Blue Cheese Spinach Gnocchi

Serves 6
600g floury Potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
350g Spinach, trimmed and washed
150g Flour, plus extra for dusting
1 Egg yolk
Sea Salt
freshly ground Black Pepper
75g Butter
100g Bleu d’Élizabeth Cheese
a bunch of Basil

Place the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain, return to the pan over a low heat and, shaking the pan, allow the excess moisture to steam off. Mash the potatoes until smooth.
Cook the spinach in a large pan over a medium heat with no added moisture, mixing constantly until wilted and soft. When cooked, place in a clean kitchen cloth. Gather the corners together and twist tightly to squeeze out every last drop of moisture, then finely chop the spinach.
Place the mashed potatoes, spinach, flour, egg yolk and seasoning in a large bowl and mix until evenly blended and a soft pliable dough forms. Dust your hands -and a board or tray with flour. Take small nuggets of the dough, roll it into balls and place them on the board. You should end up with about 60. Using a fork, gently flatten each ball, allowing the tines of the fork to make indentations across the top.
Heat a large pan of water just to boiling point then reduce the heat. To the simmering water add just enough gnocchi so that they have room to roam around, and cook for 2 minutes or until they rise to the surface. Remove and drain well, and cook the next batch.
Heat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Lightly butter a large low-sided ovenproof dish.
Place a layer of the cooked gnocchi in the dish, then crumble in some of the blue cheese. Continue to layer the gnocchi and cheese, adding seasoning and the remaining butter cut up into little pieces as you go. Cook until golden and bubbling: about 10 minutes. Scatter torn basil leaves over the top and serve.

Spaghetti with Spinach and Cheese

2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
bunched spinach, cleaned and torn
2 tomatoes, chopped
handful minced basil
100 g mozzarella cheese, shredded part-skim
¼ tsp black pepper
200 g spaghetti
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
Heat Olive Oil in skillet; heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the spaghetti al dente.

Add the spinach to the shallots, tomatoes and basil; toss lightly. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered until the spinach is wilted, 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Add the mozzarella cheese and pepper; toss to combine.

Place 100g spaghetti on each of 2 plates. Top with the spinach mixture and serve, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.

Spinach Risotto

Ingredients:

1 bunch washed and chopped Spinach.
3 cups of Vegetable Broth.
1 cup of water.
1 cup of Onion, finely chopped.
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil.
1 cup of Long Grain Rice.
1/3 cup of dry white wine .
1 teaspoon of Pernod (anise flavoured liquor, optional).
Salt and black pepper, to taste.
½ cup of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.
Preparation Instructions:
Cook the spinach according to the instructions on its packaging and drain well.
Allow the spinach to cool completely and squeeze dry.
In a saucepan, bring the chicken broth and water to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.
In a large saucepan, cook the onion in the olive oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened.
Add the rice, stirring until each grain is coated with oil.
Add the dry white and cook, covered, over moderately high heat, stirring, until the wine has been absorbed.
Add about ¾ cup of simmering broth and cook over moderately high heat, stirring constantly, until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth, about ¾ cup of at a time, cooking, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until about half of broth has been added. Reduce the heat to moderate if needed to keep the risotto at a strong simmer. Keep adding broth until the rice is tender and creamy looking but still al dente (about 18 minutes).
Stir the spinach and Pernod into the rice and add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the pan from heat and stir in half of the grated Parmesan.
Serve risotto with the remaining Parmesan.

Wilted Spinach with Nutmeg Butter

This recipe is GEO triple tested! A great tip for storing spinach or any greens, if you will not be using them right away, is to wash and dry them completely and put them in a container. If you do not have a salad spinner, you can wrap them in a tea towel and include a paper towel to absorb the moisture in the container.

Makes 8 servings
ingredients
1 Bunch flat-leaf spinach, coarse stems discarded
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or 1 tsp dry

Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat until foam subsides, then stir in nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and spinach. Cook, tossing with tongs, until wilted.