Uncle Roger and potato gnocchi

 

I was visited from my estranged uncle Roger last week. He is my Dad's brother, we don't see him much at all. He and Dad don't get along well. It's a shame because it's the only sibling Dad has here in Australia. There's a lot of dirty water under bridges and all that family crap that goes on. Mostly on his part, nothing overly dramatic, oh, but that time he walked into the house when we were little, with a gun. My mum hates him with a passion. 

I don't remember a lot from when I was a kid, mainly the good stuff, but I do know I have cried in my pillow with sadness that he is so removed from our family. I feel sorry for him, it must be lonely. 

So last week he knocked on my door, the kids were out with Brett, and I was sorry they weren't there to say hello. 

He dropped off a bag of Kalangadoo spuds and ten bucks for the kids. I gave him a hug and he left. I felt ever so guilty for not inviting him in for a coffee, while we waited for the kids to come back. I really felt that I should have done that, long after he left. There was still that niggling feeling that it probably wasn't a bad thing that I didn't let him in the house. I feel terrible that at my age I am still unsure about the relationship I have with my own uncle. 

I do remember my sister saying the last time she saw him, he was all cool and then out of the blue, told her another man was her father. Which was total bull fuck. As sad as it is, it's probably best I didn't let him in the house. Nice of him to bring me spuds though. 

I've been wanting to make gnocchi for ages. The last couple of time I've made it were disasters, they went all mushy or were like rubber bullets.

Here's how I made them light, soft and puffy (I will not say pillowy, because that would be too poxy and cliche). 

750 grams of potatoes, about 5 medium spuds (I used white spuds)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt

Pierce each spud seven or eight times all over, with a fork.
Place on a plate and microwave on high, for 7-8 minutes until soft. Let cool a bit.
Scoop out the cooked potato into a large bowl and discard the skins. 
Mash the potato with a fork until smooth.

Add the flour, egg and salt to the potato and mix lightly until just combined. 

Place the dough on a floured surface and form into a soft ball. If it feels a little sticky add a bit more flour. Try not to work the dough too much. Just until the flour is incorporated.

Divide the dough into four and roll out each section to a 2cm thick log. Using a knife cut into gnocchi, in 2 cm lengths. 

If you want to, roll each gnocchi along your palm with a fork. Apparently the gnocchi holds the sauce in these grooves, totally not essential though. 

Bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil, chuck in half the gnocchi. When they all begin to float on top, remove with a slotted spoon. 

I have a tray of my favourite sauce ready and place the cooked gnocchi immediately in the sauce, while I cook the other half. This is enough to feed us, two adults and two little kids. I would suggest doubling the recipe though because we wanted more! You could always freeze any leftovers (but I don't think you will have any).

Celery and potato soup

I knew I felt like soup for lunch. The days are getting pretty cool in the south east of South Australia. It's feeling very much like comfort food weather, soup weather. 

I'd ducked into the supermarket, there greeting me as I walked in, were bunches of celery for one whole dollar. Yes please! 

I came home and made soup for lunch, and it was choice!

The leftover celery I wrapped in alfoil, and kept in the fridge. I saw this tip on Facebook a while ago, and it really works. The celery stays crisp for a couple of weeks. 

It's probably one of the top veggies that gets chucked out, because it never gets used up before it goes all limp and boring.

You can slice it up and freeze it for later use, in casseroles and soups. Better than chucking money away.

When I was a kid, I loved it spread with peanut butter. I can't bring my kids to love it though, they've never been big lovers of peanut butter. Celery they do love to crunch on though. At least it is one veggie I know Izzy will eat. Fresh anyway, she is not a cooked veggie lover. She'll only eat cooked corn cobs, that's it. It's a good thing she likes her veggies raw and crunchy, as I'd never get her to eat them. She would never go for this soup.  

So. I had two bowls for lunch.....

Celery and potato soup

1 tablespoon of butter
1 onion, sliced
1 large potato, or 2 small ones
5 big stalks of celery
700 mls water or veggie stock
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper

Place the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the onion, potato and celery for 5 minutes.

Add the water/stock and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Puree the soup in a blender or with a stick blender. 

Put the saucepan of soup back on the heat, add the milk. Stir to warm through the milk. Season with salt and pepper. 

Serving suggestions 

• Serve with crispy bacon or pancetta
• A sprinkle of paprika and blue cheese(pictured)
• crusty bread
• drizzled with chilli oil

Do you love your veggies fresh and crunchy, or cooked? 
Did you ever have celery with peanut butter?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sweet potato pizza

I made this yummy pizza when my sister and her partner were coming for dinner, I cut this up for pre dinner nibbles. Well, they were unfashionably late and by the time they did arrive I'd put the lasagna on the table and we tucked into that. They didn't even touch it! I was a bit annoyed because it tasted bloody good!

Anyway I made it again for my lunch a few days later. I really like it.

Wholemeal pizza dough
7g(two teaspoons) dry yeast 
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt

Place yeast, sugar and water in a small bowl. Lightly mix with a fork and set aside for 10 minutes until frothy.

Put flour in a large bowl, with the salt. Add the yeast mix and olive oil to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until dough comes together.

Knead for 5 minutes, then put back into the large bowl, cover with a tea towel and sit in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Knock down the dough with your fist and divide into four portions.

Roll out on a floured surface and place on an oiled tray.

Pizza topping
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick rounds.
Olive Oil
Poppy seeds
Rosemary leaves and Rosemary flowers(if you have them)
Mixed greens - e.g. rocket, beet leaves, spinach
feta or goats cheese(optional)

Oil a baking tray, place sweet potato rounds in one layer. Loosely cover with foil and bake in a 180C oven for 10 minutes.

Brush some olive oil(I used garlic oil) on the pizza base. Lightly sprinkle poppy seeds and about 1 tablespoon of rosemary leaves.

Lay sweet potato rounds on base and then drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 15 minutes at 230C.

When cooked, cut into slices and scatter mixed greens over and some cheese if using. Garnish with the rosemary flowers.

Sharing this recipe at Little Wolff blog for Little Veggie Kitchen

Potato, pea and mint salad

My mint, growing in a half barrel near the chook house, is flowering right now. I love the smell as I brush past to open the gate.

The purple potato plant is flowering now too. I have them growing in a pot by the veggie patch. Next time I'll put them in a bigger pot I think, it's as easy as tipping out the pot when they are ready and not digging to look for them. I've just topped up the pot with some composted sheep poo.

Potato, pea and mint salad

1 kilogram of pototoes, chopped into 2cm chunks, with the skin still on(you could use baby ones here.
3/4 cup frozen peas

Dressing
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup greek yoghurt
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 good tablespoon finely chopped mint

Cook the potatoes in salted water, for about 10 minutes or until are just soft enough to get a knife through. Leave to cool.

Cook the peas(you could do this in a steamer while the potatoes boil).Let cool.

Mix the dressing ingredients together and stir through the cold potato and peas.

You could add other ingredients like radishes, carrot,celery or ham of you like, even swap out the spuds for pasta to make your own version.

Added to flaunt your flowers at Tootsie Time

The 24 hour holiday

We should be on holiday.

We were on holiday.

The view from powered site #8 at Henty Bay Caravan Park, gold. The showers left a lot to be desired though.

Izzy got gastro, the 24 hour kind, the morning of our second day. After much deliberation we decided to drive the hour and a half home. We didn't want to take the chance we might all be spewing today and packing up or riding it out in a caravan with the potential of a 'monty pythonesque' spewing fiesta, not just for us, but the entire caravan park. Imagine that. 

Twenty four hours after we arrived and set up the caravan, we were packed up and on our way home.

Izzy was coming good last night, with a couple of Salada biscuits for tea and a bottle of blue Powerade. Not just the goods for a hangover, but for gastro too  ;) 

She bounded out of bed this morning, announcing her betterness to the whole household. I was glad there was no one else chucking their guts up. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Yesterday afternoon, instead of lazing the day away beachside in Portland, Victoria, or seeing the sights, I cut another cabbage and dug up my purple spuds. I planted three purple spuds in a pot last year in March, I ended up with about 15.  I have some little ones there I can plant back in a pot.

Disinfected the van, the car and home. Then went out in the garden. Busy bloody me. Thank god no one is sick today!

Picked these today. Blue Agapanthus, and roses from the garden.

We're all good today, Izzy over her sickness, and all of us are healthy, except for the odd runny nose. The weather is absolutely beautiful. 

Boggy is planning his first dropnetting outing in the boat for crayfish tomorrow, hopefully they get something, even a piddly little fish(of legal size of course) to chuck in a pan would be good. 

Happy New Year to you all and best of luck for 2014!

Leek, bacon and potato soup

Again we come home from Mums with veggie goodness! Perpetual leeks from her garden(I have them too, but not as good looking as these ones!), and spuds from Kalangadoo, no doubt given to her by a good friend from the town I grew up in as a kid.

Real brushed spuds, grown in volcanic dirt,  unlike the ones from this story featured in current affairs telly this week.

The obvious creation was Leek and potato soup. So this was my lunch on Wednesday, with all the trimmings, and it was delicioso(thank you google spell). I may have Spanish heritage but I can hardly speak or spell a word of it!

2 Tblspn olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 medium leeks, sliced

3 rashers bacon, chopped

5 medium potatoes, large diced

1 Litre water, or stock, you choose

Leaves from a sprig of thyme

Celery salt (this is what I threw in because I didn't have real celery on hand. If you do however, slice a stalk and throw it in when you fry up the leeks) 

Heat oil, add garlic, leeks and bacon and saute for about 5 minutes.

Add potato, thyme and water, bring to the boil and simmer rapidly for 20 minutes.

Plug in your stick blender and whiz until smooth as you like.

A couple of serving suggestions - 

Croutons and a sprinkling of paprika

Easy peasy croutons

Butter sliced bread, both sides.

Sprinkle on flavour, both sides. In this instance, I used mixed  dry herbs(out the garden) on one slice and finely grated parmesan on the other.

Cut into cubes and place on baking tray.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, or until desired crunchiness is reached.

Serve a small handful in middle of soup with a sprinkling of paprika. 

(any leftover croutons will store in an airtight container and are equally as scrumptious tossed in a salad!)

Crispy, Chunky, goodness.

Before blitzing soup, reserve a couple chunks of potato and leek per bowl.

Fry off a few strips of bacon until crispy good.

Serve in middle of bowl. Kapow!

Yumtious stuff right there peoples!

Peruvian purple potato pizza

Mum grew these strange looking spuds this year, given to her by a friend. Brett commented they look like dog turds when he saw them on the kitchen bench. I thought they looked like short stubby fingers.

The smallest ones I planted in my garden and the rest I boiled up to use on a pizza. Below are the boiled potatoes I peeled and sliced up, check out the colour. 

Potato Pizza

I used my scone dough base.

Firstly I smothered on some oil. Call me strange or clever, but I always keep the jar of oil that is left over from anchovies. Flavour central! I use it for starting onions and garlic for pasta sauce or even for frying a flavoursome egg. If you are gagging at the thought, you could just use plain old olive oil.

Next I scatter and rub in a finely chopped clove of garlic. If you don't want to get your hands all oily, just scatter the garlic over.

Place sliced boiled potatoes on base, you could put them on all fancy like or just willy nilly like I did. I have used left over roast potatoes for this too. 

Scatter on some rosemary leaves and a drizzle of olive oil and bake at 200 deg.  for 15 - 20 minutes.

Eat it like that, or drizzle some more oil over it and eat. Very delicious.

Potato Bake

This is the potato bake, or scalloped spud recipe I have been using for the last month or so, since I am trying to lose weight. There is no cream in sight, using low fat milk and fat reduced cheese. One sixth of this dish is 136 calories. I use a small casserole dish, so one sixth is bugger all, but I still get a taste.

Potato Bake

4 potatoes, sliced 

1 onion, sliced

1/2 cup low fat milk

3/4 cup fat reduced cheese, grated

paprika

pepper/salt

Arrange potato and onion in layers in a casserole dish.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour milk over.

Scatter cheese and paprika on top.

Cook covered in a microwave on high for 6 minutes.

Cook uncovered on medium/50% for 10 minutes.

Put the lid back on and give it another 5 minutes on high.

Serve!