It's the lament of the 21st century really isn't it? The seemingly endless to do list leaves us having to schedule time to actually enjoy life.
I realise that I'm in a much better position that most people. Without children, I only have myself to think about in the morning (I've given up on my boyfriend). We both have enough underwear to last for two weeks without needing to do any laundry.
Most days, I'm in the office sometime before 8.30am. It's not too early and it only takes me an hour or so to get to work at the moment so I can't really complain too much. Most nights, I manage to make it home by 9pm. My boyfriend will quite often get home around the same time although he'll often have four or five more hours of work to do whereas I will 'only' have a few jobs around the flat and some blog stuff to do. Don't get me wrong, I love my job (however uncool that might be for an accountant) but I do sometimes feel like I'm a stranger to everyone in my life apart from the guy I sit next to at work.
Life is so ridiculous at the moment that I can't remember the last time that my boyfriend and I went to bed at the same time. During the week, I am normally first to bed with a vain plea to my boyfriend not to stay up too late. I'm normally dimly aware of him coming to bed in the early hours of the morning as he survives yet another 18-hour day. At the weekends, I am so desperate to cram everything in that I will often stay up late while he will fall asleep on the sofa watching TV until I force him to bed.
Given that we are ships that pass in the night at the moment, I think it's really important that we try to sit down for twenty minutes, half an hour if I can keep hold of him for that long, to eat a meal together every night.
I find it hard though to summon up the enthusiasm for anything more complicated than turning on the oven of an evening. Our meals have to be quick to prepare too; on the table by 9.30 so that we can both get back to what we feel like we really need to be doing.
This for nundari fits the bill perfectly. In taste and texture they are very similar to potato gnocchi but as they are made with ricotta, rather than potato, the dish foes from raw ingredients to ready-to-eat in a matter of minutes. Five if you work quickly, certainly no more than ten. I often have portions of a tomato pasta sauce in the freezer which I can defrost in the time it takes to make the gnocchi or I just serve it with brown butter and a sprinkling of parmesan.
The recipe was given to me by a twitter and blogging friend, Toby Kennedy. Toby is ridiculously talented. He takes photos, makes videos, plays music but, above all, he loves food and Italian food in particular. He's also about to branch out into making and selling his own food and I can't wait to try it!
~
Ndundari (Serves 3-4)
Recipe from Toby Kennedy
Ingredients
- 200g ricotta
- 165g plain flour
- 2 egg yolks
- Pinch of black pepper
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- Mix all the ingredients into a dough but don't overwork the mixture (no more than 5 minutes of kneading).
- Separate your dough into two balls and roll each into a sausage shape on a lightly floured worktop.
- Cut into gnocci-sized pieces and cook in a pan of boiling salted water. They should float to the top once they are cooked.
- The gnocchi can also be frozen and cooked straight from the freezer.
17 comments:
These look simple and delicious, will add them to my bookmark list! :)
I hear ya on eating dinner together, I make us do the same no matter what. In this economy I'm happy to have a job but some days are really a slog. I hope you see a light at the end of the tunnel soon! And until then, this is a mighty fine dinner to get you through-- I have a similar one in my repertoire!
Oh my gosh, I hope this works for me, otherwise I might have to give up on gnocchi forever ;) I'll let you know how mine turns out.. and ps. important to take time away from the hustle & bustle :) x
pps. yours looks great!!
Hey Kathryn - these look ACE!
Thank you so much for your kind words, I fear you over-sell me, but it's nice to know the recipe worked for you!
I quite often make these with a tub of Philadelphia - it works great. And of course once you've got the hang of them, you can do potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach - pretty much anything! I did roast celeriac that came out great - http://thetobykennedy.blogspot.com/2011/10/roast-celeriac-gnocchi.html
Thanks again for the mention, but I think you get most of the credit for making them look so beautiful! ;)
Toby. xx
Oh goodness you work so much! I feel like a slacker after having read this. You're right though--both about the part how it's the 21st century lament and the fact that we need to sit down together with people we love for at least a little bit each day. I need to remind myself that sometimes.
Hope you manage to find some solace, Kathryn--these gnocchi look like a good ticket for that though.
Sitting down together to eat a meal is so important - my mum always made us do it as a family and it's a tradition that's stuck with me. There's something about London that means there really aren't enough hours in the day, but it does sound like you're making the most of every one! :-)
These look both delicious and easy (sorry - thats not a very inspired comment but its late!) . Having a lovely time looking through your blog and especially the best choc chip cookies ever which I think I have to try! Any idea how this recipe might work with cornmeal instead of flour!? xox
I'm loving the new blog design! Great new look with lovely sophisticated design and colors. Yum.
And yum for these ricotta dumplings too! I think I am going to make these with soup next time I make soup.
@Em - I don't think that cornmeal would be a straight swap for the flour because it behaves so differently but there are some recipes out there for gnocchi made with cornmeal although obviously I can't vouch for them! I'm going to try making these with a GF flour mix so if you're interested, I'll let you know how they turn out!
Fun! I love dumplings. And the ingredient list is so short!! perfect!
"enough underwear to last for 2 weeks" hahaha!
Most definitely going to try these, they look great!
I've only started making my own gnocchi this year and now I keep looking for new recipes to tru. These ricotta dumplings sound perfect!
I get the sentiment entirely. Up until recently, I was working long days, but my boyfriend was unemployed, so I saw him whenever I had the free time. He just got a job, which is amazing for him... but not so much for us seeing more of one another! Luckily, we, like you, sit down together for dinner every night.
I understand! My husband works 14 to 17 hour days at the office and has been working six days a week - it's hard. I'm lonely - Andrew who is 7 and is autistic misses him horribly - it sucks. We try to have Sunday meals together - all of them. Andrew and I sit down every night - if I don't eat when he does at 4 or 5 -- I sit with him and talk - it is very important. Those dumplings look yummy. Jenny (@icywit)
@Jenny - I think in some ways it's worse (probably not the right word) if you have children because it's so hard to single-parent most of the time and it makes it seem even more lonely. It is so important to try and make the time to sit down together.
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