lemon wedges (we took the photo above before we did this)
- The rice should be tender and a crust should have formed on the bottom of the pan - don’t worry about this, it’s the best bit!