Hi, the smoky pancetta cod recipe is from Jamie Oliver's '5-ingredients' cook book, page 143 or find online here. The gnocchi recipe is from Jamie Oliver's website, here. You can tell I'm a fan of Jamie Oliver's recipes. And, the sauce recipe is off a recipe card I was sent in my Good Food magazine subscription by Napolina, find online here.
Note, I have put together the recipes and created the method below so that everything is in the correct order for you and it's not confusing. Consequently, the words may not match the original recipes exactly as it wouldn't make sense in this context. Also, I have still included any extra information or findings for you in curly brackets.
This meal was really fun to make as it was quite involved and I could say afterwards that I made every element of it. It does take quite a long time to do all the bits but they can be done consecutatively and so there's practically no waiting around for things to cook. And, even if there is you can use that time to wipe up the worksurface because it gets a bit messy with the gnocchi dough. Also, the gnocchi dough might be a bit confusing because when it says to knead it, it doesn't mean like bread dough, it really just means squishing it. I have found a video online to explain what I mean if you want to have a look here. Don't worry if your dough sticks to the worksurface either, mine did too and so does the lady's in the video, just scrape it off with a fork or your fingers.
The fish is much easier to make than you first think it will be and the ingredients can be changed around to suit whatever you may have in. In place of cod: salmon, haddock or seabass would be fine, even go for meat instead: chicken breast, chicken thigh or leg could be nice, although it will take longer to cook in the oven. For the pancetta: use bacon (I did), ham, prosciutto cudo or even smoked salmon (just don't wrap salmon in salmon unless you are certain you'll like it).
Lastly, the sauce was tasty and simple to make and could be made quickly while the potatoes were boiling and just set aside until needed.
You could make all the components for the meal in advance, like the sauce and gnocchi dough and wrap the fish up in the meat the day before, if you wanted. But, if I would suggest doing it all in one go so it stays fresh.
Enjoy!
Hazel :)
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Dietary Info:
-Dairy Free
{Just make sure to serve without cheese, or use a vegan cheese.}
-Contains Gluten
{If you want, you can use a gluten-free flour in the gnocchi. Or use 500g shop-brought gluten-free gnocchi.}
-No Nuts
-Unsuitable for Vegetarians
{This meal is quite fish and meat heavy. I would suggest finding another recipe for a veggie main dish like a vegetarian kiev or nut roast or buying some veggie food in like falafels, 'sausages' or other equivalent products, like veggie fish fingers. These would all go really nicely with the gnocchi.}
-Unsuitable for Vegans
{See above.}
-Main Meal
Serves: 4
Takes: 1hour 45mins
Ingredients:
For the gnocchi:
-500g floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, King Edward {I used King Edward.}
-50g Tipo 00 flour , plus extra for dusting {I used strong white bread flour.}
-1/2 whole nutmeg , for grating {I only used 1/4 of a nutmeg as it was looking like a lot of nutmeg and I didn't want it to be the dominant flavour.}
For the cod:
-16 rashers of higher-welfare smoked pancetta {I used Tesco Finest Chestnut Smoked Streaky Bacon, as there was no pancetta strips. Feel free to use bacon, ham or Prosciutto crudo, just make sure you have about 4 rashers/strips per person.}
-4 x 150 g white fish fillets , such as cod, skin off, pin-boned, from sustainable sources {I used 4 x 160g cod fillets. You could also use frozen fish if you defrosted it before use.}
For the sauce:
-2 x 400g cans Napolina Peeled Plum Tomatoes {Any peeled plum tomatoes will do, I used Tesco, just make sure they're not chopped.}
-3tbsp Napolina Extra Virgin Olive Oil plus extra for drizzling {Any brand is fine and I only needed about 1tbsp, not 3.}
-2 garlic cloves, crushed
-small handful of basil leaves, roughly torn
-parmesan, grated, to serve {I served with cheddar because my sister isn't a fan of parmesan.}
Method:
1: Use potatoes of a fairly even size, as you’re going to cook them whole. Cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tender. {If you can't find even sized ones, mine weren't, remove the smaller potatoes earlier on in the cooking time. Use these timings as a rough guide: smaller potatoes took 15mins for me, while medium ones took 20mins and larger ones took 25mins. You will know if they're done when a knife inserts cleanly into the potato, without much resistance.}
2: While the potatoes are boiling, make the sauce: {First make sure you have crushed / finely chopped the garlic because your chopping board is going to get messy.} drain the tomatoes, {I used a fork to remove each tomato from the tin. This way the juice stays in the tin and I don't have to worry about losing any while draining over say, the sink.} reserving the juice from the cans, then quarter each one lengthways.
3: Warm the olive oil over a high heat, then add the garlic and fry for 1 min. Add the tomato slices, a little salt, most of the basil plus most of the juice from the tins, {I ended up using 1 tins worth of juice in mine. Leftover juice can be added to soups or frozen for future sauces.} then fry for 30 secs. Turn off the heat when ready and set aside.
4: Preheat the oven to 200℃ / 180℃ fan / 390℉ / Gas 6.
5: Remove the potatoes from the pan when tender and leave on a plate until cool enough to handle. {Reserve the cooking water here and use for the gnocchi later. You may need to top if up a bit though.} Then remove the skins and discard or compost. {If yours were of uneven size, it's actually a benefit here because when all the potatoes are done, the first ones will have been out of the water for 10-15mins already and so will be cool enough to handle, and while you peel those first ones the later ones cool down for you to do next.}
6: Mash the potatoes using a potato ricer or masher on to a large clean board. {I used a potato masher and mashed them in a mixing bowl.}
7: Sprinkle over the flour, finely grate over half the nutmeg, season well with sea salt and black pepper, then scrunch and push the mixture together with clean hands. Depending on the potatoes, you may need to add a little more flour – use your common sense. {Mine was always a bit sticky in the centre, but you should be able to roll it into a ball.}
8: Knead {Not so much like bread kneading as the potato just was a bit sticky for that, but keep working the dough with your hands and adding more flour when needed. See video in introduction for assistance} on a flour-dusted surface for a few minutes until pliable, then divide into 4 equal pieces and roll each into a sausage about 2cm thick.
9: Slice into 3cm lengths – this is your basic gnocchi. Now you can gently roll each piece down a butter pat, the back of a fork {I used a fork to add grooves and this ended up squashing the gnocchi out of shape and into squares, but it was still fine to eat.} or a fine grater to add grooves, which will help your sauce to stick, or simply roll into balls.
10: Set to one side, on a lightly floured plate(s) , {This is to prevent them from sticking. If you still have it, you could use the plate you put the potatoes onto initially when they were cooling. I needed two plates for the total amount of gnocchi.} for now
11: Now, work on the fish. Lay out 4 rashers of pancetta vertically, slightly overlapping them at the edges. Place a piece of cod on top, {Place the cod upside down, so the bottom of the cod is facing upwards. The seams of the pancetta should meet on the bottom of the piece of cod.} generously season with black pepper, then roll and wrap in the pancetta, and repeat.
12: Place in a medium non-stick frying pan on a medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil and seal the bottoms of the fish parcels for a couple of minutes. {It won't be cooked all the way through, this is just to ensure the bottom pancetta is cooked at the same time as the fish. I sealed each parcel individually in the pan, one at a time.} Remove and place each piece of fish onto a lightly oiled square of tin foil. Wrap it up and cook for 25-30 minutes total, {Cook on a tray with lipped sides as the fish releases oils when cooking.} opening the parcels after 15-20mins. {The last 10mins should be without the foil on the top so the pancetta can crisp up.}
13: While the fish is cooking, boil the gnocchi in batches, roughly 2 portions at once, for 2-3mins. {Use the reserved potato boiling water from earlier, top up with more water from the kettle if needed.} When the gnocchi floats to the top of the pan, it's done. Remove with a slotted spoon and add the gnocchi to the cooled tomato sauce.
14: Chop the any woody ends off the broccoli and boil in a separate saucepan for 5-6mins, until tender.
15: When the broccoli and fish are done, heat through the tomato sauce and gnocchi while dishing up the fish and vegetables up onto 4 plates. Dish up the gnocchi and sauce. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and some basil too, if you like.
While you're here...
I have a Pinterest for all my recipes, where you can save them to boards for the future and categorise them into different types of recipe e.g Sunday Dinners, picnic ideas etc. My account is @hazellikestocook, or find the link below. Also, I have a whole blog post explaining this in more detail here and https://hazelscookingandbakingblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/pinterest.html.
https://pin.it/5xDvARk - my profile
This recipe:
https://pin.it/4NHez3A
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