My partner Glenn can make no claims about being a food connoisseur, he'd happily eat a Fray Bentos pie if I'd let him. When we recently sampled a tasting menu at a fine dining restaurant and were given lengthy descriptions of each dish, I could see his eyes glaze over and knew he was probably thinking about the football match he was missing.
Don't get me wrong, he'll happily wolf down everything I cook, but therein lies the problem, sometimes I'll spend a whole afternoon peeling, chopping, blending and marinating, for the meal to be eaten within a blink of an eye.
So, I get why people can't be bothered to cook from scratch, all that preparation for something that takes minutes to eat, it just doesn't equate. Recently, for one reason or another, I've been pushed for time in the kitchen and literally rustled up some very quick meals (one was the very delicious chicken fried rice I posted a couple of days ago.) Last night I cooked a very simple pasta dish which took literally half an hour from pan to plate, it was so good that Glenn actually asked how I had made it (usually you can spare him the details!)
Cooking from scratch doesn't have to be a long laborious exercise and the end result sure beats anything you might ping in the microwave. I was shopping today and the cashier remarked on some of my purchases, we started talking about cooking when her fellow cashier piped up 'I wouldn't know about any of that, I only use my microwave.' I don't think people are deliberately stupid but there is enough information out there telling us how detrimental to our health processed ready meals are! I give up sometimes, trying to tell some people is like chewing water....anyway, I digress, the point is this next dish is quick, nutritious and delicious and takes just as long as it would to cook frozen pizza and oven chips.
Gnocchi and tomato sauce
Recipe
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
Glug of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large glass of red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree, diluted in a mug of warm water
1 teaspoon dried chillies (optional but does give a nice kick)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 packet gnocchi
Parmesan or gorgonzola cheese (whenever my mother made a tomato sauce or ragu, she would always put a chunk of Parmesan in and let it slowly melt while the sauce simmered, to add flavour. I like to use a stronger blue cheese)
Salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan
Add tomatoes and sprinkle with sugar, let tomatoes slowly caramelise (be careful the sugar doesn't burn)
Add red wine, reduce liquid by half
Add garlic, chillies and diluted tomato puree and simmer for 10 minutes
Add your chosen cheese and simmer for a further 10 minutes
Boil a kettle, pour water into a saucepan, add gnocchi and wait for it to rise to the surface, roughly 2-3 minutes, drain
Add gnocchi to sauce
Combine sauce with gnocchi, season and serve
'We do not learn for the benefit of anyone, we learn to unlearn ignorance.'
- Michael Bassey Johnson.
Love Donna xxxx
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