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Yukky Gnocchi & Yummy Chocky Quesadilla

Lindt chilli chocolate

~  Menu  ~

Gnocchi in a Creamy Tomato & Boursin Sauce
Glass of Sangiovese
Dark Chocolate & Chilli Quesadilla
Coffee

I am glad to say I don’t like gnocchi.  I have made them several times, been unimpressed and assumed I was doing it wrong.  For the sake of research I’ve ordered them once or twice when eating out and still no joy and today as a last attempt I cooked Tesco’s Finest Potato Gnocchi for lunch and didn’t like them either  – yukky gnocchi!  It is not Tesco’s fault, it seems gnocchi are supposed to be unpleasant; at first I though it was my cooking!  What a relief.

I sauced the gnocchi with a creamy mixture of tomato and Boursin and fried up some breadcrumbs in roasted garlic oil to add a contrasting texture (this is known as Pangrattato and is a lovely addition to many meals), they sure needed it.  It tasted fine but the gnocchi themselves are pretty well how one would imagine mashed potato and flour mixed together and boiled would be.  Similar to the "nothing special" krumplinudli I made the other day!

gnocchi

On the other hand I was abso–feckin-lutely delighted, as the Irish say, with my dessert.

Quesadillas


Many, many is the time I have turned, in a professional sense, to quesadillas to use up leftovers. These lovely crisp Mexican (or Tex Mex?) versions of a sandwich are so versatile, so quick and easy and so, so delicious. Normally the filling consists of beans, or chicken, or chilli con carne, etc, with cheese and salsa; those sort of things. 


how-to-make-a-chocolate-quesadilla
Good idea or what?
Pin it so you don't forget!

I have a pack of flour tortillas to play with for my forthcoming book on leftovers (see below) so I thought – why not a chocky quesadilla? And then the answer came to me; no reason at all. My lunch pudding was but the work of a few moments … 

~ I chopped 3 squares (just 3) of Lindt’s dark and lovely chilli chocolate. ~ Sprinkled it on one half of a flour tortilla (plain!).
~ Folded it in half and pressed down firmly so that no chocky could escape.
~ Melted a knob of butter in a non stick pan.
~ Fried my quesadilla till crisp and golden on the outside and lovely and gooey in the middle.
~ Ate it which was rather messy but had to be done – working lunch!





Forgive my fingers, they seem to have aged whilst my back was turned!



fried-gnocchi


Leftover Gnocchi ...


For supper I had the rest of the leftover boiled gnocchi fried up in olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan, smoked black pepper and sea salt – this was much better, almost really good!


fried-gnocchi

My Book on Leftovers


News from the future ... my book was published in March, 2013. Originally titled The Leftovers Handbook a second edition is now available called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  In it I give all the information, ideas and recipes I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers. 

ultimate leftovers cookbook









4 comments:

Jenny Eatwell said...

Now, being a confirmed spud-hound, I love gnocchi and can eat prodigious amounts of it. I have to say though, that I've never tried frying them. Seeing yours there, makes me wonder why!

Oh, and kudos to you for the choccy quesadilla. Utter, utter, inspiration. :)

Jenny Eatwell said...

Because I subscribe to your blog comments, I receive the spam comments in my email that never make it to the blog. I just had to tell you that today's comment about pests had me rolling in the aisles, giggling like a complete twit. :D The majority of them are just a waste of space, but that one tickled the heck out of me for its complete randomness, if nothing else. Oh, I do so hope I get that one on Rhubarb & Ginger! LOL

Suzy - Sudden Lunch said...

Jenny - thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't read it. I particularly like "The crying part the following is the fact that that you are liable to fall short since you usually do not seriously know how to make it happen." Nicely put!

Jenny Eatwell said...

*snort* There's a blog just waiting to be written, all about these random blog comments. :)