“Urda” Gnocchi with wild garlic pesto

A long time ago I tried to make gnocchi. The plot involved an Italian boyfriend, sleep deprivation and a fabulous walnut sauce. The plot, alas, got lost: The gnocchi dissolved into something akin to prisoner of war camp potato soup or being more charitable: wallpaper paste. The fabulous sauce dried up and was never used. The boyfriend sneered. I sulked.

Fast forward a number of years, a desire to vanquish the gnocchi demon and a sneaking suspicion that some little dumplings made with “Urda” (a Romanian ricotta like cheese made from whey and very high in protein) and sexed up with a fabulous pesto would work. And work it does.

Gnocchi work well with all manner of sauces but they seem particularly delicious with a more piquant sauce…this garlicky, lemony, almondy sauce does the trick.

These gnocchi are fast, they freeze (use direct from the freezer) and they work with many sauces. Give them a go and you will have a wonderful earthy comfort food dish mastered perhaps a bit faster than I managed.

Walnut Tart Crust

go in with your hands!

This is a glorious tart crust to make because as you mould the pastry with your hands the oils give you the best hand moisturizing treatment ever! The pastry is malleable and lends itself to being pushed around, meanwhile you don’t need to worry about rolling out pastry.

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Walnut & Olive Oil Pastry

An easy peasy pastry that lifts any dish. You dont even need a rolling pin

This pastry is ridiculously easy to make. You do not need any special equipment at all yet it is sophisticated all the same. All you need is a bowl, a regular kitchen knife and some scales to weigh the ingredients.

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