{Smoked Salmon Rillette}

When I was flipping through my cookbooks recently, I came across a recipe that I just HAD to try. It was found in Matt Moran's cookbook 'when I get home'.

{can buy here}

It has a fancy name...a 'rillette' which is just a fancy name for a paste like condiment. Don't let the name turn you off, it packs a punch of flavor and it's very easy. I toasted some lebanese bread trianlges in the oven (spray with olive oil spay and sprinkle with salt) and served it on a chopping board next to the 'salmon rillette'. I could easily imagine it on some warm toast with a poached egg for breakfast too. Having a jar of this in the fridge is the kind of thing that you would use in many different ways, because it's so delicious. 

Ingredients:

500ml vegetable stock

sprinkle of salt

300g salmon fillet

150g smoked salmon, chopped

100ml creme fraiche 

1/2 bunch of dill, chopped

1/2 red onion

pinch of cayenne pepper

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp capers or caper berries, rinsed and chopped

pepper to taste.

1. Boil the stock and season with salt. Place the salmon fillet in a heatproof bowl then pour with enough stock to  cover the fillet and seal with glad wrap. Set aside for 30 mins.

2. Place remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and mix gently until combined.

3. Flake the salmon fillet and separate from the skin. Place salmon flesh into the creme fraiche mix and place a little extra lemon zest and dill on top. 

4. Chill in an airtight container for up to 4 days. 

Go ahead and try it, it's amazing. In the meantime, I am hanging to enjoy some in the morning with a poached egg for breakky...YUM!

Lauren x

  

 

{Homemade Rosemary and Olive Focaccia}

I have been following the beautiful photos on Instagram that have been popping up under Gourmet Girlfriend's hash tag #ggbreadrevolution. She has written so beautifully about the love of fresh bread, a warm crusty loaf that comes out of the oven, preservative, additive and number free. 

{Call me "the crazy gingerbread lady"}

Recently I made {this} batch of over 300 gingerbread cookies for a Breast Cancer Awareness evening. I received feedback from people that don't like ginger bread who even said they liked this recipe. 

However, since I am not one to shy away from a mammoth task, two friends from church and I decided to create a homemade Christmas gift for each of the young families at church (I am glad I had your help girls, team effort needed for this one and you girls rocked it!)
After sorting through different options of delicious treats, we decided to steer clear of 'perishable' treats that would make it hard to prepare ahead of time and things that would need refrigeration.
This is the thought process that led to us 'sanely' create a cookie-a-thon of 700 gingerbread stars that turned into 50 individual and delicious Christmas trees.THis takes my kitchen to a grand total of  over 1000 gingerbread cookies in the last little while....JEEPERS!

Here is the final product that was totally gorgeous and made the days of work worth it for the three of us! They looked so pretty being handed out at the BBQ we had today.

{The SORT OF 30 Minute Roast}

Well, I was chatting to my neighbor recently and she is a BIG reader. She was reading a vampire novel. Whilst I don't share her love for vampire fiction, we do share a love for food. In this book someone cooked a roast in a peculiar way. It entailed putting your oven on the hottest setting with your roast in it for 30 minutes. then, WITHOUT OPENING the oven, leave it inside to rest for 3 hours. 

My next door neighbor raved about how it actually worked. I was definitely intrigued to say the least. So, with baked beans and toast on hand in case it didn't turn out. Yes, I was skeptical. 

So I used a Santa Maria Beef Roast from Aldi. We have used this marinated beef before and have loved it. I also chopped up 3 potatoes and put it in the dish also.
I put it in at 1:45pm, turned oven off at 2:10 (had to leave for school pickup). Then I got out at 5:15 to reveal this. 

 

Pro's : 
* It was cooked perfectly (there wasn't any pink in it so it was probably considered medium/well). You could take it earlier if you like it less well done.
*Only 30 minutes of cooking time saves cost and makes it easy to have done on a busy school night.
 * The potatoes were also cooked well

Con's
* My tray was slightly liquidy in the bottom, this could be remedied by actually using a proper roasting tray  with a rack in the bottom.
*It was warm but not HOT, perhaps i could have taken it out a little earlier.
*It was VERY hard to not open the oven once its turned off. I gave into temptation and this may have affected the end temperature.

Lauren x

{Dude Food for Origin}

Last night was State of Origin. I am not normally a football fan, however, I always watch origin. I love it (except when the blues go down AGAIN!). 

Hubby and I had a few of his mates over for game 1 and 3 and last night was a big match.

So, a BIG dude food menu was in order. I love brainstorming this stuff with my brother and we came up with this idea:

- Mini Cheeseburger Sliders with a Homemade Brioche Bun

I just made mini rissoles, with a 1/4 slice of colby cheese melted on each, tomato, rocket and ketchup/ mustard.

- Beer Battered Onion Rings  

First time making these and was hoping they'd turn out. BIG SUCCESS!!!

{image from recipe...seen my attempt below lol!}

- Steak Fries  

(These I just cooked and kept warm in the slow cooker as an additional side / security in case the onion rings didn't work).

Recipe for the Brioche was inspired by {this} but I found it slightly confusing so I'll have re-typed it below. 

{Mothers Day : Tea Bag Biscuits}

I have been dying to share these Mothers Day treats with you. 

{I started typing the recipe for the tart i made for dessert in this post also, but ran out of room....Pear and Ricotta Tart Recipe Coming soon}

I always love handmade gifts. They often cost a lot less and are a great way to show someone special how much they mean to you. Gifts for my mother and mother in law  this year were very simple. But it was so adorable it hit the spot perfectly!

{Soup Day Monday : French Onion}

Well, this has been the third "soup day Monday" and I have to say I am loving the challenge to think of cheap, healthy ideas. There are tonnes of ideas that I am sure could take me right through to Spring. 

{source}

This week I was inspired my Karen Martini om Better Homes and Gardens last friday night. 

The ingredients are so simple. And it was delicious. 

{Soup Day Monday}

Since the weather has started cooling down, I have decided to add soup night on Monday's to our menu. Once you start looking at recipes, there is so much variation. The sky is the limit!

Last week was roasted pumpkin and that was glorious!

This week was roasted tomato soup. It actually fell on Tuesday this week cause we had leftovers to use up and that seemed wise ;) sometimes you gotta go with the flow!

{Happy Easter Cake Pops}

Well, I wanted to say thank you to some very special teachers and friends that are a blessing to my boys.

This was the kind of activity that I did most of the prep for myself. Had my kids been slightly older, they could have helped with more than pouring the sprinkles on. But I just loved these do much, and was very happy with how they turned out!

If you need more detailed steps, click here for a good tutorial.

Basically it's done in less than 10 steps:

Thai Sweet Chili Chicken Rissoles with Coconut Infused Rice

So, browsing on my iPad last night, as I do frequently, I read the latest "SuperFood Ideas" Mag. This ap is great on the iPad because of the cooking mode and video tutorials. I have actually added many recipes to our family menu from this publication. Worth checking out on your 'newsstand' ;)


I was immediately taken by the cover recipe and decided to give it a go tonight.


These were DELICIOUS and they packed a punch of flavor!!!!! Instead of salad, I boiled some rice in coconut milk and infused it with some coriander. I used absorption method and when I turned the heat off and put the lid on, I popped a small bunch of coriander on the top to steam gently into the rice!

Oh my goodness!!! Seriously try this meal, a definite hit, and now I can't wait to eat these cold on a salad for lunch tomorrow. YUM!

Lauren x

{Making the Most of a BBQ Chicken}

I have to say I love the taste of a BBQ chicken, that charcoal slow cooked kind of taste is just delicious. I stopped buying them though until I found that some supermarkets now sell 'lilydale free range chickens'. They are still expensive, but I bought 2 the other day at $12 each and thought I would see how many ways I could use it.

So I divided the 2 chickens into three parts. The bones, and 2 bowls of shredded chicken meat. I kept one lot of chicken fresh and put the shredded meat from the second chicken into a zip lock bag. Put the bag open into fridge first to lower temp, and then close bag taking as much air out as possible before freezing for later use.

Chicken bones:

Don't throw away the bones of the 2 chickens. Place into a sauce pan. I have one with a pasta pot so it makes draining easier. If you don't have this you could easily use a colander that fits or strain after stewing. Chill down in fridge and then scoop off any impurities and freeze stock for later use.
Use this stock as a soup base, use it to cook risottos, rice dishes, curries, stews and casseroles.

Fresh Chicken:

1. Add some mayonnaise, sour cream, dijon mustard, chopped celery, salt and pepper and turn it into some chicken sandwiches with some baby spinach on fresh rolls (use mini rolls for lunchboxes - as above).

2. Mix the above mix through some cooked pasta and chill for chicken pasta salad.
3. Add with some favourite asian fillings to create rice paper rolls or sushi.
4. Top your favourite pizza with the shredded chicken
5. Use it to create chicken taco's by mixing it up with the taco sauce and heating through.
6. Top a baked potato with the chicken and various fillings you have on hand such as onions, cheese, capsicums, tinned corn, mushrooms and avocado.

Frozen Chicken:

7. Add your chicken into a delicious leek and parmesan risotto.
8. Use your chicken stock that you made from the bones (see below) and add chicken, soy sauce, noodles, tinned corn, sweet chilli sauce (or hot if you like), shallots and sesame oil before serving for a delicious winter soup.
9. Add some indian spices (we like ground corriander, ground cummin, ground cardamom) with some fresh ginger and garlic along with some veggies to make an Indian inspired stir fry (simmer sauces can also be helpful if your not confident with these flavours).
10. Use it to make a chicken pie filling. Add some stock to a basic roux and some other veggies and bake the pie till crust is golden.
11. Make them into quesadilla's by adding some grated cheese, and baby spinach in a torilla sandwhich and toast flat topping with lime guacamole.



I have found having the bag of frozen BBQ chicken in the freezer very helpful for those busy nights that you need to 'whip something up' in a hurry.

Enjoy;
Lauren x

{Free Form Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagna}

I was HANGING to make this recipe like you have no idea! Not because I just saw a recipe for it like often inspires me. But because every now and then when I cook, I have my mojo ON and I don't have a recipe, I actually have no idea what the final outcome will be or look like when I start, but it just works. This was one of those times. I made it up as went and it was tastier than I thought it was going to be! The best thing was that this ended up like a restaurant dish and I bough everything from Aldi or had it in my pantry.

The downside is I don't measure when I cook like this, but here is my attempt at documenting this delicious dish :)


Ingredients: (made 3 large portions)
1 packet fresh lasagna sheets (you'll only need 1/2 packet and if you normally buy dried, its worth splashing out for the fresh sheets)
1/2 butternut pumpkin
1 packet of baby spinach (buy 2 if you want some for a side salad/ garnish)
2 cloves garlic
about 40g butter
handful of pine-nuts
handful of walnuts
1 tub of ricotta
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper


Method:
1. cut your butternut pumkpin into thin slices (about 2mm *ish) and pop into water and microwave for a few mins until tender.
2. Place butter, spinach, nuts & garlic in a saucepan on a medium heat and saute till spinach wilts. Season with S&P and turn off heat.
3. Once the spinach mix and pumpkin is cooked you are ready to assemble.
4. Cut each lasagna sheet into thirds (Aldi's sheets are folded into thirds, so I just followed the folds). Here are my layers in order:
-Place one sheet as the base.
-Then lay a few pieces of the cooked pumpkin on top and season here
-another sheet of lasagna
-then spoon some ricotta on top
-sprinkle some parmesan on the ricotta
-then a spoonful of the spinach mix on top
-lasagna sheet
-spoonful of ricotta
-another layer of pumpkin
-final layer of lasagna sheet
-top with more ricotta, parmesan and s&P

You don't need much of each ingredient on each layer, it's the layering itself that will make each mouthful taste so good.



It sounds like a very long process, but even with doing 3 of these, it took me longer to write this than do it. It's worth it!

{Carrot Cake}

I was craving carrot cake the other day and I have to say this was such a delicious recipe. I have doubled the spices here as I was after a 'spiced cake' type taste. I often like more ginger than recipes call for too.



Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil (or other tasteless oil i.e. not olive oil)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon ground
1 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 cups grated carrot (I just grated 3 carrots)
1/2 chopped pecans (walnuts would also work - can be omitted for allergy purposes)
1/2 cup sultanas (I omitted these by choice)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 180'C
2. Place sugar and oil in bowl of an electric mixer for a few minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
4. Sift the flours, powders and spices over the sugar mixture. Add the carrots and nuts and stir until just combined.
5. Pour your mixture into a greased cake tin. I used a silicon loaf 'tin'.
6. Bake for about 50 mins or until cooked when using the 'skewer test'.
7. Serve warm or cool completely before adding cream cheese icing.


I left the cake covered overnight and I had some for morning tea the next day. This was so moist, full of taste. It didn't need the cream cheese icing, it was delicious as a spiced loaf on its own.
SO good, just like my grandma used to make!

Lauren x

{A Vegetarian Christmas: Sweet Potato & Leek Roulade}

We hosted a Christmas Dinner/ Feast for two of our dear friends last Friday night. I had a blast planning the menu and trying to find a yummy main for my beautiful friend who also is a vegetarian. Now I don't have a problem using imagination for meat free meals normally, as we eat that a lot here.
However, when I think Christmas, I think hams and roast lambs, chicken or pork. I wanted something delicious and not an 'after thought'. I would never want anyone coming over for dinner feel like an after thought just because they don't eat meat. Insert Google and here was the menu:

Entree
Goats cheese and Cranberry Tartlets

Mains
Minted Roast Lamb
Sweet Potato and Leek Roulade

Sides
Balsamic Vine Tomatoes
Chili and Almond Asparagus
Honey Carrots
Rosemary and Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Drinks
Chilled Egg Nog
Warm Mulled Wine

Dessert
Christmas Pudding Ice Cream with Frozen Chocolate Sauce
Tea & Coffee

The mulled wine was a little bitter as I think I let it simmer too long but it was still worth a try.
Here is the recipe for the Roulade...Mine didn't look that pretty, but it held its shape and was DE-LISSSHH!!! Its worth the effort ;)

(image from taste.com.au)

INGREDIENTS:
Roulade

20ml (1 tbs) olive oil
1 leek, finely chopped
60g butter
1/3 cup plain flour
300ml milk
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Stuffing
30g unsalted butter
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tbs chopped fresh sage
1 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley

Filling
500g sweet potato, peeled, chopped
15g unsalted butter
100ml thin cream
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 39 x 26cm Swiss roll pan.

2. To make the roulade, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the leek and cook gently for five minutes until soft. Remove leek from pan. Wipe pan, then add the butter. When it has melted, add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Start adding the milk, a little at a time, whisking until all the milk is combined and the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat, beat in egg yolks, one at a time and season.

3. In a separate, clean bowl, beat the eggwhites until stiff. Add a quarter of the eggwhites to the roux, then gently fold in the remaining eggwhites. Fold in leeks and cheddar until just combined, then pour into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden and puffed.

4. Meanwhile, to make stuffing, melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for five minutes until soft and translucent. Add garlic and breadcrumbs and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Stir in herbs and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

5. For the filling, steam or boil the sweet potato until tender. Drain and mash with the butter, cream and nutmeg. Season well and set aside.

6. When the roulade is cooked, place a clean tea towel on your workbench and sprinkle with the parmesan. Turn the roulade out onto the tea towel and peel off the baking paper. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then spread the sweet potato over the roulade.

7. Sprinkle the stuffing over the sweet potato. Using the edge of the tea towel, carefully roll up the roulade from the longest side finishing with the seam-side down. Slice and serve warm.

I hope you enjoy the idea and even if I wasn't serving for a vegetarian...I would definitely make this again :)

Lauren x

{Homemade Ice Magic : Take1}

I found the idea - yes on pinterest I know, predictable!

CONFESSION TIME!

I have a MAAAAJORRR thing for Ice Magic.
It. Is. A. WEAKNESS. So, I never buy it, cause it wouldn't make it out of the bottle ;)

Alas, I just HAD to give it ago to see if it were even similar to the bottled kind.
Ingredients:
Milk Chocolate
Coconut Oil / butter (bought this at health food recently when I found out about The Blender Girl)
Pinch of salt

Method:
Most recipes state you add 50% to 100% of chocolate qty to the coconut oil qty.
So, I added about 150g of chocolate to a double boiler with 100g of coconut oil (it is solid when chilled and turns to oil when melted).
I decided the mixture was too runny, so I added the rest of the chocolate I had (another 50g - 200g total).

Review:
Even adding the extra chocolate, I still didn't think it was thick enough. Considering that, it tasted fine (slightly coco-nutty - but I didn't mind that) and it 'froze' when on the ice cream.
I placed the left overs in fridge (which will probably harden) so next time I use it I will melt in some extra chocolate, may try some dark chocolate to darken the colour and taste slightly. Not bad for attempt number 1!

Enjoy;
Lauren x

{Almond, Veggie & Herb Dip}

Since I found Tess from Healthy Blender Recipes I have been eating very differently. I have had some battles for a lot of my life with digestion issues, and something has clicked in me over the last few years (but more so recently) that isn't craving dairy or meat as much. I still eat it, and am not a hard core vegan/ vegetarian at all. But I am finding myself drawing more to 'plant based' foods.

I just made a dip for lunch and it was SO delicious I just had to share it. The bowl was VERY empty afterwards and I wish I had made more. As per usual when I am cooking, and not baking, I made it up as I went. But, feel free to play around with quantities and ingredients to suit your tastes.

Ingredients:
A handful of raw almonds
A few tbls water
1/4 cup semi dried tomatoes
1/4 cup roasted eggplant
1/2 cup baby spinach leaves
Fresh parsley, coriander and basil to taste
Pepper
Small squeeze of fresh lemon

1. Blend almonds and water until it makes a nutty paste and looks 'milky' in a food processor
2. add in all other ingredients and blend until a 'dip' consistency.
3. Taste and make any adjustments needed (I added a bit more lemon and some onion and olives to mine at this point).

Serve on garlic toast, with veggie sticks or on crackers :)

Lauren x

{Honey and Macadamia Frozen Cheesecake}

I had some friends over last night and knew I had a busy day beforehand. So, I planned a few things that allowed me to not be in the kitchen all day and still have a dessert 'buffet'.

Sunday evening I made this cheesecake and took it out of the freezer 1/2 hour before serving.

1. Do a normal biscuit base as per regular cheesecake (I use 3/4 packet of digestive biscuits and about 100g of melted butter pressed into a spring form tin).

2. In a food processor add 500g cream cheese, 300ml cream, 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts.

3. Blitz up this mixture, pour onto the biscuit base.
4. Squeeze some extra honey on the top and swirl it in. Freeze overnight.
5. Half an hour before serving take it out and place it on a platter. Top with fresh strawberries and drizzle some honey on top.


This is so easy and tasted delicious! You could easily freeze it and have it on hand over the happy summer season if you, like us, often have spontaneous dinners or BBQ's happen and you don't have to lift a finger!


Enjoy;
Lauren x

{The 1 minute Smoothie : Healthy, quick and delicious}

I created this quick breakfast idea and the family LOVE it. This is a great idea to add to spring/ summer for breakfasts or on the go smoothies at any time.

I set up a bunch of small snap lock bags. In each bag I put the following:

- 4 strawberries
- A spoonful of blueberries  
- 1 dessert spoon of oats
- 1/2 banana cut up into pieces
- 2 spoonfuls of your preferred yoghurt (I use natural yoghurt)
- Splash of vanilla
- Sprinkle of cinnamon 
- a squeeze of honey
- a sprinkling of flax seeds and chia seeds

Zip up the bags and pop into the freezer. That's the hard part! 

Then, each morning, I just take a zip lock bag out and add it into my magic bullet blender thing, fill it with milk and blitz.  
[You could also use a blender, but that's why i love the magic bullet because you have to wash far less dishes!]

SOOOO easy! And because it's all frozen, it turns into a sort of a smoothie frappe. VOILA!!!

You can also try this with any fruit/ yoghurt combinations you have on hand. Other ideas to add to the bag might be:
- passion fruit pulp
- tinned fruit
- flavoured yoghurts
- fruit puree's frozen into cubes like the yoghurt concept
- blueberries
- paw paw
- kiwifruit
- a sprinkle of cinnamon
- mangoes

.........let your imagination take over and create!!!

Enjoy;

Lauren x

{Freezer Meals & Making Life Organised}

You can tell spring is coming, the cleaning bug has hit (but maybe for me its an all year round thing). I cleaned out my freezer, did an inventory and created space.
I ashamedly had to remove a few 'mystery packages' too. This means unlabeled food which, knowing my label obsession, I clearly lost my mind before putting in there in the first place.


I was armed with my sharpie, big ziplock bags and foil trays with lids. Then I did a big food shop, put little munchkin to bed, left big munchkin with Lego and got into the kitchen.

I prepared a whole lot of meals that are easy to reheat and then all I have to focus on is adding fresh veggies and salads etc... To the main dish.

So what dishes did I make?

*Leek and Mushroom Risotto
When I defrost, I will add sone fresh parsley, Parmesan and pepper.

*Sweedish Meatballs
These were inspired by the ones I love at ikea. So all I have to do is add green veggies (like beans, asparagus and broccoli), gravy, cranberry sauce and mashed potato (could even freeze this, but I like fresh).

*Lasagna and 'Spag Bol'
I did a BIG batch of Italian style mince. Using foil trays with lids (woolies sell these in packets of 2) I made 2 lasagnas and put the other half of the mixture into a zip lock bag for 'Spag Bol'.

*Schnitzels / nuggets
I crumbed up 1 kg of chicken breast. I cut each Breast into half to get two thin schnitzels per breast. Any of the tenderloins I crumbed and packed separately as nuggets.

*Beef Burritos
I made up sone Mexican style mince. Add garlic, red onion, Mexican chilling powder (no additive and salt version of taco seasoning), corn, capsicums, mushrooms, coriander and a tin of diced/ pureed tomato.
Place into tortillas, fold up tortilla, wrap in double glad wrap and place all in a zip lock bag. Take one out and microwave for individual serve or use all and bake as normal 'enchilada style'.

*Teriyaki style Chicken
This was easy, I just filled a zip lock bag with soy sauce, some brown sugar, sweet chili sauce and kecap manais. Then put in chunks of chicken raw and freeze. This marinades it before cooking.
Serve with an Asian green stir fry and rice.

*Beef Curry
Similar to above, cut beef up and add into the bag with curry paste.
Add peas or preferred veggies when cooking and serve with rice and naan bread.

*Shredded BBQ chicken.
I got a free range bbq chicken and took all the meat off so I can use it in things like omelets quiches, pies, etc... Without much effort!


I realize zip lock bags aren't very 'green' but for me they work, because they store a big meal in a flat bag, making the most out of freezer space.
Just take a meal out of freezer and put it into the fridge at night it should be mostly defrosted by the next night's dinner time (depending on the dish). SO simple.

So that's my overview of my very productive day.
I am keen to try and keep this up as it is one busy day that has made the next 10 -15 meals preparation free!!! Love that!!!


Lauren x



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

{Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi}

I love a great recipe that is healthy, quick and easy! This has een on my to-try list for ages and I can't believe that this has taken me so long to try this. Gnocchi.
Its one of those recipes that seems so mystical. So Italian and authentic.
So, I had some left over ricotta in the fridge after making Cannelloni and I decided to try and use it and give ricotta gnocchi a go (not sure how it would turn out). It turned out to be a MASSIVE hit and everyone gave it a 2 thumbs up.
I was hoping it would be a success or baked beans was on the menu ;) Here is a rough recipe (as usual I made it up as I went).
1/2 kg ricotta (the dry kind from the deli or that comes with a colander works best)
1 egg
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup parmigiano regianno (parmesan is fine)
salt and pepper
1 cup of plain flour (can use rice flour to make it gluten free)

1. Place cheeses, spices and egg in a bowl and mix together.
2. Add 1/2 the flour and mix in. then add a little at a time until the mixture resembles a dough consistency.
3. Sprinkle some plain flour on the bench / board and roll out handfuls of the 'dough' into a thin sausage shape.
4. Cut off little bite sized pieces and set aside.
5. Repeat until the 'dough' mixture is all rolled and cut.
6. Boil salted water and place gnocchi in the water. They are ready when they rise to the top of the water and float. Take out immediately and place into your favorite sauce.






I simply fried some eggplant, onion, garlic, zucchini and a tin of tomatoes. Topped it with fresh basil, parmesan and freshly ground pepper to serve. Enjoy; Lauren x