Pea Sauce for Pasta or Gnocchi

With the weather turning and the nights drawing in I fancied something bright green, fresh tasting and spring like to keep the feeling of summer going just a little bit longer. So I came up with this pea puree to use as a sauce for pasta or gnocchi or even as a vegetable side dish. It is so quick and simple that is has become one of my quick go to supper dishes.  Plus I almost always have all the ingredients to hand.

The Cupboard Was Bare Balsamic Pasta

Everybody needs an emergency go to dish when you find that there is no fresh food in the house and you are hungry as hell. The lack of provisions may be the result of a hectic work life or a frenetic social life. Or, like me you may not have been able to face slogging around the supermarket with a blank look on your face as you desperately seek inspiration for dinner.

This is my go to dish calling for only an onion as its fresh vegetable, and there is always one of those lurking around at the bottom of the fridge- right? Ok, so this isn't going to help toward your five a day but it will fill a hungry tummy in about 10-15 minutes. You can throw in whatever veggies (e.g. frozen peas or spinach) you have or a slice of bacon or ham (real or fake) or some cheese to jazz this up.

In relation to balsamic vinegar, for those of you that are gluten free, from what I have read, if it is good quality vinegar with no other ingredients e.g caramel coloring derived from a gluten source is safe for celiacs and those that cannot tolerate gluten (University Chicago Celiac Disease Center). Check the label before you use but generally most distilled vinegars are safe, apart from malt vinegar which is not gluten free. 

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I have wanted to make gnocchi for a long time but had heard that it was fiddly and as you can buy gnocchi in the chilled cabinet of most supermarkets in the UK I hadn't felt the need. But since coming to Singapore I haven't eaten gnocchi once. That was until we went to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Who would have thought that I would have the best gnocchi ever in Thailand! These little pillows of potato (if they were pillows they would be duck down ones) were heavenly with an asparagus and ricotta sauce and inspired me to create a recipe for gluten free gnocchi,which the whole family could have, a try. Now these are not as good as the ones I had at Pulcinella da Stefano, which I think had ricotta in to make them extra soft and delicate, but they really are nicer than the ready made ones and gluten free to boot. If gluten isn't an issue then I have provided amounts for using an all purpose wheat flour in the recipe.

These little dumpling are slightly sweet and can go with pretty much any sauce although punchy varieties might over power the delicate flavor. The classic sauce is to use butter melted with sage leaves fried until they are crispy and the butter has browned, then served with grated Parmesan. I made a dairy free version using spinach sauteed in olive oil with black pepper, grated lemon rind, fresh thyme and a squeeze of lemon juice as I am still working on a dairy free creamy asparagus sauce similar to the Chiang Mai one.

I think I will get better at these in time but I don't think they turned out too bad for a first attempt! I might try adding some potato flour instead of the cornflour next time to see if that is any better. The trick to gnocchi seems to be to add only as much flour as needed to keep the gnocchi together during cooking as too much will make it more akin to a bullet than a pillowy dumpling. You also need to use  floury potato varieties as you don't want the mixture too wet as you will have to add more flour to get a workable dough.

Brie, Pear and Balsamic Red Onion Pasta

It was lunchtime and I was famished. A quick look in fridge revealed a large asian pear languishing at the back which I couldn't think what to do with. I didn't want something sweet and I wanted to eat this raw to enjoy its crisp bite. This is what I came up with. It was tasty with just enough sweet and savoury. I might give it a try with some walnuts or feta instead of brie next time. Sorry no photos as I was so hungry I just ate it before I thought about it. Whoops!

Summer Vegetable Spaghetti Carbonara

I have been thinking all day about what I should cook as my first blog post. Should I do something exciting and original to start this off with a bang or maybe something wickedly decadent to pique people's interest? In the end I decided that I would turn to an old cupboard standby which has served me well and saved my bacon more than once when unexpected guests have arrived.  Mainly though, I just fancied a tasty supper of al dente pasta, smooth creamy pasta just waiting to be slurped up lady & the tramp style studded with sweet summery veg. Who could say no to such a simple and comforting dish!

As a teenager I used to make this dish with fake bacon but now I don't bother with fake meats and  frankly  this dish tastes better without it.  Most summer vegetables will work in this recipe so feel free to experiment with whatever is to hand or in season. Anything that will fry up and braise into a sweet nugget of vegetable heaven is a winner such as delicate asparagus spears, baby spinach, courgettes (zucchini), petite pois, young broad (fava) beans, leeks and tenderstem broccoli.

As my partner likes to eat meat , I normally make two portions of this and spilt it into two at the point of serving up by adding half the spaghetti and sauce to the fried bacon or pancetta pan and then stirring in all the bacony juices and fat to add flavour.