kitchen72

Amazing flavours from a few simple ingredients with minimal work  - Just what you need for a quick weekday supper.

Cauliflower cut into steak width slices, salted, oiled, drizzled with pomegranate molasses, and roasted until the molasses caramelise and sear into a crust on the florets.

Matchsticks of raw celeriac stained with the juices of a pomegranate which dripped into the bowl when you were beating the seeds out.

Handful of Spinach.Chunk of feta. More salt. Cracked pepper. Squeeze of lemon. Some olive oil.

Fabulous.

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Gnocchi are little nugget sized potato dumplings usually made from potato and flour. From the Italian, gnocchi translates as ‘lump’, and if you have ever bought them premade in vacuum packs on your supermarket shelves, you might agree with the description. I find the shop bought gnocchi dense, chewy and quite unpalatable. To be honest I stopped buying them ages ago but I was in New York last year they were served as part of tasting menu and I was blown away. They were so light, and delicate, little potato pleasure bombs. I resolved to learn the recipe as soon as I got home and have never looked back.

There are two main things to keep in mind when making gnocchi at home. Firstly you don’t want to have them too soggy. The trick to overcome this is to bake the potatoes in their skins instead of boiling them. The potatoes then come out of the oven with the skins dry and crispy with fluffy insides. When you mash the potatoes the mash is dry – less water, means you need to use less flour – less flour means lighter gnocchi .

The other tip is not to overwork the potatoes when making the gnocchi. If you manipulate the gnocchi too much you start to develop glutens in the starchy potatoes. This means that the gnocchi will end up too chewy and doughy, so remember to keep your touch light for the perfect results.

Serves 4 to 6 (you can make them in advance and freeze them for a special occasion)

1. Preheat your oven to 200degrees. Prick the skins of 3 large potatoes (preferably a floury type like a Rooster or Kerrs Pink) and bake them in the preheated oven until they are soft (60 to 90 minutes approx).

2. Take them out of the oven and while they are still hot cut them in half lengthwise, so the steam escapes while they cool (remember steam is water and we want to keep them as light as possible)

3. Scoop the potatoes out of their skins and pass them through a potato ricer or a food mill. If you don’t have a potato ricer, you can grate them using the large holes of the grater into a large bowl

4. Add 1 egg yolk and a large pinch of salt and gently mix in with a wooden spoon. You can also add some finely shredded spinach or basil leaves at this stage for a bit of colour in the gnocchi. I used some wild garlic leaves.

5. Measure 200g of flour and add the flour to the potatoes a little at a time, using only as much as you need so that the dough will not stick your hands. Gently work the dough with your fingers to bring it all together.

6. Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and take the dough out of the bowl and press down, flattening it out to a disc shape. Light coat with a sprinkling of flour and fold over in half and press down again. Repeat this three more times, lightly flour, fold over the press down. If the dough still feels sticky, do it one more time, sprinkling the counter and the dough with no more than 2 tablespoons of flour. Roll the dough out into a log shape, dust the outside of flour and allow to rest for about five minutes.

7. Dust the counter again with some flour and divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each section out into a cylinder about half an inch thick. Cut the dough into gnocchi (1 inch pieces).

8. To cook the gnocchi, place them into a pot of heavily salted boiling water. After a few minute the gnocchi will float to the top. Continue to cook for a further minute and then remove, drain and serve.

9. To make the tomato broth, I roughly chopped 8 large tomatoes and generously sprinkled them with salt and lots of olive oil, and the juice of half a lemon. The salt and lemon juice macerates the tomatoes, softening them and releasing all their juices. I let them stand for an hour or two while the potatoes bake and I make the gnocchi. (Even better if you leave the tomatoes to macerate overnight in the fridge). Gently heat the tomatoes and all the juices over a low heat for a few minutes, just to loosen the tomatoes a little more, being careful not to bring to a simmer as you don’t want to lose any of the lovely juices.

10. Serve at room temperature with a good grating of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of wild garlic flowers (also a dollop of wild garlic pesto in the middle).

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I don’t know about you, but I find that I never have friends over for food during the colder months. All I want to do is snuggle up on the sofa in front of the fire with the curtains drawn. But at this time of year my thoughts turn to entertaining. So I am always on the lookout for easy, cheap recipes for sharing .

The ham hock is the shin of the pig just above the ankle. Ham hocks are wonderfully cheap (approx €1.50 each) with plenty of meat and full of flavour. They are ideal are long slow cooking so the meat falls apart, and because of the bone, it naturally produces its own gelatine which means that the stock its cooked in can be used to make a jelly to set a terrine. Perfect, and as an added bonus the ham hocks are virtually fat free.

Two ham hocks are enough to make a terrine to feed twelve people and talk to your local butcher in advance as you might need to order them in. The classic recipe varies from region to region all over the world, but it’s a good idea to include some cooked vegetables and or pickles in the terrine, as their texture makes a wonderful contrast to the soft meat and jelly. Serve with lots of crusty French bread, salad leaves, maybe a and a good chilled white wine like a Chablis or Muscadet.

Recipe
Roughly chop 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 onion, and add to a large saucepan with 2 ham hocks. Cover with cold water and add 5 to 10 peppercorns.

Bring to the boil and once boiling, reduce the temperature to a simmer. Continue to simmer for at least 3 hours until the meat is very tender and falls easily from the bone. When tender, remove the ham hocks from the saucepan and set aside. Allow the hocks and stock to cool.

While the hocks are simmering take a loaf tin and sprinkle a little water inside the loaf tin. Smear the sprinkled water up the sides of the tin as well to lightly coat all of the inside. Take some cling film and fit it in the loaf tin, making sure that there is plenty to overhang all sides. I usually find that I use four separate layers of cling film in a cross shape to make sure there is plenty of extra film to cover the terrine.

When the ham is cold tear the meat of the bone and throw away all the fat and skin. No need to chop the meat, as the long shreds of meat look fantastic when set in the terrine. Put the meat in a large bowl and reserve. Strip a bunch of parsley leaves from the stalk, roughly chop and add to the meat.

Now at this stage you can be creative. For the photos I lightly steamed some chard leaves, but you could use some gently boiled carrot sticks, or asparagus and add to the bowl. Quarter some cornichons (small pickled gherkins) and mix all the veg and meat together and spoon into the lined loaf tin.

With the stock that was used to boil the ham hocks bring back to the boil and reduce until about 300ml is left. Leave the stock to cool in the fridge and when cooled carefully pour into the loaf tin over the meat mixture. Cling film over to seal the terrine

Cut out some card large enough to cover the terrine and wrap the card in tinfoil. Lay some tins on top of the card to weigh the terrine down and put in the fridge overnight to set. The terrine will keep for up to 6 days in the fridge. Unwrap to serve.

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I was raised on black pudding for breakfast. Part of a fry at weekends, or quickly grilled and smushed onto a piece of toast before we were bundled into the car for school. These days black pudding is becoming more popular, and not just for being stuffed into a breakfast roll. Perhaps it’s due its low cost which appeals in these times of austerity. Or maybe it’s because you can’t watch an episode of Masterchef without one of the contestants popping a piece of pudding under a pan-fried scallop with a smear of pea purée.

Black pudding is a perfect example of good honest food, and nose to tail eating, using every last part of the pig. As a peasant food it not surprising that every country has their own version of it, though the Irish black puddings are now getting global recognition. Last year three Irish producers, McCarthy’s of Kanturk, Caherbeg from Roscrea and Sean Kelly in Mayo were all honoured and celebrated by the prestigious Brotherhood of the Knights of the Black Pudding (La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin)- so we in Ireland are punching above our weight again when it comes to good food.

Today’s recipe is for a Black Pudding Croquette. The crispy breaded fried exterior yields with a crunch to reveal a soft interior made from creamy mashed potatoes, rich black pudding and spring onions. Now this is something I have eaten for brunch with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce, and for dinner served with pigs cheek and pickled rhubarb (further details below). Though it would also work brilliantly with a simple fried pork chop and some greens.

Method

Peel and boil 200g of potatoes in a large saucepan. Mash them with a tablespoon of butter and milk (add more butter if required).

Roughly chop 200g of black pudding and fry in a little oil for a minute, just to soften the pudding, not to crisp it up. Take out of the oil and add to the mash. Finely chop 4 spring onions and add to the mash. Give the ingredients a good stir to incorporate. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mould into 4 equal burger sized shapes, though you could easily roll them into balls or cylinders if you’d prefer.

Roll the croquette in some flour, then dip in beaten egg, and coat with bread crumbs.

Shallow fry in plenty of hot oil until golden brown and drain on kitchen paper.

I served this with pigs cheek which was blasted in a pressure cooker with stock, carrots, celery, onions, and star anise. Took the cheeks out and reduced the stock to syrupy consistency. Quick pickled some cut strings of rhubarb in hot water from a tap and white wine vinegar (about a 1/2 cup of water to a tablespoon of vinegar) with a good pinch of salt and sprinkle of sugar. Also took a cup of the liquid used in the pressure cooker to glaze some savoy cabbage.

If I had more patience, I would have had nicer photos showing all the components. But I was hungry, and this was good.

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