Love on a Plate: Mushroom Pasta

Mushroom pasta
Mushroom Pasta

Simple flavours, big love. Food is one of the ways I express love and gratitude to others. Only two people in my life have been served this creation, but hopefully that number will increase in the future!

With plain, simple ingredients, there’s nowhere to hide – it’s all in the way you cook it. Two keys to success: using fresh produce (garlic, chilli, tomatoes and parsley) and seasoning the mushrooms. They make all the difference in the world to the final product. On this occasion I used wine (because we had some in the fridge), but in lieu of wine, salted pasta water works just as well. I also had to use sundried tomatoes (because cherry tomato prices have hiked in the lockdown) which wasn’t ideal but still worked okay. For the recipe that follows I’m including the ingredients I would use if everything was available.

Okay let’s go!

Mushroom pasta (vegan)
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
200g dried spaghetti
4 cloves garlic
1 fresh chilli
6 or 7 medium portobello mushrooms
4 cherry tomatoes
2 tsp capers
Splash of white wine
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra to serve
Bunch of parsley
Pecorino (or parmesan) cheese (optional) would make it not-vegan

Instructions:

  1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil. Add the spaghetti, taking care not to break them. Keep an eye on this, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking to each other or the bottom of the pot. We want to cook the spaghetti until just before it is al dente, then finish the cooking process in the pan.
  2. In the meantime, thinly slice garlic and chilli, removing the seeds of the chilli if you don’t want it too spicy. Slice the mushrooms thickly and halve the cherry tomatoes.
  3. In a large pan over medium heat, fry the garlic and chilli in a good amount of olive oil (nominally two tablespoons) for about a minute or two before adding mushrooms and capers and frying for an extra minute. Season well with salt and pepper.
  4. Add a splash of white wine to the pan. As Gennaro would say “the wine you drink is the wine you use”. Add the cherry tomatoes and continue to cook.
  5. By now the spaghetti will be pretty much ready. The best description I can provide about when the spaghetti is done is when it is pretty much cooked but still has slightly too much bite to it. At this point, drain the spaghetti, reserving a cup of the pasta water.
  6. Turn the heat in the pan up to high and add the drained spaghetti. Saute. The spaghetti will soak up the liquid, so add the pasta water in small amounts as required. This part is key because the starches in the pasta water mixed with the olive oil provide thickness/creaminess to the sauce and ensure the sauce sticks to the spaghetti rather than pooling at the bottom. This part takes a bit of practice to know when the spaghetti is done and to know how much pasta water to add – you want just enough that there’s a bit of sauce but it’s not swimming in it.
  7. Take off the heat and stir through some chopped parsley and more fresh olive oil. Taste, and add salt if required.
  8. Serve topped with a bit more parsley and olive oil, plus a cheese like pecorino if you wish (would become non-vegan).

Concluding remarks: Step 6 is the key for pretty much every pasta dish ever. It’s one that takes practice, but at least every time you practice you’ll get a treat at the end!

Ginger and Spring Onion Fish

Ginger and spring onion fish
Ginger and Spring Onion Fish

Growing up, our dinners consisted of one meat dish and a veg dish served with rice and soup. The mains are put in the middle of the table and you help yourself as you go. I think it’s a nice thing to do every once in a while to have a shared dinner like this in a flatting situation, as opposed to having everything put on individual plates – there’s perhaps a greater sense of sharing and connection.

This one was inspired by what my mum would cook when I was younger, combined with things we’ve had at restaurants here and in Malaysia. I’m super happy with how it’s turned out. It’s essentially fish half-steamed, half-boiled in a small amount of liquid for a short time. I like how slight variations in the broth can change the flavour profile significantly, such as the addition of salted vegetables, or adding a teaspoon of vinegar.

I had a bit of trouble with this one as I was using a stove that couldn’t get to as hot a temperature as I would have liked. It’s also worth trying to pick fish fillets that are all about the same size so the cooking is even. On that note, I used monkfish today, and perch has worked well before, but I imagine any fish that isn’t very soft (e.g. red cod) would go pretty well.

I used prawns today but that’s only because I wasn’t convinced I had enough fish to feed three. They were surprisingly good, but not necessary.

Don’t think I have anything else at this stage, so here we go.

Ginger and spring onion fish
Serves: 3
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
400-500g of your choice of fish (3 medium fillets of monkfish)
Bunch of spring onions (at least 3 and up to 5 stalk things)
Chunk of ginger
1 chilli
Quarter of a brown onion
1 tomato
Handful of spinach
Salt
Pepper
1-2 tsp sesame oil (to serve)

For the broth:
50mL of Shaoxing wine (available at any Chinese supermarket and~$2 per bottle)
50mL water
1 tsp light soy sauce
1-2 tsp fish sauce

Instructions:

  1. Thinly slice the spring onion, brown onion and chilli. Reserve the tops of the spring onion for the garnish. Chop the tomato into chunks. Julienne the ginger, which can be done easily by slicing it thinly then stacking the slices and slicing thinly again. Here’s a video showing that by Nadia Lim:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lD6QDMEP6E
  2. Mix the 50mL Shaoxing wine, 50mL water (use stock if you have it), one teaspoon of light soy sauce and one to two teaspoons of fish sauce in a cup. Variation: add one teaspoon of white vinegar.
  3. Over high heat, heat a large flat pan that you have a lid for. When the pan is hot, put cold oil in, give it a good swish around, then put the aromatics in (ginger, spring onion, brown onion, chilli). When they start to brown, add the tomato and spinach. Fry for maybe 30 seconds longer then add the liquid mixture from the cup. Your pan should be hot enough that the liquid boils immediately and the alcohol cooks off. The liquid should cover the base of the pan but not come up more than one or two centimetres.
  4. Lightly season the fish with salt and pepper. Place into the boiling liquid. Cover and let cook until you see the sides of the fish start to turn white (1-2 minutes). Then flip the fish, cover and continue to cook for another three to five minutes to finish the cooking process. Ultimately you can check that the fish is done by cutting through the thickest part – it should not be difficult to cut through, so if it is continue to cook with the lid on.
  5. Remove from the heat, garnish generously with the tops of the spring onion you reserved earlier. Drizzle with one or two teaspoons of sesame oil to finish. Cooking the sesame oil removes some of the flavour; putting it on after the cooking process is complete allows the fragrance to stand out a bit more.
  6. Serve with rice and vegetables.

Concluding remarks: If it’s any measure of quality, my white friend who doesn’t really eat fish rates this, so give it a go even if you’re not big on fish!

Packed-With-Veg Frittata

Veg frittata
Veg Frittata

Much like Sam Cane at the breakdown, this one is nothing flashy, but reliably gets the job done every time. A great way to use up eggs and a good way to pack in the daily veg intake, I enjoy that you can add literally anything you like. A go-to when you have bits and pieces to use up.

I’ve tried baking and not-baking the frittata and it’s probably a matter of personal preference. Finishing the frittata in the oven produces a nice golden-brown top, but the interior dries out slightly more. This one was just done on the stove-top with a lid – the stove was too small for the pan and the lid didn’t fit tightly, so it burned slightly underneath, but other than that still turned out pretty well. I probably prefer the stove-and-cover method as the interior doesn’t dry out.

Nothing else to say on this really; the simple flavours speak for themselves. I’ve included in the recipe what I used this time but it changes every time depending on what we have. Some ideas: feta, smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, sundried tomatoes etc.

Veg frittata (vegetarian)
Serves: 3
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
8 large free range eggs
1 capsicum
Half a large brown onion
2 tsp capers
2 cloves garlic
1 chilli (optional)
A couple of handfuls of beans
A good handful of spinach
4 small portobello mushrooms
1 tomato
50g your choice of grated cheese
10g finely grated parmesan (optional)
A good splash of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions:

  1. Slice capsicum, onion, garlic, chilli, beans (if need be), mushrooms and dice the tomato.
  2. In a pan large enough to hold all the vegetables and eggs, heat a good splash of olive oil over medium-high heat. (Aside: olive oil has a low smoke point so shouldn’t really be used for cooking on high heat)
  3. Fry capsicum, onion, garlic, chilli, beans, capers and mushrooms for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes and spinach. Feel free to add a crack of salt and pepper at this stage (I think mushrooms always need a bit of salt at the start to bring out the flavour). The mixture needs to be dryish before the eggs go in.
  4. While the veg is frying, crack the 8 eggs into a large bowl and whisk to bring together. Season with a bit of salt and pepper but not too much because we’re going to add cheese. The goal is just to combine the yolk and egg, not so much to beat air into the mixture. Then add the cheese and parmesan to the eggs and mix.
  5. Once the veg has fried for a bit longer and there’s no obvious liquid in the bottom of the pan, pour the egg mixture into the pan and give the whole thing a good mix, evenly spreading the veg.
  6. Turn the heat down to a medium heat, cover and let cook for around 7 minutes or until the top of the frittata has only just solidified. Alternatively you could bake or grill in the oven until golden brown on top.
  7. Turn the frittata out onto a large plate. This can be done by placing the large plate on top of the pan, then using a long tea towel grip the plate and the pan together at the sides and flip.
  8. Top with a bit more parmesan or garnish with parsley if you like. Serve with your favourite sauce or enjoy plain. I had mine today with a bit of Greek yoghurt and sweet chilli.

Concluding remarks: This is great for packed lunches too! Whip it up on a Sunday and it’ll probably last through to Wednesday lunch.

Today’s Experiment: No-Knead Cumin and Turmeric Bread

Cumin and turmeric bread
Cumin and Turmeric Bread

I recall in first year trying some funky yellow bread from the Otago Farmers’ Market – the fragrance from the cumin seeds and yellow aesthetic from the turmeric was what stuck with me. Back then I would have had no idea how to go about recreating such a creation, but I decided to give it a go because what else is there to do at the moment?

This one turned out pretty well – great flavours and a nice open crumb (interior of the bread). However, I think I needed to bake for an extra 10 minutes as it was possibly a fraction underdone. I’d give this bread a solid 7/10 and one to definitely make again.

The process of making this dough is super simple – no kneading involved – instead there’s a folding technique that you can do once or twice, then leave it overnight to rise. I went with an 80% hydration dough as I wanted an open, airy interior, but this makes the dough a bit more sticky. Not really an issue as there’s no kneading.

Anyhow here it is.

No-knead cumin and turmeric bread (vegan)
Serves: 3-4 (maybe 8 slices – it’s a small loaf, feel free to upscale)
Hands-on time: 10-15 minutes
Hands-off time: ~4-24 hours
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:
300g high-grade flour
240g water (80% hydration, note that for water 100mL = 100g)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp yeast (this gives it a slow rise, but add more if you need a faster rise)
1 Tbsp turmeric
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
Splash of olive oil
1 tsp sugar (optional – I only added it because I thought it might balance the bitterness of the turmeric)

Instructions:

  1. In a dry pan, toast the cumin seeds to release the fragrance.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, yeast, turmeric, cumin seeds, sugar). Then add the 240g of water and a splash of olive oil (nominally 1 tsp).
  3. Stir with a butter knife until the yellow colour looks evenly spread throughout the dough. It will be very rough at this stage.
  4. You could now probably just wait 12-24 hours for the dough to double in size and then turn it out and use it. However I folded the dough a couple of times in that waiting time to improve the structure of the dough. Here’s how to do that:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTo_Ho5C6sk
  5. With wet hands on a dry surface, turn the dough out and shape it into a boule. This one takes practice and is definitely not something I’m too great at. Here’s how to do that:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCM3wHFk2SE
  6. Once you’ve shaped the dough pop it onto your baking tray (I used baking paper). Let it rest for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C in the meantime.
  7. Once rested, bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. I baked mine for 30 and thought it needed a little longer. The crust is likely to go quite dark, but that’s okay.
  8. Finally let the dough cool on a wire rack (must allow air flow underneath!). This finishes the cooking process.

Concluding remarks: Folding the dough and shaping into a boule are the only two challenging parts to this method. If you wanted to try scoring the dough (which ideally you would) that happens just before the dough goes in the oven. I just haven’t figured out how to yet (maybe my knives aren’t sharp enough?). Anyway enough for now.

Quick and Easy Lunch: Spiced Capsicum on Avo Toast

Spiced capsicum on avo toast
Spiced Capsicum on Avo Toast

This recipe is a great way to use up bits and pieces and my go-to when stuck for something to make. Super quick and easy, it’s perfect for brunch, lunch or a snack. Packed with fresh veg and bold flavours, you can add almost anything and you won’t go wrong. Feel free to experiment with the ingredients!

Spiced capsicum on avo toast (vegan)
Serves: 2
Prep time: 8 minutes
Cook time: 7 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Essential Ingredients:
4 slices of bread (I used my potato bread which went down a treat)
One small-medium capsicum
A quarter or half an onion (red is ideal, but brown is fine too)
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 – 1 tsp smoked paprika
1 – 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra to serve
1 small avocado
Salt and pepper

Optional Ingredients: (literally anything you want! e.g. mushroom, pork, tomatoes, edamame, spinach etc; below is just what I used)
1 tsp capers
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
Touch of soy sauce
1 small chilli
Spinkle of sesame seeds (to finish)

Instructions:

  1. Thinly slice the capsicum, onion, garlic and chilli.
  2. In a dry pan over medium-high heat, partially toast cumin seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I added a touch of soy sauce after a couple of minutes, but salt would be just as good.
  3. Add one or two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the pan and continue to fry the seeds for about 30 seconds, then add all other ingredients (capsicum, onion, garlic, chilli, capers. Add in one teaspoon of smoked paprika, a decent sprinkle of salt and pepper and give everything a good mix.
  4. In the meantime, toast the bread. When the toast is done, the veg will probably also be ready, so prep the avocado; slice, dice, mash – it’s up to you.
  5. When the bread is toasted, top with avocado and season lightly with salt and pepper. Take the veg off the heat and place straight on top.
  6. Finish with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Concluding remarks:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
This one tastes mean
And it’s good for you too.

A Staple: Potato Bread

Potato bread
Potato Bread

I’m definitely no bread expert, but I’ve made a lot of it. Playing with dough is frickin’ satisfying. Over the past few months I’ve moved outside normal bread (flour, water, salt and yeast) into bread with kumara or potato. I was skeptical at the start as to whether the bread would still hold up structurally, but I’ve found it not to be too bad. The result is a moist crumb (interior part of the bread) and a firm crust (depending on how you bake it).

I made an error with this loaf as I overstretched the gluten to get it into the loaf tin; it would have been better off baking it straight on a tray or a Dutch oven. Despite this mistake, the bread still turned out mean – the crumb had good depth of flavour and was soft and moist. I think this recipe is a pretty difficult one to screw up which is what I like about bread baking; there’s so many ways to do it right and the bread usually turns out pretty well even if you’ve messed up. On the flip side, there’s heaps of ways to do it wrong, and I’ve had my fair share of those (including my first time making bread where I put 16g of salt into the loaf and ended up with a salty brick). But you have to be doing something really wrong to get it wrong.

Possibly the thing that bugs me the most about recipes and baking is when people use cups as their measure rather than grams (or other weight). The variability in the amount of flour in 1 cup will definitely change the texture of your bread and that makes it so difficult to improve because you don’t really know what effect other changes might have had on your bread. Get a weighing scale.

The good news is that bread can be 65% hydration (65g of water to 100g of flour) all the way up to 100% hydration (100g of water to 100g of flour) and if you treat it right, it will still bake successfully and be good to eat.

So let’s get cracking.

Potato bread (vegan)
Serves: 4 (might get around 8-10 slices, but depends how you bake it)
Hands-on time: 15-20 minutes
Hands-off time: 4 – 24 hours
Cooking time: ~30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 or 2 medium Agria potatoes (other varieties will work, but floury potatoes are best)
~400-500g high-grade flour (depending on the weight of potatoes)
Water (depends on flour and potatoes – we’re gonna go 60% hydration)
1/4 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil (or other oil)

Instructions:

  1. Cook the potatoes. Not fussed how you do this, whether you use leftovers or otherwise. If you use boiled potatoes or leftover mash you may want to reduce the water later on by a small amount, nominally 25g (or if not, it doesn’t really matter!). I suggest the fastest most efficient way is cooking them in the microwave. Stab the potato 3 times on both sides with a paring knife and microwave for 3.5 minutes per side.
  2. Take the skin off the cooked potatoes and mash the potato. I used a potato ricer but this isn’t necessary.
  3. At this stage I salted the potatoes with about 1/2 tsp of salt but just use a pinch or a small amount. You could add the salt to the flour instead; I don’t think it would make any difference.
  4. Weigh the mashed potatoes and measure out 3.5x the weight of the potato in flour (e.g. 100g of potatoes needs 350g of flour). The moisture in your potato will change the texture of the bread, but a ratio of 3.5 is pretty safe.
  5. Now measure out 0.6x the weight of the flour in water (e.g. 350g of flour needs 210g of water).
  6. Add the 1/4 tsp of yeast to the flour (this may take up to 24 hours till it’s ready to bake, so if you need the bread sooner, use a bit more yeast. If you need it within a few hours, warm your water, then add 1 Tbsp yeast and a touch of sugar to the water and let it bloom for 10 minutes before continuing).
  7. Mix all your ingredients together in a big bowl: flour + yeast, potatoes + salt, water and 1 Tbsp olive oil.  Bring together initially by mixing with a butter knife or your hand then turn it out onto a surface and knead for 5 minutes. The dough will be moist and sticky due to the potato starches – don’t add more flour. Regardless of how moist it feels, it will still come together and make good bread. The dough will not become smooth like it might with normal bread; I think the kneading is just important to ensure everything is evenly mixed. There is often no need to knead normal bread other than for fun (but definitely a reason to need it!)
  8. Once somewhat smoother than before, place the dough into an oiled container, cover and let sit until it roughly doubles in size (4-24 hours). If you need it to double faster, put the container into the oven at 50 degrees C  or the lowest setting and turn off the oven when it reaches temperature. The depth of flavour of the bread will be better the longer you leave it to rise.
  9. Once doubled in size, it will now be a smooth dough. Knock the dough down a bit and place into a greased loaf tin, or shape into a ball and place it on a baking tray smooth side up. Let it rise again for about 20-30 minutes, then heat the oven to 220 degrees C.
  10. Cook for around 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow to knock on the top. You can cook it for a bit longer if you want a firmer crust or a bit shorter if you want a softer crust, but 30 minutes should be pretty safe.
  11. Cool on a wire rack or other item such that there is airflow underneath the loaf. This step is important as if finishes off the cooking process, just like resting a piece of meat.

Concluding remarks: It’s a slow process, but you learn and gain experience each time you bake. The bread will probably turn out differently every time, but that’s fine because it will still taste pretty good! The most important thing is to have fun along the way.

First Post: Gnocchi

IMG_20200326_122224064
Crispy Potato Gnocchi with Lamb Shank

First post! Excuse the picture quality, lack of accompanying images and the writing style for now – bigger things to come in the future hopefully!

I’ve been working on getting gnocchi right for a while now, playing with flour type, flour ratio, degree of knead, cooking time, frying/not frying etc. First couple of times the gnocchi fell apart or turned into mush. Then after a few changes they held together well, but were a bit gluey. Finally today the texture was just right!

From what I gather so far there’s a few keys to getting it right.
Type of flour: High-grade (or strong flour) – the times I tried using plain flour, the gnocchi ended up gluey.
Type of potato: Floury potatoes are key – in NZ, agria is probably the most accessible.
Flour to potato ratio: This one is contentious because I think it probably changes depending on type of potato, how you cook it etc. My favourite Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo suggests 1 part flour to 10 parts potato (e.g. 100g of potato needs 10g of flour). Someone else I saw suggested 0.27 (e.g. 100g of potato needs 27g of flour). I tried both. I found too much flour and you lose the potato texture; too little flour and you might as well be having mash (but perhaps I need to try Gennaro’s method again). I had success today at 0.16 (e.g. 100g of potato needs 16g flour).
Length of knead and technique: I think there is a reasonable window between under-working and over-working the dough, but rather than kneading it’s more of a pressing/folding motion. I work the dough a little past the point that it just comes together so that I have more confidence in the gnocchi not falling apart.
Cooking time: The only rule is that you must not overcook the gnocchi – very easy to do. Some people suggest leaving the gnocchi in the boiling water for 20-30 seconds after it floats but I think it’s more like 10 if that. If cooked for too long it will turn to mush regardless of how well you’ve done all the steps prior.

With this in mind let’s get to it!

Note: The lamb shank was leftovers and went nicely with the rest of it. Any red meat stew would pair well. This recipe is just for the gnocchi. 

Crispy gnocchi with capsicum and olive oil (vegan)
Serves: 2
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes

Ingredients for gnocchi:
3 medium Agria potatoes
~ 30-40g High grade flour + extra for dusting
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of nutmeg

Ingredients for sauce:
Extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed) Ideally Red Island or The Village Press, wouldn’t recommend Lupi
3 cloves garlic
One small capsicum
Chilli (optional but recommended)

Top with:
Parsley
Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese (this would make it not vegan)

Instructions:

  1. Rinse and scrub the potatoes if necessary. With a paring knife, stab them 3 times on one side and 3 times on the other. Microwave for 3.5 minutes. Flip and microwave for another 3.5 minutes. Continue in 1 minute increments if not cooked after 7. This produces potatoes not dissimilar to baked potatoes in a fraction of the time and energy.
  2. In the meantime, slice the garlic and chilli. Dice the capsicum.
  3. While still hot, remove the skin from the cooked potatoes using a paring knife or just your hands.
  4. If you have a potato ricer, rice the potatoes out onto a flat surface (try to distribute the potato evenly across the surface rather than piling it into a mound) and allow to cool. This lets the steam escape. Otherwise use a fork to bash them up a bit and do the same, but don’t overwork them at this stage.
  5. Once cooled, weigh the potato and then put it back on the flat surface (again spreading it out). Multiply the weight of the potato by 0.16 and measure out that amount of high-grade flour.
  6. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg across the top of the potato, then cover the potato evenly with the flour.
  7. Using a blunt tool like a dough scraper or butter knife, use a chopping motion across the top of the mixture to start to incorporate the flour and potato. This starts the mixing process without kneading which would activate the gluten.
  8. After around 30 seconds, start to bring the mixture together by pressing down and folding the crumbly parts into the dough. Press, fold. Repeat until there’s no more crumbs and the dough just comes together. Then do a few more gentle presses and folds before shaping the dough into a ball and dusting with flour.
  9. Quarter the dough using the same blunt tool, then press gently between your hands to start to form a cylinder. On a flat surface very lightly dusted with flour, gently roll the dough using your fingers with a backwards-forwards motion of the arms. Aim for a log around 2cm thick. If the log starts to lose structure and fall apart as you roll, this may be because you need to be more gentle or you haven’t worked the gluten quite enough. If this happens, fold the log in half on itself and squeeze it a few times to work the dough before trying again.
  10. Once you have rolled the dough into logs, dust them with flour, then use the same blunt tool to cut the logs to form the gnocchi, roughly into 2x2cm squares (they will expand when cooked).
  11. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Salt it well. Cook the gnocchi in batches so as not to cool the water too much, as this would mean they are soaking in the water for longer than necessary. After only a minute or two, once they float up (they will probably start to bounce up and down with the convection currents), wait another 10-15 seconds before removing and placing on a plate (or other surface where they aren’t crushing each other).
  12. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large flat pan on a medium-high heat. Remove from the heat to place the gnocchi into the oil but try not to add too much of the gnocchi water as it will cause the oil to splash. Return to heat and brown both sides of the gnocchi – this might take a few minutes. Just before the second side is done, add in the garlic, chilli and capsicum. Fry for another 2-3 minutes, but don’t let the garlic burn. Add another pinch of salt and pepper.
  13. Serve topped with chopped parsley and another splash of olive oil (definitely) and pecorino or parmesan cheese (if you wish).

Concluding remarks: Have fun, chances are it won’t go quite to plan the first time round. To be honest it felt like a bit of a fluke that they worked out well today. The simple flavours of chilli, garlic and capsicum keep the gnocchi as the centrepiece, but additions such as cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, feta, capers, olives etc. would go down a treat. Thanks for bearing with me!