Freaky Friday!..a Potato by any other name, would it still be Irish? - Oven Roasted pesto Gnocchi

Yesterday felt like Saturday....all day! And apparently I wasn't the only one suffering this glitch in the matrix! The previous day, Thursday, had been St. Patrick's Day.....what is St. Patrick's Day you ask?.......have you been living under a rock all your life?.. I reply! It's only THEE biggest festival day in Irish culture....... and the whole world seems to turn green on the 17th March....even the Colosseum in Rome did!....and why?......because there are so many Irish or people who claim to be of Irish descent, scattered around the world.....you could even say the USA was built by the Irish!  

This feast day celebrates St. Patrick who brought Christianity to Ireland and chased out all the 'snakes'..... or those formerly known as the pagans and the druids!....well that's just my opinion.

In honor of this saint and his feast day, the whole country takes a holiday.......parades take place in every small town and city from Buncrana just a few miles from me here in Donegal, to Cork city in the south, Dublin in the east and Galway to the west, and probably every village in between too.....the pubs are packed from noon till midnight where the Guinness is served green, the food of the day is Irish stew, colcannon and boxty.......and there be dancin at the crossroads.

After all the shenanigans of the day, having to return to work the day after a feast like St. Patrick's is a job in itself, and my brain seemed to think the weekend had arrived early and by rights it should be Saturday......what a downer when it eventually hit home that it was Friday.....still there was a high point to the day...the races where on at Cheltenham and Friday was Gold Cup day and...woohoo! our horse came in second!.....and what does a 5 euro bet each way win you?....oh just enough for a pizza.......but still, at least we won something, and we sill splash out on the pizza tonight!

Potato Gnocchi

There is nothing that says Ireland more than the potato or the 'spud' as it's lovingly known in this area. There are so many ways to enjoy the potato that I could probably write a book about them but as I don't have the space or the inclination for that right now, I will let you in on this little dish.
I have the wonderful Nigella Lawson, the domestic goddess herself, to thank for putting me on to this little number and when you get a little hint from others, great things can develop!

Nigella loves putting things together in a flash and her imagination seems to know know boundaries! I was particularly struck by her replacement for 'roast potatoes' and when you're in a hurry the little potato gnocchi comes to the rescue.

'Gnocchi' are little dumplings of Italian origin and can be made from flour or potato and a few other things. Nigella used teeny tiny gnocchi and pan fried them until golden brown.....I tried it out myself and boy where they delicious.
Since then I have been cooking my gnocchi this way quite regularly......I was never really that fond of them poached, which is the usual way to cook them, to be honest I find them quite stodgy and bland even if served with a lovely sauce or a tasty stew.

Gnocchi can be bought in small or large sizes, plain or with a filling, and I discovered these gnocchi with a pesto filling in one of those well known 'economy' supermarkets.

To make these delicious oven roasted gnocchi, simply heat a frying pan and add some olive oil, butter, or rapeseed oil....whichever is your favourite, toss the gnocchi around in the oil for a few moments then transfer to a baking sheet or roasting tin.

Cook at 180oC for about 15 minutes or until golden brown, then serve them as you would roast potatoes.

To give a simple lunch for friends an extra bit of oomph you could serve some of these along with a salad,
I ate them with a salad of various leaves, parmesan shavings and some mixed seeds for that added bit of protein.... when you bite through that crisply roasted potato exterior you discover yet more potato deliciously soft and at the centre the yummy pesto......delizioso!