Easy gnocchi salmon and pea bake

Do you eat much gnocchi? We didn’t really until a couple of years ago. Then I suddenly realised what a great emergency dinner solution it is. We tend to group it with pasta don’t we? But actually they are little potato dumplings. They store for ages, they can be boiled and covered in a sauce (just like pasta), fried until crispy (a great alternative to potatoes with fish or meat), or chucked uncooked into a bake, as in this recipe (or in this tomatoey gnocchi pancetta and pesto bake). So, so adapatable.

OK, so it’s processed. But in that respect, so is dried pasta?! I’ve never made it… I know, tut tut for me as a food blogger, eh? I will promise to try that in the next few weeks. But let’s face it, for most people making fresh gnocchi is a weekend pastime. And with the extension madness round ours at the moment even that’s pretty ambitious!

So, this recipe… when I chucked this together last week, it was a very last minute idea. I honestly had doubts as to whether it would come off. But it did. It really did. If you like meals where all that is required is opening packets, stirring stuff, and shoving it the oven, then this one is for you. Seriously, the salad was more laborious than the bake. Everyone liked it, too!

I word about salmon. I hear that farmed salmon now has a lot less omega 3 in it than it used to. The solution? Now they advise eating it twice a week rather than once (or any other oily fish). Either that or choose wild salmon which is a little more expensive. We eat a lot of salmon, smoked as well as fillets, as sadly, there is no fishmonger near us, so we have to order online in our food shop and I think salmon is pretty failsafe without seeing it first. I’m choosing to buy wild salmon from now on and enjoy it once a week in a main meal. We are also eating less meat and more veggie food. On the whole I think the ethos of eat better quality and less of it is the way forward. I like to buy organic meat when possible as I think it has less nasties in it like antibiotics and growth hormones. Thoughts?

Here’s how to make my oh so easy and quick gnocchi bake with salmon and peas…

Serves: 4-6

Takes: 5 minutes prep + 20 minutes cooking = 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 x 500g packet of gnocchi
• 2 salmon fillets, skinless and cut into chunks
• Mugful of frozen peas
• 200g creme fraiche
• Splash milk – couple of tablespoons
• Salt and pepper
• Good grating of Parmesan

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Tip gnocchi, cubed salmon and peas in a large baking dish, mix with creme friache and a little milk to loosen. Season a little with salt and pepper.
3. Level off and grate parmesan over. Bake for about 20- minutes. Serve with a salad.