The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (43 page)

Serve simply with melted butter or a drizzle of good olive oil and a generous grating of fresh Parmesan, or with any of your favourite pasta sauces (see also the ideas overleaf).

Ricotta cheese
Replace the egg yolk with about a dessertspoon of ricotta cheese – just enough to make a fairly firm dough that is neither sloppy nor crumbly.

Chopped basil or any other herbs
Add herbs to the mixture right at the start. In this case, serve with a home-made tomato sauce (see
page 36
).

Mushroom-stuffed gnocchi
Make a ravioli-like parcel by rolling out the gnocchi dough thinly and cutting it into rounds about 6cm in diameter. To make the filling, sweat ½ finely chopped red onion with a crushed garlic clove. Add 140g of mixed mushrooms chopped very finely, a handful of finely chopped parsley, and some salt and pepper. Cook gently until the mushrooms are soft, then leave to cool. Top half the dough circles with a level teaspoon of the mushroom mixture and put another circle on top, pressing down around the edges to make a parcel. Cook in batches in a large pan of salted boiling water – once they begin to float, keep cooking for a further 2 minutes. Serve with grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

Spinach-stuffed gnocchi
Follow the method for mushroom-stuffed gnocchi, above, but for the filling, wash and chop a large handful of spinach and cook in plenty of rapidly boiling water for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Drain, cool and squeeze out excess water, then chop again very finely. Mix with a tablespoon of crumbled ricotta or goat’s cheese and season well with salt and pepper.

Sweet potato gnocchi
Substitute sweet potato for the ordinary potato and add some chopped thyme to the dough.

Pumpkin or parsnip gnocchi
Replace some of the mashed potato with pumpkin or parsnips, either on their own or in combination. Peel and dice the vegetables and roast them in a dish in the oven at about 200°C/ Gas Mark 6 until tender but not crisp on the outside, then mash them. Let them cool before making up the gnocchi dough.

Sage sauce
Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan (or heat some olive oil), add a good handful of chopped sage leaves and warm through. Pour the sage sauce over the cooked gnocchi and finish with grated Parmesan.

Puttanesca sauce
Make the Quick Tomato Sauce on
page 36
, then add chopped anchovies, capers and chopped black olives to taste. Simmer until the sauce is very thick and has deepened in colour.

Pesto
In a mini blender or food processor, make a paste from 2 peeled garlic cloves, ½ teacup of pine nuts, a teacup of freshly grated Parmesan and a large bunch of basil, adding olive oil until the mixture achieves the consistency of wet sand. Season to taste. Swirl a couple of teaspoons of pesto per person into the cooked gnocchi. Instead of basil and pine nuts, you could use walnuts with parsley, or substitute sun-dried tomatoes (or Bottled Dried Tomatoes, see
page 44
) for the basil.

Frozen peas and prawns
Half a teacupful of each, cooked together swiftly in a little olive oil, makes a fantastic topping for cooked gnocchi. Scatter chopped mint, basil or parsley on top.

Arancini
means ‘little orange’ and these re-fried risotto balls are such a staple of Italian leftover cooking that many families cook too much risotto on purpose so that they know
exactly
what they are having for lunch the next day. To my non-purist mind, risotto tastes better the next day anyway, and these impeccably simple balls have the added delight of a slight crunch on the outside. You can use any leftover risotto (see
pages 176
-
7
), including whatever ingredients you have added to flavour it.

Serves 2

2 teacups leftover risotto 1 egg, lightly beaten

about ½ teacup polenta (or plain flour and breadcrumbs instead
)

olive oil for shallow-frying

Shape the leftover risotto into golf-ball-sized balls. Dip the balls in beaten egg and then roll them in polenta (or dust them with flour, dip them in beaten egg and then roll them in breadcrumbs). Chill for 20 minutes or so.

Heat 1cm of olive oil in a frying pan, add the risotto balls and fry gently until golden all over. If you like, you can push down slightly on the balls with a spatula to flatten them and turn them into crispy rice patties. Serve with salad or tomato sauce (see
page 36
).

Adding cheese
It is traditional with arancini – especially if your leftover rice is plain – to push a small piece of cheese into the centre of the balls as you make them. Almost any cheese will do – mozzarella or Taleggio will both melt sumptuously, but goat’s cheese or a cube of Parmesan are fine. I’m told red Leicester does the trick too. Make sure the cheese is completely enclosed by the rice.

Adding simple flavours to leftover plain risotto
Parmesan, lemon zest and a little chopped tarragon; small pieces of tomato (or sun-dried tomato) and finely chopped basil; finely chopped strong mushrooms such as porcini or morels, fried in a little oil or butter until tender; diced roast pumpkin and goat’s cheese; leftover fish or prawns, finely chopped, with lime or lemon zest. Add any of these combinations to plain leftover risotto rice before forming into balls, dipping in egg and frying.

Making suppli
A traditional Italian way of using up Bolognese sauce and long grain rice or risotto rice. There are many regional variations in Italy, which allows us to use whatever we have to hand and think of it as classic. Mix the sauce and cooked rice together until firm enough to roll into balls of whatever size you prefer. Roll these in plain flour, dip them quickly into beaten egg and then roll in breadcrumbs. Traditionally, they are deep-fried, but I shallow-fry them in vegetable oil until golden on all sides. Delicious hot (with roast vegetables, say) and really useful cold in lunchboxes and for picnics.