Bank Holiday

I’d completely forgotten monday was a bank holiday!  When I was a student they were irrelevant because lectures carried on as usual so it’s quite a luxury for me this year!  I feel like it’s got such potential that I really have to use it wisely!  All suggestions welcome!

At the moment I’m thinking I might make gnocchi and pizza bases to pop in the freezer.  I love the idea of having lots of yummy homemade food in the freezer but somehow it never works out that way…

If I’m feeling adventurous I might try my hand at bagel making… or maybe some limoncello…

Confession time…

Ok.. so earlier in the week I told anyone who’s interested and online that I was going to have gnocchi for my tea today.  At the time I highly doubted that this would happen and that the reality would involve me taking something out the freezer and throwing it in the direction of the oven.  However, it’s looking like the gnocchi might happen!  So here’s the recipe:

Gnocchi (Serves 2)

2 potatoes (approximately 500g overall)

1 egg

200g plain flour

Salt and pepper

• Peel and boil the potatoes for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Once they are cooked drain them and put them in a food processor.  Blend.
• Add the egg, salt and pepper and blend again.
• Add the flour in slowly and blend until you get a firm dough.
• Shape into small sausages (half an inch thick and an inch long).
• Add to a pan of hot water and when they rise to the surface they’re cooked.

I will be having my gnocchi with chilli oil and basil but we’ve had them with a herby cheese sauce in the past which was very yummy.  Nice served with homemade garlic bread.

Home alone

Tonight I am home alone!  It’s become something of a rarity recently so I’m planning on taking full advance of it; I’ve finally decided upon a lovely dinner of egg fried rice with prawns and will settle down with a glass of something cold and white and watch American Beauty.  It’s a film I’ve been meaning to see for years but have only just got round to buying.

Egg Fried Rice

Rice

Oil

Beaten egg

Salt and Pepper

Chilli Flakes

Red Pepper

Prawns

Soy Sauce

• Cook the rice and then cool quickly by running cold water through it.  Preferably do this the night before using left over rice.
• Heat a little oil in a frying pan then add the rice (be careful, if there is too much water in the rice then you’ll end up with lots of little explosions!) and cook for a couple of minutes, continually stirring the rice.
• Push the rice to one side of the frying pan and add the beaten egg with a little more oil.
• Use chopsticks to break the egg up as it starts to cook.  Slowly work the rice and egg together.
• Add chopped pepper and the prawns and allow to cook for a couple of minutes.
• Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes then pour on some soy sauce.

I like to serve this with prawn crackers.