5 Minute Food Fix

Packet gnocchi, but make it useful
A message from Simon:
Today’s fix is packet gnocchi. And I want you to not boil it.
I know the packet tells you to boil it. Ignore the packet. The packet does not know your life.
The best thing to do with shelf-stable gnocchi is roast it.
Straight onto a tray. Olive oil. Tomatoes. Garlic. Lemon zest. Olives. Into a hot oven. Done.
What happens is the gnocchi goes golden and a little bit crisp on the outside, but stays soft and chewy inside. Which is frankly much more interesting than boiled gnocchi, which can sometimes have the texture of tiny damp pillows.
This version has cherry tomatoes, olives, bocconcini, lemon zest and basil. Very easy. Very pretty. Very “I have made dinner” for someone who has mostly just tipped things onto a tray.
The lemon zest matters because gnocchi can go a bit beige and heavy. Lemon wakes it up. The bocconcini goes in at the end so it softens, but doesn’t totally vanish. And basil goes on last because cooked basil is a crime.
You can add zucchini, capsicum, eggplant, chilli, rocket, parmesan, leftover roast veg, whatever. This is not a recipe that wants you to go to three shops.
The fix is: roast the gnocchi. Don’t boil it. It’s faster, better and involves one tray, which is spiritually important.

RECIPE: Lemony olive and bocconcini gnocchi traybake
Serves 3–4
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Tip a 500 g packet of shelf-stable potato gnocchi onto a large baking tray.
Add 250 g halved cherry tomatoes, one sliced zucchini or one chopped red capsicum, half a cup of pitted or torn olives, and two finely sliced garlic cloves.
Add three tablespoons of olive oil, the finely grated zest of one lemon, salt and black pepper, then toss everything together really well.
Spread it out so the gnocchi has space to crisp.
Roast for 20–25 minutes, tossing once, until the gnocchi is golden and the tomatoes have collapsed.
Tear over 150 g bocconcini and return the tray to the oven for 3–5 minutes, just until the cheese softens.
Finish with a handful of basil leaves, more lemon zest if you like, and chilli flakes or parmesan if you want them.
Serve straight from the tray and feel smug about the lack of washing up.

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Impressing friends with one's cooking skills is truly one of life's joys. Yumi has found a new way that is super easy and you probably have 90% of the ingredients already.

BELINDA JEFFEREY's CHEESE BISCUITS
Combine all the dry ingredients: 300g plain flour, 50g Self-raising flour and a teaspoon of salt. Add in 2tsp mild chilli flakes.
Mix well in the food processor.
Add 40g freshly grated parmesan and a whole grated block of Mersey Valley (250g).
Add 250g cold, cubed butter, whizz the mixture. It will look crumbly and quite dry. While it's whizzing, add in the juice of 1 lemon. It will come together.
Halve the dough. Fashion each half into logs about the width (girth?) of a 50c piece. Wrap in baking paper and chill until needed.
When you're ready to cook them, pre-heat to oven to 180C. Slice 4-5mm pieces off the log and spread them out on a baking tray. Top with sesame seeds or nigella seeds and bake for about 14 minutes. Serve with beverages and olives!

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Yumi organised an adult playdate for HERSELF with a friend for some cooking fun.
It didn't work out exactly to plan but they *did* get to make this amazing gnocchi from Ottolenghi's 'SIMPLE'.

You can find a full version of it in this article - and Simon's recommendation is that you roast up a sweet tomato sauce alongside the gnocchi and then serve with a rocket salad lightly dressed with lemon juice and good quality olive oil.

And here is the SURVEY that we'd like you to please fill out!
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It's time to fancy up your humble piece of fried salmon with a recipe from a cookbook that's a couple of years old but Yumi dusted it off and has been cooking from it quite a bit in the past weeks. It's - OTTOLENGHI's 'SIMPLE'.

Simon has good news if you're a fan of the cookbook and its author...

And you can find the salsa and salmon recipe here.

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Yumi is threatening to host a dog re-naming ceremony to honor Norweigan striker, community boyfriend and everyone's emotional support Viking, Erling Haaland (it's not her hound so technically NO, and also, just no.)

Simon, meanwhile, has been impressing adults with this really easy-to-nail and incredibly yummy Marmalade Self-Saucing Pudding,

RECIPE: Marmalade self-saucing pudding
Serves 4–6
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a medium baking dish.
In a bowl, mix one cup of self-raising flour, half a cup of caster sugar and a pinch of salt.
In another bowl, whisk 60 g melted butter with half a cup of milk, one egg, one teaspoon of vanilla and a third of a cup of orange marmalade.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then scrape the batter into the baking dish.
For the sauce, stir a third of a cup of brown sugar and two tablespoons of marmalade into one and a half cups of boiling water. Add 30 g butter and stir until mostly melted.
Carefully pour the hot liquid over the back of a spoon onto the pudding batter. It will look wrong. That is fine.
Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the top is golden and spongey and the sauce is bubbling underneath.
Rest for 5 minutes, then serve with cream, custard or vanilla ice cream.

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