Back in the summer I came up with a Ready, Steady, Cook dish of fried gnocchi with roasted tomatoes & field mushrooms when we were eating up the contents of my mother’s fridge, shortly before she moved house.
This time around, I just needed carbs, cheese & calories, owing to a slightly too enthusiastic evening out with Rachel, one of my dearest girlfriends from New York, who has moved back to London. We drifted out of the Groucho at 3am, buoyed up on Old Fashioneds and laughter, and our hangovers were correspondingly large the next morning.
So this is my new patent hangover remedy. Simply boil a large pan of salted water, tip in the gnocchi and cook according to packet instructions (a few mins). Fish out when cooked and drain. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil & butter in a large non-stick frying pan ( I used my lovely new Michel Roux Green Pan) & halve a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes. When the oil is hot tip in the gnocchi, (be careful, the oil will spit), and the tomatoes.
After about five minutes, when the gnocchi have started to catch and brown, add in halved bocconcini mozzarella balls — or just ripped up pieces of cheese from a larger mozzarella ball.
The temptation is to keep stirring the dish around, but you want the gnocchi to stick so that their bottoms go all crispy, so resist the temptation to keep prodding them. And if you mix it up too much, the cheese will melt into a lump of goo. (If that does happen, just get some kitchen scissors and cut it up.)
When the gnocchi are looking good and crispy, then it’s time for the secret ingredient:
Mayonnaise can make a very effective cheat’s sauce for hot food, so long as you don’t heat it for too long. I love this mustard-y version, which was part of a hamper of delicious jars I was left with after my cooking gig for Maille in the summer. Just whack in a generous tablespoon, & stir it around, cooking for a few minutes.
Then eat. Lots.
(Do let me know if any of you make it, either in the comments or on Twitter!)
Ingredients:
Vacuum packed gnocchi
Cherry tomatoes
Mozzarella cheese — I used Bocconcini
Basil leaves
Maldon Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black pepper
Butter
Olive oil
A little Mayonnaise if you have it — it’s not vital. If you do, it would be nice to use good mayo, to avoid emulsifiers & E numbers in an otherwise straightforward ingredients list. (One reader used cream successfully too.)
And there’s a bunch of other winter-warming and hangover-friendly recipes over here
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Omigosh that looks so delicious! I will have to try this and resist from stirring the gnocchi around too much.
I am drunk while I read this, and I can only hope this will magically appear on my dinner table tomorrow.
@Emily: This goes down as one of the best comments on LLG EVER. I hooted! LLGxx
Dear LLG
This looks fabulous. Dr Atkins would be turning in his grave, but I might make some tonight. Meanwhile you should visit Australia in 2012. You’d like it. We have good shops and good food. x
@Faux Fuchsia: I say sod Dr Atkins! And, yes, Australia, really is on my list for 2012. I have so many long-term readers I love, and I think a visit is long overdue. LLGxx
That looks divine. I have only just finished my breakfast but now I really want gnocchi! Yum.
This looks/sounds gorgeous – I love me some cheese and carbs
Oh Lord help me.
Except that I will confess…after your fridge round-up in the summer, I actually on-purpose bought a few pkgs of gnocchi in a nearby World Market (while shopping for something household-y like Picardie tumblers). It’s getting close to that time of year when I’ll have to reach for something like this dish. On my list today, then, some mozzarella & a pint of cherry tomatoes. That’ll be me you see waddling by in Twitter today:) xo
@Susan: Basically, it’s internal central heating. That’s my excuse, anyway! LLGxx
Oh, this has no calories at all, does it? Where is the LLG Cooks cookbook? Again, publishers take note!
@Suzanna: oh goodness, no calories AT ALL! None! Cookbook is in pipeline – just a very slow one…LLGxx
Carbs ahoy! And why not add some bread, or toast if it’s in the morning!
That looks absolutely amazing! Proper comfort food! I know now what my lucky other half will be getting for dinner one evening this week!
Looks great… I tried to make gnocchi from scratch and miserably failed long time ago. Must taste nice with packed one instead.
@picolin: I can’t say I’ve had much success with making them myself, but I can’t bear the pre-packaged ones, which is why I thought about frying them instead. LLGxx
My god this looks SO delicious – all my favorite things, slightly fried. I’m starving now though:( I will definitely be trying this out this week, thank you!
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Wow, perfect hangover food. One to try for Sunday lunch this weekend I reckon.
@Saskia: Honestly, it practically cured me of my alcohol poisoning! LLGxx
I’d love to know if any of you made this to any success – or not! LLGxx
I think my kids could go for that, even the fussy one, and husband would definitely love it – anything this tasty and quick is on my must-cook list! Thanks LLG.
PS I usually do gnocchi with a mushroom, garlic, cream and parsley sauce, which is good in a 1970s sort of way. Have you every tried the gorgonzola-stuffed ones? Yum.
@Fiona Flores Watson: I haven’t but oh my god they sound like artery-blockers! But amazing! LLGxx
Oh dear, I tried this last night and it didn’t work at all! Possibly I put in too many cherry tomatoes but they let out a lot of liquid and so the gnocchi didn’t get crispy, just disintegrated into mush. Perhaps better to fry them first alone?
@Hilary: yes, you definitely shouldn’t add too many tomatoes as they will release too much liquid. (Check out the ratio of gnocchi/tomatoes in the photo above.) LLGxx
I’m making this right now! Look and smells amazing. Can’t wait to eat.
Just finished making this, definitely as delicious as it sounds. Out of mayo so used a bit of double cream instead, and added a handful of baby spinach leaves too. I may now need a nap.
@Alex Sheppard: Great idea – and probably better as there’s no danger of the Mayo splitting. Spinach is perfect – I shall do the same next time. Nothing wrong with a few extra vitamins, although I suspect nothing can counter the carb attack of this dish…LLGxx
That mustardy mayo is also great as a dipping sauce for chips, or french fries over in North America. Or try garlicky mayo…….yesterday I dipped Ruffles type crisps in French’s American mustard. That is my favourite all purpose mustard.
@Catherine: All I can say is: girl after my own heart. LLGxx
thanks for the starting off point. I took your great idea and then added a bit of protein. Roasted two chicken breasts, steamed a bag of spinach and squeezed the liquid out of it. Threw the spinach in a roasting pan and added the cubed chicken with a ball of cubed mozzarella. When the (two bags of) gnocchi were cooked I added that to the pan with 700g of smooth tomato sauce. Stir it all up. Threw it into the oven for 20-30 minutes. Heaven!!
Finally remembered to buy some Gnocchi so am making this for dinner tonight, so can’t wait!!! Perfect food for a cold Winter day!
Just wanted to say that I made this for lunch on Sunday, and I loved it so much I didn’t want to have to wait until Monday to eat the other half of the ingredients, so I had it again for dinner!
Thanks so much for the recipe ( :
I just made this for dinner for my family, it’s divine! Everything turned out brilliant just going by the instructions and I will definitely be making it again!
xo
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