Hearty Eggplant Parmigiana Bake

I go through phases of being addicted to certain foods. Currently I'm completely stuck on eggplant. Soft and creamy when it's cooked properly, it's amazing how rich tasting a vegetable can be! And it's good for ya, so it's a win-win situation for me really. I end up eating it religiously for a few weeks then move on to the next thing, but it comes back around every few months, like an old loyal friend. Oh eggplant.

Anywho, I've done the eggplant schnitzel thang, and I felt it was time to layer and bake. I ate it like lasagne, with some veg on the side the first time but then realised, hey, eggplant is a vegetable, why double up? I made up for that by adding a ton of mozzarella ;)

Baked Eggplant Parmigiana

Serves 4

1 large eggplant
1 700ml jar tomato passata
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pinch thyme (dried or fresh
250g grated or slice mozzarellla
1 handful of breadcrumbs (optional)
salt & pepper
olive oil


Slice eggplant in to ~1.5cm slices, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill under a medium heat in oven or on stove top until colored and nearly cooked through.

Meanwhile, saute the sliced garlic in olive oil for a few moments, add passata, thyme, salt and pepper, and let it bubble away on a low heat reducing slightly.

Layer sauce, eggplant and cheese in a medium baking dish (I used a square cake tin), in that order, and repeat ending with a layer of sauce, cheese then breadcrumbs if desired.

Bake at 200°c for about 20mins or until golden on top and eggplant is melting and soft.

Rest for 10mins before serving or it will slop everywhere.


PS: It's even better re-heated.

Winter Warmers - Slow Ham Bone Soup

Recently I picked up some weekend work at a lovely restaurant in the city. The boss has a marvelous personality and the food is delectable. It's been interesting getting to know how things go in food service, as I have visited many restaurants but never before worked in one. Working around food fortunately comes with some delicious perks like the little table by the kitchen door that treats of extras appear on for the waitstaff to nibble. And, as the place closes on Sunday and Monday, the staff get any leftover ingredients to take home as they wish.

Last week I picked up a bag of ham bones and bacon/salami trimmings, and in the spirit of the cold weather made a delightfully hearty pork soup with melting pieces of smoked ham, cabbage, butter beans and potato. The pork was reminiscent of the boiling bacon my dad used to cook up on cool nights, served with sauerkraut and mustard.

I added some fennel seeds for a lighter flavour and after being cooked for the 3-4hrs they turned soft and palatable, weakening in aroma. Surprisingly yum.

Ham Bone Soup

Serves 4

1 meaty leftover ham bone, or 1 smoked pork hock
1 brown onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
~5 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
a pinch of fennel seeds (optional)
400g cooked butter beans, or 1 handful dry
~1 cup chopped cabbage (any type really, just not chinese)
2 large potatoes, chopped in to chunks


Add the pork, onion, garlic, pepper, bay, fennel and (if using) dry beans to a large pot. Fill with water until the hock is covered. Don't add salt at this stage as the meat should be seasoned which will draw out in to the soup as it cooks, also it will mess up the bean cooking process.

Bring to the boil and skim if needed, turn to low and simmer for 3-4hrs or until the meat is tender and the beans are cooked. But don't forget...

About half an hour before ready to serve, increase the heat and add the potato, then 5 minutes prior add the cabbage. Boil until softened.  Break the meat off and remove the bones. Leave the peppercorns for your least favourite guest.

Pour in to a bowl and enjoy on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.

Slow Braised Chinese Pork Belly

Every time I visit a chinese restaurant I always make sure pork belly is on order. I'm completely addicted to the melting fat and tender soft meat, all soaked in the flavours of star anise, soy, ginger and garlic. I had an intense craving the other day and decided to recreate some at home.

After a brief panic attack because the supermarkets were closed due to a public holiday (damn SA trading laws), I surprisingly found some belly cuts at my local foodland corner store. Chuffed, I trotted home and started preparing. Threw in some bok choy too because I figured I should probably eat some sort of greenery after all that pork fat.

Chinese Braised Pork Belly

serves 4

4 generous slices of pork belly, about 500g
(alternatively, buy a whole piece of belly and slice 3-4cm thick)
1 small knob ginger
4 cloves garlic
8 spring onions
2 star anise
4tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp shao xing cooking wine (about $2 a bottle at any Chinese grocer)
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (you can leave this out if it's too much trouble)

steamed rice and bokchoy to serve


Slice ginger in to discs and spring onions in to 5cm batons. Place all ingredients in to a pot that the meat fits snuggly (but not too snug) in.

Cover with water so the meat is submerged and bring to the boil slowly on the stove. Turn down to a gentle simmer and leave for approximately 2hrs, or until the meat is tender, but not falling apart.

Retrieve the meat, and strain sauce if desired. You can also thicken with a little cornflour mixed with water, however I like the runny but rich gelatinous taste.

Serve over steamed rice with greens and remain blissfully ignorant to the thought of eating streaks of melting tender pork fat.

Autumn Pasta Greed

Motivation to exercise always ceases when the cool change sets in. Not wanting to get out of bed, wearing thick cardigans and eating lots of pasta are common themes for me. Pasta because it's tasty, but also because it's quick and comforting. It's funny how eating tends to replace exercise in colder months. A dangerous opposite.

Anywho, a favourite dish of mine from growing up was always spaghetti carbonara. I would get so excited when dad would make it for dinner and eat 2, 3, even 4 helpings before he told me that I should stop, and I would, but always reluctantly. Traditionally the addition of cream is not as common, as the egg is the star of the show, but make sure your eggs are fresh! And if it weirds you out too much just substitute an egg for an extra 100ml of cream.

Simple Spaghetti Carbonara

Serves 4, generously

8 rashers short cut bacon
1 small brown onion
2 cloves garlic
4 eggs
dash of cream or milk
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley and parmesan cheese to garnish (optional)


Cut the bacon in to strips and fry with a little oil in a pan until browned, but not too crisp. I would brown mine a little more next time.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and add to the pan with bacon, fry on a low heat for a good 10-15mins so the onions are nice and soft (start heating your pasta water now). Best to avoid crunchy raw onion in your pasta.

 Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti (I used linguine because it's my favourite) in a large pot of well salted water.

While the onions and pasta cook, whisk the eggs with cream/milk and season with salt and pepper.

 Once cooked to al dente, drain and quickly place back in to the pot.

Add the bacon and onion, as well as the egg mix. Stir and let the egg slowly cook through the residual heat. If it's not doing much put it back on a very low heat and mix constantly, but make sure the egg doesn't just scramble on the bottom.

Pile generously on to a plate and eat on the sofa.

Fake Fancy

I've always been a firm believer in not having to spend much money to eat well. That said, you can also spend lots of money and eat well, but I don't see it as necessary. As long as you have the right mindset and know the best way to prepare/utilise certain ingredients, you can eat damn good food.

Everybody loves pasta right? It's cheap, it's fast, it's filling, and it's loaded with carby goodness. It's definitely my go-to meal when I'm feeling lazy and poor.

So, here's something I came up with on a whim, I really wanted some sort of fancy pasta dish but didn't have much money and was so tired of the regulars; bolognese, carbonara, etc. It turned out delicious and took very little time to prepare. As an added bonus it's vegetarian too, but either way you've gotta be crazy to not love big chunks of mushroom.

Most of the ingredients are pantry staples. So buying the rocket, mushrooms and parmesan only set me back around $10.

Portobello Mushroom Pasta

Serves 4

8 small portobello mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp butter + splash of oil
1 500g packet of linguine/any shape really
1 150g bag of rocket
Grated parmesan to garnish*

Method:

Bring a large pot to the boil and salt well. Meanwhile slice mushrooms and garlic.

Saute mushrooms and garlic with butter and oil. At the same time as adding mushrooms to pan, add pasta to boiling water.

Once mushrooms are nearly cooked through season well** with salt and pepper. Do this later and not first to avoid the water leeching out of the mushrooms.

Cook pasta until al dente (I ALWAYS ignore the packet instructions and just taste it till its ready). Drain, then toss through the mushrooms and rocket.

Pile on to plates and top with grated parmesan to impress your guests.


*Don't tell anyone but I won't hate you if you use that stuff kept in the aisles
**Remember that once the mushrooms are tossed through the pasta the flavour will be less strong. Don't stress if they're a little over salted, it's probably a good thing!

Silverbeet!

My housemate has a friend who grows abundant amounts of silverbeet in her yard and every time they visit each other we get adorned with a mountain of the stuff. I'd never tried it until the first time she brought it home and I loved it! So delicious and nutty, not what I was expecting at all. I sort of imagined a watery bland leaf with a bitter nasty flavour, but that's just the anti veg child in me coming out.

We had so much that I thought I should utilise it well and make something that required a large amount. I tossed around some ideas and then remembered a failed attempt at quiche I had long ago and wanted to redeem myself. Okay, so I didn't make quiche, but turned it in to a silverbeet-rich baked frittata (I guess you could call it).

The beet was mostly leafy with small stems which is preferable to me, I shredded it and tossed it in olive oil with sliced mushrooms and some saute'd garlic and  spring onions to wilt it a little and mixed it up with beaten eggs, cream salt and pepper before covering with a nice layer of parmesan and baking ;)

 

Silverbeet and Mushroom Frittata

Serves 6

1 large bunch silverbeet, sliced
500g mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 spring onions, sliced
olive oil
4 large eggs
150ml cream
150ml milk
1/2 cup parmesan, gruyere or cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste


Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Slice silverbeet, musrooms, garlic and spring onions. Saute garlic, onions and mushrooms until mushrooms begin to cook. Add silverbeet and toss until wilted.

(I do this in the dish I'm about to bake in) Mix eggs, cream, milk and salt/pepper in the dish an add beet/mushroom mix. Carefully stir together to combine and make sure the beet is distributed evenly/there are no air pockets.

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 40 minutes or until set in the middle and cheese is browned on top.

Makes a nice lunch served with a simple side salad.

Better than Bolognese

One day I had absolutely nothing to do so I ended up lounging around watching Jamie Oliver TV shows on my computer. It was great! But it made me sooo hungry. I was inspired to make a 30 minute meal, but you know, it's pretty much impossible to do if you don't have the insane chopping skills of Jamie.

I figured since I'd taken inspiration from this one dish he makes on 30 minute meals and makes 4 in that whole 30 minutes that this one would be easy peasy and take no time at all. So it didn't take that long, but I think I managed it in about 40... Mostly because I have a silly electric stove which doesn't like getting hot and had to wait for the ingredients to brown.

Anywho, it was a delight to eat! I got hooked and was glad I made such a large amount so I could still have it for the next 3 days. The sweetness and aniseed flavours from the balsamic and fennel seeds are addictive. I didn't think I was going to like it because I used to be a sweet-in-savoury food snob, but now this is my go-to when I want something tomatoey but am totally over plain old bolognese. Don't be put off by me saying it's sweet, it's not like a sugary sweet it's very mildly sweet with a nice mellow tang.

Pork, Fennel and Balsamic Pasta

Serves 4 large or 6 small.

500g g pork mince
500g g pasta of your choice
1 carrot
1 brown onion
4 cloves garlic
2 celery stalks
1 tspn fennel seeds
1 pinch salt and pepper
1 splash olive oil
1 700ml jar of tomato passata

Method

Place carrot, onion, garlic and celery in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped.
Saute over med-high heat in a large fry pan with olive oil.

Once the mix begins to caramelise, push to one side and add the pork mince and brown.
Give it a good lug of balsamic – about 3 tbsp and let it sizzle off the tart vinegar tang and leave behind the sticky sweet balsamic taste.

Season generously with salt and pepper and add the fennel seeds.

Add the passata and simmer gently, tasting and seasoning with salt and pepper again if required.

Drain your pasta but reserve some cooking liquid and toss it all together with the sauce (this is why you need a large pan) which will help to emulsify the sauce and stop that horrible water-in-the-bottom-of-your-bowl problem.

Enjoy!

Optional: Toss through some fresh chopped parsley and garnish with grated parmesan.

Pulled Pork!

Sooo I had a bit of an incident with this recipe. I spent a whole day roasting and simmering the pork, then made a lovely coleslaw accompaniment, thoroughly enjoyed the meal with some good company and accidentally deleted all but one photo from my camera!

Quite devastated by this and obviously it detracts from the quality of the post but I just couldn't not post it! And I'm not ready to go through all of that again any time soon; especially because I still have some in the freezer ;)

Here is the lone solider... coleslaw sadly absent.

No pulled pork will ever live up to the BBQ goodness I had at Hot Wings on Queen st. in Toronto, however, this isn't so bad!

Roasted Pulled Pork

Serves 6

1.5-2kg pork shoulder roast
1 cup beef broth
1 cup of your favourite BBQ sauce (I like anything smokey)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
6 hamburger buns (I won't lie, nothing comes as close as those cheap soft white store bought ones)

rub;
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil

coleslaw;
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
3 carrots, shredded/grated
2 spring onions, finely sliced (optional)
1/4 cup whole egg mayonnaise
1/4 cup greek/natural yoghurt
2 tbsp white wine/cider vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper


Pre-heat oven to 150ºc. Rub spices and oil in to a paste and cover the pork roast. Roast in oven for 5-7 hours until tender and falling apart.

Remove pork and place on a board, shred apart with two forks and place in a pot with sauces and beef stock. Add more/less stock if it's too runny/thick. Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer on a low heat for 1-2 hours; it's reasonably flexible, whatever suits your time constraints.

Meanwhile, shred cabbage, carrot and spring onions for coleslaw and whisk dressing ingredients in a separate bowl.

Toss together coleslaw and serve on top of the sticky sweet pork between two toasted hamburger buns!

Squid and Lentils

Not as gross as it sounds, in fact it's a lentil salad with pan-fried calamari rings.

I was home late from work and wanted something more than just a can of beans. Incidentally part of this did come out of a can - although if I'd had time I'd have cooked the lentils but I was time poor, and feeling pretty lazy. You could throw in some feta, goats cheese or nuts with the salad, whatever you please!

Calamari Lentil and Pumpkin Salad w/Tahini Lemon Dressing

2 main or 4 side serves

1 400g tin or 200g dried puy lentils
2 (scant) cups cubed pumpkin
1 cup (tightly packed) baby spinach
2 spring onions, thinly sliced

200g squid tubes, sliced

dressing;
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp tahini
salt and pepper to taste


Boil pumpkin (or roast!) and/or lentils in salted water until tender but not mushy.

Let cool slightly and combine salad ingredients in a bowl with dressing ingredients; toss to combine. (whisk dressing together in a separate bowl first if you're worried about the tahini being lumpy)

Saute calamari in a pan with a little olive oil for a minute or two so - until they turn from translucent to just white. Season with a little salt and pepper and take off heat. Let sit for a further 30seconds or so and let the residual heat do the rest of the work.

Toss through lentils or perch on top and don't forget any potential calamari pan juices to go over your salad ;)

Vegetable Lasagna

My housemate is vegetarian so we often eat vegetarian meals. We took a trip to the Adelaide Central Markets recently and bought ingredients for lasagna. It turned out sooo delicious however the photos are pretty average because you can't see all the layers of veg! :( We used eggplant, zuchinni, pumpkin and mushrooms all pre-roasted and baked between chewy pasta sheets with a tomato sauce and dotted with pieces of salty Danish feta. Mmm!

Lasagna!

Serves 4-6

1 large zuchinni
1 large eggplant
300g button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
500g pumkin
1 700ml jar tomato passata (tomato puree)
1 cup crumbled Danish feta
250g dried lasagna sheets
olive oil
salt and pepper


Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Slice eggplant (around 5mm), pumkin and zuchinni (around 2mm thin) (easily done with a mandoline), lay on to baking trays (you'll need a few) and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15mins or until softened and lightly browned but not fully cooked. They will further cook in the lasagna.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms and chopped garlic in some olive oil and set aside.

In a lasagna pan assemble layers of roasted eggplant, zuchinni, mushroom and pumpkin as you see fit adding tomato puree in with layers to moisten (you might not need it all) and distributing the feta evenly. Make sure to leave a little to sprinkle on top though!

Turn oven down to 180 and bake covered for 40-45mins or until pasta is cooked but not soggy.

Leave to sit for 15mins before cutting and serving!

Tip: The pan I use for lasagna makes 6 perfectly portioned slices but if you only have a larger pan then you may want to increase the amount of ingredients so that it's nice and thick!

Two Bite Tortellini

I had a friend coming over for dinner so I decided to get a little fancy and make some tortellini. I'm pretty sure I folded them wrong but I think they look adorable and close enough, haha. I only realised after that I'd done it wrong the whole time. Also, I accidentally kind of sort of made them jumbo sized so to cover up my mistake I've renamed them two-bite tortellini. I actually quite enjoy the larger size because you get a nice big mouthful of the tasty filling!

I filled mine with a really tasty chicken and leek filling made with a "chicken mousse" it was somewhat experimental but turned out fantastic!

Pasta tip: Make sure you roll your pasta out very thin as it will expand when it cooks and all those little folds will end up being tough if your dough is too thick, 7 or 8 on my pasta machine worked a treat.

Pasta

100g/1 cup plain flour to 1 egg. (of course this varies with size of egg/humidity etc.)

I used 400g flour and 3 XL eggs plus a splash of water as needed. This made enough for about 6 serves of tortellini although the rule is that 100g is per person, I'm sure this would be the case for un-filled pasta.

Combine most of the egg to the flour and knead adding more flour/egg/water if necessary. Knead for a few minutes until it becomes smooth. Don't worry if it seems a little dry or tough at first once the dough rests it will become much softer/stickier and malleable. Set aside and rest for at least 30mins to a few hours. If you're leaving it for more than 30mins or so or it's a warm day pop it in the fridge.

Knead lightly then pass through a pasta machine on the first setting folding over a few times, slowly increase the setting and dust sheets of pasta/set aside. 

Filling

Serves 6

1 large leek
300g (one medium size) chicken breast
1 egg white
75ml cream
salt and pepper

Finely slice/chop leek and saute in butter and oil until softened.

Roughly chop chicken and place in a food processor, process until it forms a paste, add egg white and process further slowly adding in the cream. Season with salt and pepper and process once more to combine.

Stir through saute'd leeks.

 Making the Tortellini

So, I forgot to take photos of the construction process so I will try to explain it the best I can. Cut the pasta in to approx. 10x10cm squares and place a small teaspoon of filling in the lower left quarter. Fold the opposite corner over and seal shut (if needed use a little water or that leftover egg yolk).

Roll the filling pouch over so it is ontop of the sealed corner then sit the pasta so that the pointy sealed corner is up horizontally and the two sides are flat on the bench.

Pull each side flap around away from the corner side then pinch together.

Boil them in a large pot of well salted water and once they rise leave them for another minute or two to ensure the filling is cooked. Just cut one in half to check if you're unsure.

Tip: They also freeze really well! Freeze un-cooked and just plop them in to the water and add another minute or so to the cook time.

I tossed mine in a Sugo d'Arrosto which I got from my book "The Man Who Ate Everything" by Jeffrey Steingarten.

I'm the worst at taking photos because I just get so caught up in the making/eating process. I'll get a snap of one cut in half next time I bust out the frozen batch.

Malaysian Style Pork and Eggplant Curry

This is my favourite curry at the moment to make (and eat), it is soooo delicious and so insanely easy!

I know a lot of curry pastes call for labor intensive crushing in a pestle and mortar but every time I've made this I've just used my trusty old mini food processor and whiz it all together.

Once you make the paste, marinate it with the meat then when you're ready to go cook it all up in a pot with the coconut milk and cinnamon sticks. You can simplify it even further by using chicken for quicker cooking - which I have tried with great success or make it vegetarian/vegan by substituting with tempeh or tofu - also tried and v. delicious (and soy for fish sauce, unless you have the veg. type available).

I found the recipe online somewhere and ended up making some adaptations, then lost the original recipe and had to re-write it from memory (even after some intense googling I couldn't find it again) so I think I can safely assume (hope) that it's been personalised enough for me to take the credits.

Recipe

Serves 6

1kg pork cubed (I like forequarter because it's cheap and has no bones)
1 cup chicken stock
1 400ml can coconut milk or cream
1 large/2 small eggplant cubed
1 1/2 cinnamon sticks

For the paste:

1 onion or 6 scallions/spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sized knob of ginger
3 tsp of turmeric
6 birds eye chilies (more or less to taste, or chili flakes if you can't get fresh)
4 tbsp of Chinese five spice
1 1/2 tbsp shrimp paste/fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the bulkier paste ingredients like ginger, onions and garlic in to more manageable pieces (to make sure you don't end up with a big chunk of ginger)

Whiz all paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth. If you only have a large food processor I would recommend either doubling the recipe and freezing half the paste or busting out the pestle and mortar.

Mix paste together with pork and set in the refrigerator for a few hours/overnight.

Saute in large pot until fragrant and paste is cooked. Add cinnamon sticks coconut milk/cream and stock, if sauce is too thick add some water/extra stock. Bring to boil then simmer for 1-2 hours depending on cut of pork or until pork is tender.

Add cubed eggplant 20mins before end of cooking time and simmer until soft.

Remove cinnamon sticks and serve over steamed rice!


Tip: If you're wanting to cut down on cooking time, substitute pork for chicken thighs and add eggplant along with coconut milk etc. cook until eggplant is soft and serve!

Gnocchi!

For me, I used to always be afraid of making gnocchi, and I remember trying it once or twice when I was younger and failing miserably. I tried all sorts of methods of cooking the potato as well as adding egg but they all seemed to be too ridiculous to bother with.

Eventually I figured out that all you really need is two ingredients (well, salt and pepper as well) but if you do the right things to them it can be super easy and adding flavour in the way of herbage/spice to change things up is also a breeze.

Also, if you don't want to read my ramblings about ingredients then scroll to the bottom for the recipe!

Potato

So, potato. I know everyone says to use specific types of potato when making gnocchi, but I've tried with a few different varieties and none have ever been bad, I don't usually use anything fancy or expensive. Essentially anything that is drier and waxy, you don't want the watery kind they'll make it all sloppy and you'll have to add too much flour turning them chewy.

I also recently experimented with sweet potato which turned out to be a great success. The key to getting the potato (any potato) right that I've found is making sure they stay dry! I roast them whole perched on a mound of salt to draw out the moisture. For medium sized potatoes about an hour on 180 does the trick, for the sweet potato a little longer because they're much bigger - but it all depends on size.

Tip: If they are huge and you're worried about them taking forever to roast invest in some metal skewers and stab them through the middle before you put them in the oven, it'll help cook them from the inside out as well as outside in.

Flour

I use all purpose plain white flour, make sure to not overwork the dough when adding the flour otherwise you'll get the gluten going and the gnocchi will turn gummy and sticky. The less flour the better so it's always going to be a moist dough, make sure you have a well floured surface to handle the dough and cut the gnocchi.

I haven't tried gluten free yet but I'm thinking that could be pretty successful though. I have some spare GF flour in the pantry so I'll report back once I test it.

Salt and Pepper

Need I say more. At least salt, otherwise they're just going to taste bland. Any additions such as chopped herbs, pesto, tomato paste or nutmeg can be added with the flour.

Tools

A potato ricer will yield the best results, otherwise a mouli or drum sieve are also viable options. If you're using a mouli however you will have to skin the potatoes while hot before passing through. Avoid mashing as it breaks the pockets of starch and causes the potato to become gluey and also doesn't allow the potatoes to dry like ricing does through increasing surface area. 

Ratio

I usually have a rough ratio on how much flour to potato but just add until the dough feels good and pop a test piece in to some boiling water as I go along. It's the best way I've found guarantee that they'll work out, add the flour a little at a time also to make sure you don't add too much!

From my findings however,

1kg of Potato (uncooked) / 1 1/2 - 2 Cups Flour

Basic Potato Gnocchi

Makes approx 4 large serves or 6 small.

1kg Waxy Potatoes
1 1/2 - 2 Cups Flour
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 180 and roast potatoes whole on a shallow tray perched atop a bed of salt for 45-60mins for medium sized potatoes, more for larger.

Remove potatoes from oven, brush off salt from bottoms and chop in half. Place skin side up in a potato ricer or a over a drum sieve and pass through.While still warm add half the flour and fold through gently, then sprinkle the other half on a clean surface and incorporate (you may need more or less depending on how dry/wet your potatoes are).

Chop dough in to manageable portions and roll each out in to skinny logs. Chop each log in to bite sized pieces and place gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water. When they rise to the top remove, dress and eat! I like them best tossed in butter and topped with grated parmesan.

I made these ones with a rocket and walnut pesto which you can find here!