Last week, I had a very interesting few days in Sligo at St Angela’s College – the National Centre for Excellence in Home Economics, and the only college in Ireland where you can train to become a Home Economics teacher. I was asked to join the judging team for the junior and senior Healthy Home Chefs competition, which is for those aged 13-16 from across the country. This year’s competition had a whopping 600 entries, which had to be whittled down to just 32 finalists. Those finalists gathered in the learning kitchens at St Angela’s to cook for the judges. It was an exciting competition.
The finalists came from all over – Wexford, Cork, Sligo, Roscommon, Dublin and Monaghan, just to name a few, and the judging team was led by Dr Amanda McCloat, who is president of St Angela’s College and head of the Home Economics department.
To say the judges were impressed by the excellent work we saw and tasted is a massive understatement. The prizes were provided by the Dunnes Stores Simply Better brand and the winners will be coming to my cookery school for a session – something I am really looking forward to. The task was the same for each finalist: they each had to cook a healthy dish with two portions. They had 90 minutes to complete their dish. Each finalist showed great skill and all worked calmly and in an organised way. They would have been practising at home for family and friends before cooking for the judges, so they were all well-prepared. Typical of the meals provided on the day, one finalist made burgers, buns, potato wedges, salad and salad dressing, all from scratch. The air fryer got used quite a bit, and there were some very good choices made in terms of methodology because they all made quite complicated meals in under 90 minutes – no mean feat. There weren’t quite equal amounts of male and female finalists, but it was a lot closer than in my own day. I would say it was around 60% to 40% in favour of the girls.
Overall, the quality of the food cooked was excellent; there was a great amount of variety in terms of ingredients and flavours utilised. The young Irish palate is getting more adventurous by the day, I think.
With that in mind, perhaps there is a young, budding chef in your own home who might like to try out this gnocchi recipe with a tomato cream sauce. This is a quick and easy vegetarian meal, but it is hearty and satisfying, thanks to the pillowy, cheesy gnocchi.
Italian-style
Classic gnocchi are made with potato or semolina, and these are fairly easy to find in any Irish supermarket. Making the classic from scratch can be tricky and requires some skill, but this ‘cheats’ gnocchi is very forgiving and comes together easily. It’s a great option for a quick weeknight dinner.
I will say that it is very important to use the best tinned tomatoes when you’re making an Italian-style tomato sauce. San Marzano tomatoes have plenty of natural sweetness, which means you can make a delicious sauce with them without having to add any sugar to balance out the flavour. If you want to add some extra protein to this dish, try the gnocchi with chicken, prawns or even some Parma ham.
No matter where you are, Italian food is always the most crowd-pleasing kind of food. We all love our pasta and all of the regional variations you’ll find throughout Italy are delicious, so you just can’t go wrong. I was with another group of teenagers recently, and they said that pasta was by far their favourite thing to cook.
This lasagne recipe is so easy to put together, thanks to the use of shop-bought spinach and ricotta ravioli. You simply need to layer the ravioli with a good tomato sauce and a few other bits. Once baked, no one will be able to tell you used ravioli instead of lasagne sheets.
Cheat’s gnocchi with tomato cream sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients:
For the tomato cream sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
400g can good-quality Italian plum tomatoes
Pinch of sugar
4 tbsp cream
For the gnocchi:
500g fresh ricotta
150g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
40g freshly grated Parmesan
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 To make the tomato cream sauce, heat the oil over medium heat in a small pan. Add the onion and sauté for 3–4 minutes, until softened but not coloured.
2 Tip in the tomatoes and add the sugar and seasoning. Simmer for 4–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced and thickened. Then blitz with a hand blender until smooth and return to the pan.
3 Meanwhile, bring a large pan of boiling salted water to a rolling boil. To make the gnocchi, place the ricotta, flour, Parmesan, eggs and ½ teaspoon of salt in a bowl.
4 Mix well to combine, then divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece on a lightly floured work surface into a rope 2cm wide and 30cm long. Then cut into 2.5cm pieces.
5 Cook the gnocchi in small batches in
the boiling water for 2–3 minutes, until they are cooked through and floating
on the surface. Drain well and keep
warm.
6 To finish the tomato cream sauce, stir in the cream and allow to warm through but not to boil. Season to taste.
7 Divide the gnocchi among warmed wide-rimmed bowls and spoon over some of the tomato cream sauce. The rest can be served in a jug on the table.
8 Add a grinding of black pepper and scatter over some Parmesan to serve.
Spinach and ricotta lasagne and Cheat's gnocchi with tomato Cream Sauce by Neven Maguire. \ Philip Doyle
Spinach and ricotta lasagne
Serves 6–8
Ingredients:
4 x 300g packets of fresh spinach
and ricotta ravioli
12 slices prosciutto
2 x 125g balls of buffalo mozzarella, sliced
25g freshly grated Parmesan
Lightly dressed mixed salad, to serve
For the tomato sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 x 400g cans good-quality plum tomatoes
Good pinch of sugar
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C. To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil in a wide pan over a medium heat and gently sauté the onion for a couple of minutes, until softened but not coloured. Tip in the tomatoes, then add the sugar and season to taste.
2 Mash down with a potato masher, then bring to a boil and boil fast for about
5 minutes to reduce and thicken.
Add the basil leaves, then blitz until smooth with a hand blender.
3 Cook the ravioli for 2–3 minutes in a large pan of boiling salted water or according to the packet instructions, then drain well.
4 Arrange half of the ravioli in the bottom of a 2.5L capacity ovenproof dish and cover with half of the tomato sauce. Add a layer of the prosciutto slices and then repeat with the remaining ravioli, tomato sauce and prosciutto. Cover with the mozzarella and sprinkle the Parmesan on top.
5 Bake the lasagne in the oven for 15 minutes, then quickly flash under the grill until the mozzarella and Parmesan are bubbling and golden.
6 Serve straight to the table with a separate bowl of salad.
Read more
Neven Maguire: new hook on Irish seafood
Neven Maguire: the versatility of Irish lamb
Last week, I had a very interesting few days in Sligo at St Angela’s College – the National Centre for Excellence in Home Economics, and the only college in Ireland where you can train to become a Home Economics teacher. I was asked to join the judging team for the junior and senior Healthy Home Chefs competition, which is for those aged 13-16 from across the country. This year’s competition had a whopping 600 entries, which had to be whittled down to just 32 finalists. Those finalists gathered in the learning kitchens at St Angela’s to cook for the judges. It was an exciting competition.
The finalists came from all over – Wexford, Cork, Sligo, Roscommon, Dublin and Monaghan, just to name a few, and the judging team was led by Dr Amanda McCloat, who is president of St Angela’s College and head of the Home Economics department.
To say the judges were impressed by the excellent work we saw and tasted is a massive understatement. The prizes were provided by the Dunnes Stores Simply Better brand and the winners will be coming to my cookery school for a session – something I am really looking forward to. The task was the same for each finalist: they each had to cook a healthy dish with two portions. They had 90 minutes to complete their dish. Each finalist showed great skill and all worked calmly and in an organised way. They would have been practising at home for family and friends before cooking for the judges, so they were all well-prepared. Typical of the meals provided on the day, one finalist made burgers, buns, potato wedges, salad and salad dressing, all from scratch. The air fryer got used quite a bit, and there were some very good choices made in terms of methodology because they all made quite complicated meals in under 90 minutes – no mean feat. There weren’t quite equal amounts of male and female finalists, but it was a lot closer than in my own day. I would say it was around 60% to 40% in favour of the girls.
Overall, the quality of the food cooked was excellent; there was a great amount of variety in terms of ingredients and flavours utilised. The young Irish palate is getting more adventurous by the day, I think.
With that in mind, perhaps there is a young, budding chef in your own home who might like to try out this gnocchi recipe with a tomato cream sauce. This is a quick and easy vegetarian meal, but it is hearty and satisfying, thanks to the pillowy, cheesy gnocchi.
Italian-style
Classic gnocchi are made with potato or semolina, and these are fairly easy to find in any Irish supermarket. Making the classic from scratch can be tricky and requires some skill, but this ‘cheats’ gnocchi is very forgiving and comes together easily. It’s a great option for a quick weeknight dinner.
I will say that it is very important to use the best tinned tomatoes when you’re making an Italian-style tomato sauce. San Marzano tomatoes have plenty of natural sweetness, which means you can make a delicious sauce with them without having to add any sugar to balance out the flavour. If you want to add some extra protein to this dish, try the gnocchi with chicken, prawns or even some Parma ham.
No matter where you are, Italian food is always the most crowd-pleasing kind of food. We all love our pasta and all of the regional variations you’ll find throughout Italy are delicious, so you just can’t go wrong. I was with another group of teenagers recently, and they said that pasta was by far their favourite thing to cook.
This lasagne recipe is so easy to put together, thanks to the use of shop-bought spinach and ricotta ravioli. You simply need to layer the ravioli with a good tomato sauce and a few other bits. Once baked, no one will be able to tell you used ravioli instead of lasagne sheets.
Cheat’s gnocchi with tomato cream sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients:
For the tomato cream sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
400g can good-quality Italian plum tomatoes
Pinch of sugar
4 tbsp cream
For the gnocchi:
500g fresh ricotta
150g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
40g freshly grated Parmesan
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 To make the tomato cream sauce, heat the oil over medium heat in a small pan. Add the onion and sauté for 3–4 minutes, until softened but not coloured.
2 Tip in the tomatoes and add the sugar and seasoning. Simmer for 4–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced and thickened. Then blitz with a hand blender until smooth and return to the pan.
3 Meanwhile, bring a large pan of boiling salted water to a rolling boil. To make the gnocchi, place the ricotta, flour, Parmesan, eggs and ½ teaspoon of salt in a bowl.
4 Mix well to combine, then divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece on a lightly floured work surface into a rope 2cm wide and 30cm long. Then cut into 2.5cm pieces.
5 Cook the gnocchi in small batches in
the boiling water for 2–3 minutes, until they are cooked through and floating
on the surface. Drain well and keep
warm.
6 To finish the tomato cream sauce, stir in the cream and allow to warm through but not to boil. Season to taste.
7 Divide the gnocchi among warmed wide-rimmed bowls and spoon over some of the tomato cream sauce. The rest can be served in a jug on the table.
8 Add a grinding of black pepper and scatter over some Parmesan to serve.
Spinach and ricotta lasagne and Cheat's gnocchi with tomato Cream Sauce by Neven Maguire. \ Philip Doyle
Spinach and ricotta lasagne
Serves 6–8
Ingredients:
4 x 300g packets of fresh spinach
and ricotta ravioli
12 slices prosciutto
2 x 125g balls of buffalo mozzarella, sliced
25g freshly grated Parmesan
Lightly dressed mixed salad, to serve
For the tomato sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 x 400g cans good-quality plum tomatoes
Good pinch of sugar
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C. To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil in a wide pan over a medium heat and gently sauté the onion for a couple of minutes, until softened but not coloured. Tip in the tomatoes, then add the sugar and season to taste.
2 Mash down with a potato masher, then bring to a boil and boil fast for about
5 minutes to reduce and thicken.
Add the basil leaves, then blitz until smooth with a hand blender.
3 Cook the ravioli for 2–3 minutes in a large pan of boiling salted water or according to the packet instructions, then drain well.
4 Arrange half of the ravioli in the bottom of a 2.5L capacity ovenproof dish and cover with half of the tomato sauce. Add a layer of the prosciutto slices and then repeat with the remaining ravioli, tomato sauce and prosciutto. Cover with the mozzarella and sprinkle the Parmesan on top.
5 Bake the lasagne in the oven for 15 minutes, then quickly flash under the grill until the mozzarella and Parmesan are bubbling and golden.
6 Serve straight to the table with a separate bowl of salad.
Read more
Neven Maguire: new hook on Irish seafood
Neven Maguire: the versatility of Irish lamb
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