Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi

This started off with a healthy dinner in mind, but headed rapidly south when i started adding the cheeses!   Oh dear, not expecting miracles at my weigh in tomorrow, it's been a bit of a naughty week with the highlight being Sunday when I spent the afternoon parked on my bottom bits outside a wood fire pizza oven in satan's garden tasting a sample of every pizza making it's way out of the embers.  It was a true gastronomic apocalypse.

Anyway, back to tonight's dinner.  Spinach gnocchi made out of frozen spinach (thawed and drained) mixed with ricotta, parmesan, egg and flour.  Shaped into balls, simmered slowly in boiling water and then placed in a baking dish and smothered in tomato sauce and more parmesan.  Sounds good, tastes good too!

Ingredients for gnocchi
500g bag of frozen spinach
250g ricotta cheese
100g grated parmesan
2 eggs
150g flour
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

1 Bottle of your favourite tomato pasta sauce (I like the one with four cheeses as you don't have to add to much more cheese)
Grated parmesan to scatter over the top

Method
Thaw the spinach and squeeze out all the water.  Chop spinach finely before mixing it with the rest of the gnocchi ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Remove gnocchi mix from fridge and form into small balls.  Dust each ball with flour and place on a baking sheet.  Once you have shaped all the gnocchi, poach the balls for about 5 minutes in boiling water.

Once the gnocchi has been poached, remove from saucepan with slatted spoon and place in a baking dish. 

Cover the gnocchi with your favourite pasta tomato sauce and sprinkle over parmesan.

Bake at 180 for 30 minutes and serve with a green salad.

Thai Style Beef Salad

On my travels around Thailand the highlight for me was the daily menu.  So many new taste sensations.  I so enjoy the fragrant and spicy notes that Thai food has to offer.  My particular favourites include thai fishcakes, tom yum soup, green papaya salad, pad thai and those beautiful banana pancakes the street vendors whip up in a flash.  I had a real penchant for crunchy salads in the sweltering heat and curries also seemed to hit the right spot.  Here is an easy Thai style salad that is so versatile.  You can eat it with chicken or thinly sliced beef.  As far as vegetables go, anything from carrot to mung sprouts, cabbage to spinach leaves.  And finishing off with finely chopped coriander, basil or mint would do the trick.  Here is the version I made this evening.

Crunchy Thai Beef Salad

Marinade Ingredients
1 teaspoon chiu chow chilli oil (with chilli bits) or minced chilli
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1.5 tablespoons lime juice (I use it out of a bottle)
3 teaspoons fish sauce
1.5 tablespoons oil

Salad Ingredients
1/2 red onion very finely sliced
salt and pepper
250g shaved roast beef
1/2 bag mung sprouts
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves
chopped coriander

Mix the marinade ingredients.  Add the thinly sliced onion and salt and pepper.  Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to let onion absorb the marinade.

In a bowl mix sliced shave roast beef, sprouts and spinach leaves.  Add the onions and gently mix together until all ingredients coated with the onion and marinade.  Sprinkle over chopped coriander.  Allow a couple of minutes for all the flavours to combine before you grab a fork and get stuck in.

And two days later I used the rest of the sprouts, spinach and onion to make the same with cold roast chicken

Tuna Beans and Greens

This is a great lunch, easy to prepare and a good lunch box snack for those working people (I am an occasional working woman, so on my work days I need good portable food I can prepare in minutes)  Going along with my theme of the week being high avoidance of sugar and wheat based carbs, this recipe is both filling and tasty without leaving you wanting for more.

Tuna Beans and Greens Recipe

Ingredients
1 400g can cannellini beans
1 can tuna
2 lemons
2 teaspoons of garlic oil
chopped cucumber
baby spinach leaves
chopped spring onions
parsley

Method
Drain the can of beans in a colander and rinse with water.  Put the beans and tuna in a mixing bowl.  Squeeze the lemons over the tuna beans and drizzle over olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and mix together.  Add the salad vegetables and toss together.

I packed this into my lunchbox today with a sprinkling of sesame seeds on top.  Delicious.

Simply Sushi Salad

This was such an obvious combination to put into a salad, I don't know why I never though of it before especially considering that I eat sushi as often as possible. Tastes like sushi but without all the fuss of rolling it (although that is something I really enjoy but only when I'm in the mood). My 5 year old won't usually eat salads, but has now changed his mind. I will have him eating greek salads by the end of the summer.

Sushi Salad

2 cups basmati rice

3 tablespoons sesame oil

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

2.5cm piece ginger finely chopped

1/2 cup soy sauce (tamari, kikomen)

3-5 chillis finely chopped(optional)

3/4 cup rice wine vinegar

8 nori sheets cut into small strips

150g smoked salmon

1/3 cup toasted sesame seeds

1/2 bag baby spinach leaves

1 avocado (optional)

Cook rice according to packet instructions. Heat sesame oil in pan and fry garlic, ginger and a dash of soy sauce for a couple of minutes. Put rice in bowl, and pour over the aromatics, left over soy sauce and vinegar. Add remaining ingredients and mix together garnishing with chopped avocado. Would also be lovely with garlic prawns, roast peppers or cucumber.

My kind of Chicken Pasta

On a recent tour of the South Island, my cousin made a beautiful chicken pasta dish one night which I loved as it contained some of my favourite ingredients. I have adapted it slightly to suit my palate better by adding spinach, as it seemed to be more naughty than good for one, but the addition of spinach allows me to think I am being virtuous.

This makes a good amount for 4...

500g of your favourite pasta
2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite size chunks
1 chopped onion
crushed garlic
chopped bacon
1/2 tub cream cheese (use the light variety if you are watching your fat intake, it works just as well)
sundried tomatoes
olives
capers
spinach(I use baby leaf or frozen parcels, defrosted)
parmesan cheese
pine nuts

Boil the pasta as per the packet instructions...

While the pasta is cooking, saute the garlic, onions and bacon in a little butter/olive oil and put aside. Fry the chicken breast in a hot pan until golden and cooked through but still moist. Put in a mixing bowl along with bacon/onion/garlic. Stir through the tomatoes, olives, capers and spinach, and the cream cheese. When the pasta is cooked stir this through too, and the season with salt and pepper (remembering not too much salt as the bacon and olives are salty). If you need to add more cream cheese do so. Grate parmesan cheese into the pasta and sprinkle over toasted pine nuts. Serve up with your favourite green salad. Bon Appetito.