Spinach & Walnut Gnocchi in Garlic Sauce

Spinach & Walnut Gnocchi in Garlic Sauce

More spinach! In a big cooking mood and haven’t ever made gnocchi before so here we go.

Ingredients

750g potato (1 bag of baby potatoes or equivalent of large)

1/4 bag spinach (1/3 cup when blended)

1 cup flour (and more for dusting)

1/2 cup walnuts

Rosemary

Garlic sauce: 2 tbsp butter, 1/3 cup flour, 3-5 cloves garlic (to taste), 2-3 cups dairy free milk

1. Peel and boil potatoes. When done, mash up without adding liquid (or use only a spoon or two of dairy free milk).

2. Put walnuts and spinach in a blender. Add to the mashed potato. Add flour.

3. Roll dough into long snake like shapes about two fingers thick and cut off small bits (as shown). Flatten with fork or other to make a design.

4. Boil a pot of water, and when boiled, add the gnocchi in 5-6 at a time. Watch until they rise, then remove immediately with a spoon with holes in it (or equivalent). Continue to do so until all boiled.

5. For the garlic sauce, melt butter on a low heat in a pot and sprinkle the flour in while stirring. Add dairy free milk slowly and break any clumps. Add chopped garlic and then boil off until desired consistency on a low heat. Add to gnocchi and sprinkle with rosemary.

We ate them with a falafel salad.

Black Eyed Bean & Spinach Kievs

Black Eyed Bean & Spinach Kievs

Haven’t made any kievs since the kidney bean kievs last year (http://vegannyomnom.blogspot.ie/2012/05/kidney-bean-kievs.html ) and have had a hankering for them. So here’s an alternative little idea for them! : )

Ingredients:

1 can black eyed beans

1 can chickpeas (or 2 cans black eyed beans)

1 (red) onion

1/3 average bag spinach (~75g)

2/3 cup coarse wholemeal flour

1/2 cup soya mince & 1 stock cube (optional)

Spices/herbs: coriander, paprika, rosemary, black pepper (to taste)

2-3 tbsp olive oil (or other oil)

Garlic butter: 3-4 tbsp dairy free butter + 3-4 cloves garlic (to taste)

Breadcrumbs: 4-5 slices bread (we used brown) + 2-3 tbsp olive oil (or other oil), rosemary, flour

1. If using soya mince as an added taste, boil up 1/4 cup water and dissolve stock cube and add to soya mince. Leave to soak. Make the garlic butter – chop up garlic and add to butter.

2. Put beans, chickpeas, chopped onion and spinach in a blender. Add spices, oil, flour and soaked soya mince.

3. Make breadcrumb mix: crumble bread slices, add rosemary, olive oil and 2 tbsp coarse flour.

4. Take 4-6 tbsp of the bean mix and on a floured surface make into 2 flattened ovals (or other desired shape – or less tablespoons if you desire smaller ones). Onto one oval, add 1 tsp of the garlic butter.

Flattened the other oval atop this first oval and secure the edges. Roll in the breadcrumb mix.

Repeat until mixture is used up.

5. Cook in oven at 180° for 30-40mins.

This makes about 4-5 big kievs, but you can make them any size that is convenient for you. These are breaded ones of course, with coarse breadcrumbs but you can top them with finer breadcrumbs or just coat them with a little oil and leave them without.

Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing

Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing

The heat apocalypse in Ireland has temporarily subsided it seems! Or at least the sunshine element has, it is still very warm (for the past six days we’ve had temperatures nearing 30°, and it was hotter than Ibiza even at least once! Same forecast for the next week!) So now that it is beautiful and cloudy and yet still warm, it’s time to attempt going outside again for a picnic.

A super simple recipe, with the only things that take any time is grating the rind off the orange and icing the cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Rind of 2 oranges (1 big orange or 2 mandarins)

½ cup orange juice (from the squeezed rinded orange or from a carton)

1½ cups self raising flour

1 cup sugar

1/5 cup oil

1 tsp. vinegar

3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 180°

1. Mix flour, sugar and orange rind.

2. Add orange juice, water and oil. Add vinegar.Mix.

3. Bake for 15-20mins or until lightly browned.

We decorated it with chocolate icing (icing sugar + cocoa powder + a little bit of butter), but another good idea is to melt some chocolate and dip the top of the cupcake in to make a nice chocolate topping.

Alternatively, to make chocolate orange cupcakes, add about 2-3 tbsp of cocoa powder to the batter.

Piña Colada Cupcakes

Piña Colada Cupcakes

The cocktail themed cupcakes continue! Pineapple, coconut milk, rum... Something summery and refreshing to have post dinner at a friends : )

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

½ cup blended pineapple (about 2/3 tin of tinned pineapples)

1/2 cup coconut milk*

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon vinegar

2-3 drops rum essence (or use real rum and reduce the amount of coconut milk depending how much you add).

*If you can get the kind that ‘accidentally’ comes in a thick cream like consistency it’s better – Aldi tends to have this if you’re in Ireland. Otherwise the normal one is fine, or use coconut cream (but that’s a bit harder to find).

Preheat oven to 180°

1. Blend the pineapple with a little of the pineapple juice in the tin (or use water) until a smoothie like consistency.

2. Mix sugar and flour together. Add coconut milk, oil, blended pineapple and rum essence (or real rum).

3. Add vinegar and mix well. Pour mixture into cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. (If you have real rum add a drop or two atop each cupcake to soak it a little bit if you like)

We topped with a little pineapple juice mixed with icing sugar and a segment of pineapple on each cupcake. Alternatively, mixing some of the remaining coconut milk with the pineapple juice and icing sugar would be nice and more creamy.