Sunday 10 March 2013

Quick gnocchi and chorizo side dish




Friday night I was clearing out the vegetables that needed using up and roasted them in the oven with some dried thyme and lots of Garlic,  I also topped with some herby halloumi in the last 10 minutes. But to turn this into a meal with a bit of pizzaz and make it go far enough for 4 of us I opened the fridge and pondered.  Some things are always almost in my fridge, one of them being Chorizo and the other that vacuum pack of chorizo, cheap and cheerful.  

Nigella Lawson once showed us how to turn gnocchi into tiny roast style potatoes by frying them in oil in a pan or in the oven.  Very quick and surprisingly good.  So the brain started ticking  that if I fried off the chorizo until the lovely oil leeched out I could use that delicious oil to then fry the gnocchi in.

Although I didn't get them fully crispy and crunchy because I would of reduced the chorizo to black lumps, they still came out very light and fluffy with mostly crunchy outsides and mildly flavoured with chorizo. Just a few minutes on each side and stirred a few times made an easy and fast side dish.

Although thinking now I should of fried the chorizo until crispy and removed it with a slotted spoon and added it back at the end.  It's funny how your brain can go dead to these simple ideas when you have a toddler clinging to your leg screaming because you have just told her she cannot kick the cat anymore!



Such a colourful meal we had with so many tastes and textures.  And for a vegetarian version of the gnocchi I am going to try it with some smoked paprika soon I think. 


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