Gnocchi with a difference!

I recently pulled out my volume of Antonio Carluccio's 'Southern Italian Feast.' For me, both the pictures and the recipes in this book conjur up memories of hot afternoons spent in my grandmother's country kitchen, the smell of the bread wafting in from the wood-fired oven and being sent out to pick tomatos, basil or whatever else was needed. The book contains all manner of authentic meals that my own Southern Italian nonna might have made.

A great thing about Southern Italian food is that it is generally pretty simple, seasonal, and full of character and flavour. This is reflected in Mr C's recipes which are generally simple and short. It's a bonus because it keeps the meals authentic, but also allows pretty much any cook, no matter how inept, to make good. It's pretty hard to go wrong as the instructions are clear and there isn't a flowery description in sight!

And now to the gnocchi. If you've always thought that gnocchi is a potato based dish, think again. I've been dying to try an alternative for a while, and turned my hand to 'panelle al forno' or baked chickpea gnocchi.

I was surprised how dead easy and satisfying this dish is to make. It looks impressive too, with very little effort. It basically requires you to boil some water with some salt and fresh parsley, and then gradually whisk in some besan (chickpea) flour. My faithful old whisk died on the weekend so I resorted to sifting it in while whisking with a large fork. This wasn't too bad but I did get some lumps. With the baking, the lumps seemed to disappear, or perhaps we just didn't notice because the gnocchi was so delicious.

I served this with a very simple tomato sauce - softened half a small brown onion in some olive oil along with one clove of garlic, poured in about 500ml pasata and a handful of chopped parsley. I would have used basil if I'd had any, but I think it will be a while before I see anything decent in the shops, and even longer before mine grows. Salt to taste - bear in mind there's plenty of salt in the gnocchi already.

Panelle al Forno

'Antonio Carluccio's Southern Italian Feast' p65

Ingredients

1.5 lt water

15g salt

2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh parsley

250g chickpea flour

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

50g butter (I used about 20g butter at most. With the olive oil I didn't see the need for more)

40g freshly grated parmesan cheese

freshly ground black pepper

Put the water in a pan with the salt and parsley and bring to the boil. Gradually pour in the chickpea flour, beating vigorously with a wire whisk to prevent lumps forming. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring, then pour the mixture on to an oiled surface and spread out in a layer 1cm thick. Leave to cool and set.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, 400 F, Gas Mark 6

Cut the chickpea mixture into circles 4cm in diameter and arrange them on an oiled baking tray, overlapping them slightly. Dot with the butter and sprinkle the nutmeg, Parmesan cheese and black pepper on the surface. Bake for 10 minutes, then place under a hot grill to brown the top.

Oh, and Mr C encourages you to use the off-cuts in some sauce so as not to waste food!

Seriously, what could be simpler???