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Sage and Bacon Gnocchi

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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Last week, after nearly four years at the one job, Andy said goodbye to a pile of workmates. Only just back from Spain, there was no way I was going to be the life of any party (or surrender up the toddler to babysitters – or maybe that should be “be surrendered”?!) so I stayed in.

I had a pretty lazy day and only once shops were closing and the toddler was in bed did I discover that the cupboards were pretty bare. Normally I would have spaghetti, chilli, oil and garlic but there wasn’t enough plain pasta for dinner so I had to put my thinking cap back on.

Fortunately the freezer was home to a small bag of gnocchi (of indeterminate age, naturally), the fridge had some bacon and we have a big pot of sage in the back garden.

Now, I could have done something healthy because we always have tinned tomatoes to hand but … I wanted super quick. Taking inspiration from the countless variations on sage and butter that you find in Italian cooking I whipped up a tasty, but also not very healthy or very balanced supper!

Absolutely perfect for a night in for one. But a word of advice – you absolutely HAVE to use fresh sage. Dried simply will not work at all.

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Sage and Bacon Gnocchi

Ingredients

  • butter
  • 2 rashers of bacon
  • fresh sage leaves, to taste
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
  • gnocchi, for one

Instructions

  1. Heat the butter in a frying pan that is big enough to fit the gnocchi in.
  2. Chop the bacon and add to the butter.
  3. Start cooking the gnocchi in boiling water.
  4. When the bacon starts to brown and crisp, add the garlic and the sage leaves.
  5. When the gnocchi is cooked (it all floats), drain and add to the frying pan with the bacon, sage and garlic.
  6. Give this a quick fry and then serve in a warm bowl, topped with grated parmesan and plenty of black pepper.
https://eatingadelaide.com/sage-bacon-gnocchi/

Chicken Biryani

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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Usually we do a really good job of our menu planning but the last couple of months the ball has been rather dropped. However much work doing a meal plan on a Saturday afternoon is (not a lot) it’s a lot less work than getting to 4pm on a Thursday and realising that the toddler needs to be bathed and fed and some shopping needs to be done and … I have no idea what to cook for dinner.

So it’s time to get back in the routine which has kicked off this week. To help both myself and other hungry families, I’ll be publishing a meal plan each Saturday morning (in time for the Saturday shop hopefully!) – more details this Saturday when the first one appears. You’d better make sure you’re following Eating Adelaide on Facebook or subscribed to the email updates!

This week’s meal plan had to have something easy for Monday dinner because Monday’s moments of spare time would be spent cooking the pie filling for Tuesday’s dinner. Andy in particular loves biryani and so this (almost) one pot recipe hit the nail on the head.

The supermarket I went to didn’t sell any biryani paste (it did sell a jar of biryani stir through bake stuff but that all started to sound a bit too pre-made for me!) so thanks to a combination of the internet and what we had in the drawer, we made our own.

The finished product was an absolute HIT – with everyone, including the toddler. As is almost always the case with these things, we found that the cooking time was almost double what the recipe specifies … But that aside, this is a very easy recipe that is hearty and filling. Yes, you do need to have your oven on for a while – so choose a cooler day if you’re in the southern hemisphere and things are starting to heat up.

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Chicken Biryani

Ingredients

    Biryani Paste
  • 3 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 tsp onion flakes
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garam masala (we used my mum's spicy Sri Lankan curry powder)
    • For the Biryani
  • oil
  • 1 tbsp ghee
  • 3 large chicken thighs, skin on or off
  • 1 onion, finely sliced
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 175g basmati or jasmine rice
  • small handful of flaked almonds
  • ~ 500mL vegetable or chicken stock
  • generous handful of green beans, cut into chunks
  • fresh coriander for garnish

Instructions

    Biryani paste
  1. To make the biryani paste, mix all the ingredients together and set aside.
    2. Biryani
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
  3. In an oven proof dish, heat the oil and ghee and brown the chicken thighs. Remove and set aside.
  4. Add a little more oil to the pan and soften the onions and garlic.
  5. Add the biryani paste and stir though, cooking for a few minutes.
  6. Add a little more oil, and then add the rice. Stir the rice through, ensuring it is well coated with the spice mix.
  7. Add the almonds and stock. I use the little pots of jellied stock and boiling water. Return the chicken to the pan and ensure that there is enough liquid to cover the rice.
  8. Cover the pan tightly with til foil and a lid (if you have one) and place in the hot oven.
  9. After around 20 minutes, check progress. You may need to add more hot water and give it a good stir.
  10. After another 10 minutes, stir through the beans and add more liquid if required.
  11. Return to the oven until the beans and rice are cooked.
  12. Stir through some chopped coriander leaves and maybe some more almonds.
https://eatingadelaide.com/chicken-biryani/

Spicy Fish Stir Fry

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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A bit of a wander over the other side of town saw us in a position to visit a different fish monger and perhaps try out something new. In the end, Andy was sent off with purchasing orders and came back with ling. Ling falls into the Sustainable Seafood ‘think’ category because it is often trawl fished which can create stock management problems and significant bycatch. Sadly, there’s no legislation that means this kind of information is displayed at point of purchase so the poor consumer either stands at the counter entranced by his or her phone, or gets home to find that a wiser choice could have been made.

I wasn’t too sure what to do with ling so google came to our aid and we decided we had enough in the cupboard to muddle together something similar to this Korean fish stir fry.

The final dish got top marks for a quick, easy and delicious mid-week dinner. Unfortunately, in this case, it received the thumbs down from the toddler. Despite his initial enthusiasm for ‘spicy fish stir fry’ (which he shouted over and over again) this waned dramatically when faced with the dish. I suspect this was because he was actually full, rather than a reflection of Andy’s cooking!

Don’t skimp on the sesame seeds and don’t wander off while you’re toasting them.  They turn from golden brown to burnt within a heart beat.

We actually served this on top of a mix of brown rice and quinoa which worked very well.  The rice and quinoa was very filling and a great carrier for the flavour of the stir fry.

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Spicy Fish Stir Fry

Ingredients

  • ~ 500g ling fillets (any firm white fish will do)
    • Marinade
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • ½ tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp lightly toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
    • Stir Fry
  • neutral oil
  • 1 small-medium onion, finely sliced
  • ½ red capsicum
  • lightly steamed broccoli and carrot
  • fresh coriander as garnish

Instructions

  1. Mix together the marinade ingredients. Cut the fish into bite size chunks and cover with the marinade. Leave for about half an hour.
  2. There is not a ton of marinade so don't expect the fish to be swimming in it.
  3. Heat the oil in a wok and stir fry the onion. Add the fish. When the fish is cooked, add the vegetables and cook for a minute or two more to ensure they are warmed through.
  4. Serve on rice or noodles, and garnish with the coriander.
https://eatingadelaide.com/spicy-fish-stir-fry/