1 pack (500g) fresh or vacuum packed gnocchi
1/2 punnet (250g) mushrooms of your choice – I usually use button white mushrooms or chestnut, sometimes with oyster mixed in or chanterelle if I’m feeling flush - you probably don’t want the field ones though as they make an unappetising grey sauce.
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
200ml creme fraiche
salt and pepper
pinch sugar
parmesan, grated
watercress to serve

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil for your gnocchi.

In a frying pan add a splash of olive oil and add the mushrooms.  Cook till they ooze out all their juices and keep cooking till the pan is dry and the mushrooms are getting slightly browned.  Add the garlic and cook till softened.  Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and cook according to packet instructions (generally 2-3 mins till the gnocchi float to the top of the pan), then drain.

Lower the heat and add about half of the creme fraiche to the mushroom pan – use more or less depending on how saucy you like your gnocchi.  Cook very gently (or you’ll just end up with a greasy sauce) and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar to taste.

Mix in the drained gnocchi and serve with grated parmesan and a few fronds of watercress.

Tip: This sauce is also great with pasta, but I find gnocchi so appealing when it’s freezing outside.

Ingredients
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
thumb of ginger
1 tsbsp sunflower oil or ghee
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 tsp panchporan spice mix (equal parts cumin, fenugreek, fennel, black mustard and nigella seeds) 
pinch tumeric
1 green chilli
1 tomato
1 bag spinach leaves (about 250g)
small bunch coriander
Salt
1 block paneer (about 225g)

Method
In a blender blitz the onion, garlic and ginger.  In a pan with oil or ghee, gently cook the blended ingredients over a low heat till soft.  Meanwhile blitz the tomato and chilli (no need to clean the blender in between). 
Add the spices to the pan and fry gently for a minute or so.  Add the tomato and chilli and half a cup of water.  Cook gently on a low heat whilst you prepare the spinach.
Wash the spinach and wilt in a hot pan.  Drain and squeeze as much water out as you possibly can.  Turn onto a chopping board and chop finely (you could blitz the spinach but I find the texture too smooth).  Add to the pan and cook on low.  Chop the coriander leaves and roots, and add half to the spinach.  Add some salt and check the seasonings.

While the spinach is cooking prepare the paneer.  Cut paneer into bite-sized cubes – as large or small as you like.  Either cook in a drizzle of oil in a wide frying pan, in which case beware as they have a tendency to pop and spit fat, or put them under the grill and turn halfway through cooking.  Once crispy and hot, add to the spinach with the remaining coriander, stir and serve, maybe with some home-made paratha.

Wonderful – I can’t get enough of the Forsytes.  Some low points where Michael goes on about Foggartism, but mainly brilliant.  And so sad when we finally said goodbye to Soames.  Despicable to start with, myopic in social situations, and forever a Man of Property, I came to appreciate his company.

Finished 17th Jan

Including, The Man of Property, Interlude – Indian Summer, In Chancery, To Let.

I don’t know what it is about the Forsyte Saga but I’m enjoying reading it enormously.  I look forward to bed every night just to see what happens next, and I’ve still got most of it to go.

The first three books of the saga were amazing, I’m sure I could describe the general plot in a sentence or two, but it’s teh way it’s told and the small intricacies of the Forsyte family that have made this such a compelling read.  I’m now on to volume two and am even starting to warm to Soames.  Whatever next!

This book is amazing.  It’s heartbreaking, mysterious and nostalgic.  The narrator’s language is so believable you are almost at Hailsham with her.  Wow.