so, dinner plans didn’t turn out the way we wanted, and we’ve missed market for the past several weeks while out of town.
perfect time to order a pizza, right?
well, i thought so, but budget-conscious krista thought otherwise. as you recall, she’s the one that makes sure the bills are paid.
she gave me a look that said “if you want italian, you’re going to have to make it yourself.” and left the kitchen.
that was when i once again became thankful for krista’s thriftiness (not to mention food preservation skills). and for the fact that we always keep our leftovers. reflecting on the gnocchi i had tucked away last fall, i knew that we still had a number of jars of home-canned tomatoes in the pantry. i also knew i had a few homegrown cayennes* in the freezer. add that to the basketful of garlic we have on the counter and the end of a rind of manchego from the fridge and i had all the makings for a hardy, peasant-style italian meal.
allow me to walk you through it:
emergency gnocchi
serves 2
2 handfuls of gnocchi (a bit more if your hands are small)
250 ml of canned tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon or so of dried basil
1/4 cup of hard cheese (such as parmesan)
freshly ground pepper
splash of olive oil
1. heat olive oil in small sauce pan.
2. add garlic, sauté until fragrant.
3. add gnocchi and fry until slightly crispy on the outside.
4. add tomatoes and basil and sauté until liquids start to reduce and there some of the basil aroma comes to the forefront.
5. mix in half the cheese, pour into bowls, garnish with remaining cheese and a few twists of freshly ground pepper.
simple, isn’t it. took 5 minutes.
recipes don’t have to be difficult to be good. in fact, recipes don’t have to be recipes to be good. this only became a recipe because i blogged it. otherwise, it would just be a tuesday night quick fix with some tasty local options.
speaking of local, let’s shine some light on those ingredients.
gnocchi: leftovers from the freezer. i’m positive of local origins.
tomatoes: grown and canned right here on our little east city property
garlic: the gaelic garlic. http://gaelicgarlic.ca/
manchego cheese: sorry, a decadent import. leftover from a party. but fifth town artisan cheese has some great local hard cheeses. http://www.fifthtown.ca/
basil and pepper from the main ingredient. we grow and dry our own basil, but have just run out.
*because i like heat, i added a chopped and seeded cayenne to the oil with the garlic. it is definitely not needed. in fact, i’d recommend you leave it out. forget i mentioned it. 😉
**for kicks, i rescued some gnarly looking green onions from the bottom of the crisper by peeling off a few layers. they added a bit of green for garnish.
not 100% local, but not bad in a pinch.
bon appetit.
d.