Day 2 of the 3 Ingredient Challenge: Gnocchi with Tomato and Mackerel

Gnocchi is a wonder food! It’s like the love child of roast potatoes and pasta, I mean, it doesn’t get better than that. I had a tin of mackerel in tomato sauce but if you have mackerel in olive / sunflower oil that is fine just drain the oil and add a little tomato puree and you pretty much have the same thing.

Ingredients for one:

1/2 packet of Gnocchi (roughly 200g)

8 cherry tomatoes quartered

1/2 tin of mackerel in tom sauce

1 dsp olive oil

1. Bring a pan of water to the boil and then add the gnocchi. They are cooked when they float to the surface which only takes 2-3 mins. Use a slotted spoon to fish them out and then place straight in a frying pan with the olive oil and leave them to simmer for roughly 5 mins. This just helps to give them a bit of extra texture.

2. While the gnocchi are simmering prepare the cherry tomatoes. Then add the mackerel and tomatoes to the frying pan. Cook until the tomatoes have released some of their liquid and the gnocchi are coated in the sauce. Serve immediately with some fresh herbs if you have them to hand.

Day 1 of the 3 Ingredient Challenge: Pea and Poached Egg Pasta

I have a bad habit of buying more food when I already have loads. I mean no one needs to go to tescos every day, particularly when your store cupboard is as full as mine is. Somehow I have an ingrained notion that I need emergency food. Quite what this emergency would entail I have no idea, but if I managed somehow to get snowed into my Edinburgh city centre flat I would definitely survive. This week I will be dipping into my reserve of emergency food and cooking meals using just 3 key (mainly store cupboard) ingredients. This is one of my favourite comfort foods! I love poached eggs so much, however still can’t actually make them look attractive. Anyone with any hints on this front they are very much welcome / anyone who wants to buy me an egg poacher for Christmas much obliged.

Ingredients (for one): 

1 egg

1 large handful of frozen peas

1 tbsp olive oil

1 portion of pasta

option tsp of dried mint and / or parsley

1. Put the pasta on to cook as per instructions.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat up the frozen peas with a little water in the microwave for 30 sec – 1 min on full power. Then blend the peas (mash if you don’t have a blender) with the olive oil and optional dried herbs.
3. Now the peas are prepared heat a pan of water so it is simmering. Give the water a stir so it forms a kind of whirlpool affect and crack your egg in the centre. Cook the egg until the white has gone solid but the yolk still feels soft (roughly 2 mins).
4. Once the pasta is finished cooking add the pea mixture stirring through well. Serve in a bowl with the poached egg on top.