Mini Potatoes.

So a couple of weeks ago I started watching Nigella Lawson's new show Kitchen. It's no secret that I'm not a big fan and don't quite buy into this "Nigella - the Domestic Goddess" business. My sister on the other hand doesn't mind her and actually ordered her latest cookbook - aptly named Kitchen after the new series.

The main reason I'm not drawn to Nigella's brand of 'cooking' is that she has a tendency to use a lot of pre-prepared/out-of-the-packet food. I prefer to cook from scratch whenever I can (and therefore admire people like Ina Garten who encourage this way of cooking and show how easy it can be). Nigella also has a tendency to over narrate when showcasing her recipes, which I find irritating and mildly pretentious.

However, I must concede that on occasion, Nigella offers up some interesting and surprisingly decent recipes. For instance, I do enjoy her recipe for Chocolate Pear Pudding (available here). It lives up to her claim that it is quick, easy and delicious.

More recently from this new series Kitchen, Nigella promised us a quick, easy side dish of "mini potatoes". What are mini-potatoes I wondered? I had never seen such a product in grocery stores. And then she revealed that these mythical mini-potatoes were in fact a packet of store bought "potato gnocchi" fried in pan. My sister, fascinated by the whole thing, ended up at the store buying a packet of gnocchi to see if was any good.

Turns out this is a superbly delicious way to serve up and eat potato gnocchi (and they're pretty addictive... once you eat one it's kind of hard to stop). So, I must concede - despite the initial bizarreness behind this Nigella "recipe" it isn't half bad and is certainly a different way to present potato gnocchi as a side dish.

Surprising deliciousness aside, what does strike me as odd is that this counts as a recipe and gets a whole page in the cookbook. It may be a twist or a useful tip, but does placing gnocchi into a frying pan with some oil and salt really require a recipe? So here I am, back to being thoroughly unimpressed by Nigella's unique style of "cooking".

NB: On a slightly unrelated note, the post on my attempts at making a traditional Thanksgiving meal is on its way...soon! :)