Gnocchi with garden peas
Only a few more days before I’m off to London for Foodblogger Connect and I’m not sure if it is me, but what is all that chaos in London right now… ?? I mean seriously; first I was supposed to go to Japan and we all know what happened there, then I was supposed to have a wedding in Italy and that got cancelled due to whatever reason and now I’m gonna go to London and all hell breaks loose there too… Am I jinxed or what? I hope everyone I know in London is allright, because by the looks of the news this evening it’s been pretty bad in certain neighborhoods. What is wrong with the world? Seriously… I get depressed looking at the news these days. If it’s not one natural disaster after the other, then it’s crashing economics or people killing eachother… Not good. Not good at all. I find that it disturbs me more lately. Up to the point where I seriously start to wonder what will become of the world. Will we all be blown away by some major crashing natural disaster or will we “simply” ruin ourselves by war, viruses or the like? I’m normally a fairly optimistic person but it starts to become hard to see the light of day with all that is going on at the moment.
In light of all of the above my quest to loose weight is a simple one, but still one that can occupy my thoughts for a large part of the day. Well, let’s face it; my thoughts are already occupied with food for a big part and now there is just the added complexity of making good dishes a little leaner. One case in point was my lunch of today. I came home after working in the studio and felt like cooking something simple and quick. I had no idea what to make so I just went to the store and then saw one of their recipe cards with a recipe for gnocchi with bacon and garden peas. I liked the look of it and figured I could make that dish but then in a leaner version. And so I did! And it was delicious!
The original version had bacon, creme fraiche and a lot more cheese but my version made me feel better… 
I’m normally not a big fan of store bought gnocchi and I’m still not but whipping up freshly made gnocchi for this afternoons lunch felt like a little bit too much hard work, so I did opt for the store bought and with all the other ingredients added it was good. But I’m sure will be much better if you do decide to make your own gnocchi. And why not go for it?
O and I have to tell you too that I had THE best salmon hamburger tonight for dinner too!! I didn’t take any photos but I will definitely be making this again and share! Soooo good!
Gnocchi with garden peas
Light and fresh dish that is literally done within 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 75 gr garden peas, frozen (or fresh if they are to be found)
- 150 gr gnocchi con patate (freshly made or storebought)
- 1 tbsp creme fraiche light
- 50 gr ham, cut into thin slices
- 25 gr rocket
- 1 sjalot, sliced
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- parmesan cheese for grating over the top
Directions:
- Put your water with salt on to boil the gnocchi. Pay attention that they only need about 2 minutes to cook so do this at the end.
- Heat the olive oil in a small pan and fry your onions until soft and golden. Add your ham and fry till they become a little crispy. Turn the heat down a bit and add your frozen garden peas and let it simmer slowly for about 5-6 minutes until your peas are soft and tender.
- Cook your gnocchi at the same time.
- Add 1 tbsp of creme fraiche to the peas and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Once the gnocchi are cooked, drain and add them to your pea mixture. Plate up and finish with some rocket and some freshly grated Parmesan on top.
And who is here trying to dip her nose in and stealing a little bit of that ham??
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
This is the version I would also love to cook, Simone..it look so refreshing and am sure must have been really wonderful with all the goodness of garden peas and olive oil in it.
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It is the cat licking the bowl that I love AND I want that Salmon burger recipe. I have never had a salmon burger. It sounds yummy. Your lean lunch looks yummy Simone. I am a ‘hurried sandwich’ kinda gal when it comes to lunch.
Simone, I feel the same way about the state of the world we live in today. It worries me that senseless riots are taking place, organised by greedy teenagers. I also worry that a Tsunami could wash away our little island in one fell swoop.
But we have to plod on. We have to almost bury our heads in the sand just to block out all the bad stuff and just keep plodding along with our day to day lives. Otherwise, we would go mad.
Enjoy London. I wish I could say I envy your being there for the weekend. Truth is, I wish you were coming here instead!
xxx
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That is magnificent dish! So refined, summery, colorful and flavorful.
I love that picture of your kitty! Mine never gets close to the food I cook and quite frankly, she would not eat it as she is addicted to tinned meat (unfortunately).
Cheers,
Rosa
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I just watched a cooking program wherone of teh italian chefs made gnocci with almost no flour and no potato!I am going to try that and will let you gnocci llovers know how it goes.
But tarditional gnocci teh way you made nad presented here are worth every bit:)Jealous of that cat:)
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It may be leaner than the original recipe, but it looks just as tasty!
I hope everything goes well for your trip to London. I have a friend living there, close to where the riots are happening, and she says they have been advised to stay home… Hopefully the situation will be under control soon.
Hey, nothing too bad is happening in Montreal right now… You should come here!
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Light, bright and a lovely light summer meal! hope you have a good and safe trip to London!
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I felt like we were having a conversation over a cup of coffee or tea when I read that first paragraph. It’s hard to avoid potential trouble when you travel these days, but the alternative is not to travel and that too is scary.
Lovely recipe and photos as usual.
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That is one really nice looking gnocchi dish!
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We often buy a good brand of store-bought gnocchi or, better yet, fresh gnocchi at the Italian stand at our market since it does make a fabulous, easy and fast meal with any number of toppings. I love your version and I think I’ll make something like it this week. Have frozen peas! And yeah, I think we are destroying ourselves which is sad and tragic. Can’t we do anything more constructive with our intelligence?
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The world truly has gone mad. I’ve been glued to Twitter and the news since Monday and none of it makes any sense to me. This country has huge issues to tackle. Don’t know how we’re gong to do it, but we cannot keep producing young people who have no respect for anything or anyone and will destroy their own communities for the sake if selfishness and instant gratification. Speaking of instant gratification… I agree that whipping up gnocchi for a quick meal is too much of a pain but it seems you were able to make do quite nicely with the store-bought ones. love the recipe – one of my favourite combinations. And you already know I love your naghty kitty!
Travel safe – for how long are you in london? Maybe we can try to meet up for a coffee or something stronger?
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WONDERFUL! Great presentation! Great use of the gnocci. I see it all the time in grocery stores and literally have two recipes I use it with! Great great recipe.
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 18th, 2011 at 15:54
Thanks Amy!
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What a delicious looking bowl of pasta! Gnocchi is one of my favorites! If it is kitty-approved, it has to be good!
as for the world, I don’t know. I just try to enjoy life, and all the good things like food! 
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What a gorgeous bowl of gnocchi! I’d like to dip my head in it just as much as your kitty. Hope all is going well for you in London!
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And that’s the reason I don’t watch the news anymore. I rather get in the kitchen and cook. Sometimes I feel I need to know what’s going on, but I just get depressed and I can’t have that. Hehe. Amazing gnocchi (even if you didn’t make it yourself, we forgive you, LOL)
Your kitty is such a bad kitty, always trying to steal food :-p
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I’m glad my cat doesn’t read blogs because he would be insisting in better quality food than he currently gets!
A simple, but fresh and delicious salad – looks great!
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 18th, 2011 at 18:34
O haha… you do have to tell your cat that he needs to be at least 19 yrs old to be so spoiled as mine…
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