Tropical smoothie time

I know you're thinking... tropical smoothie? In this non-existent summer weather?? Well I'm hoping this creamy, coconut-y smoothie will conjure up thoughts of summers past, and perhaps give the sun a reason to come out! 

To put this into perspective, I'm currently sat outside under a canopy writing this post. It's raining. We're having a BBQ. We British power on! 

If you can think of something tropical, I can guarantee you it's in this smoothie.*

* Sun is not a requirement. 

 Ingredients

1 Cocoface coconut (or you could use any coconut water)

1 small bowl full of Waitrose frozen exotic fruit 

Half a lime

Half a bowl full of chopped pineapple

2 tbsp of Rachel's Greek Style coconut yoghurt (or any you can find)

Method

1. Pour in your blender: exotic fruits, pineapple and yoghurt.

2. Hack open your Cocoface coconut and pour in about 50 ml of the water (you can adjust where you see fit, but it's best to add less at the beginning).

3. Add a squeeze of half a lime. Blend away!

4. If you feel you want it more smooth, add more coconut water. If you want it thicker, add more yoghurt. 

5. Enjoy whilst sitting on the beach, watching the world go by (or under a canopy in your back garden whilst it rains!)

Homemade Gnocchi with Pesto

Okay, so I won't prolong this, but I'm back, and hopefully blogging a bit more than I have been this past month. Well, I haven't blogged since 26th May; a whole month has been left out! Poor June. Well, I was away in Somerset at the beginning of the month, and then I began my (intense) CELTA course, so I've been somewhat occupied! I can now announce though that I'm qualified to teach English as a foreign language! I will write a post on this hopefully, but I will just say, it's one of the best things I've ever done. The most rewarding experience. 

Now back to where it's at.. food! This is the first time I've made gnocchi, and it won't be my last. It's so easy to make. I know it looks hard, but it's easier than making pasta. Well, that's what I think anyway. But I thought gnocchi is pasta, you're saying? Well, it's actually made from potato. Yup. 

I actually made this back in May, so I'm going to just explain the gnocchi recipe, and leave the pesto for another day, as I'll admit, I've actually forgotten how I made it exactly! I don't want to just give you a generic recipe else it won't be the same. And I know I made that pesto from the top of my head, and forgot to write the recipe down. Well done Jess. Well done!! 

So here's how to make this wonderfully fluffy gnocchi...

Ingredients

1kg potatoes

100g parmesan

250g white tipo '00' pasta (you can definitely find this in Waitrose)

1 egg

Salt

Method

1. Boil the potatoes until they are mashable. 

2. I would recommend using a potato ricer for this step. Mash the potato with the ricer, straight onto the surface, and leave to cool.

3. Grate the parmesan. Crack the egg onto the potato, sprinkle the parmesan, the flour and add a pinch of salt.

4. Using a d-scraper, unite all the mixture together until a dough has formed. If the mixture is too sticky, add more flour. If too dry, add some more egg. 

5. Chop the dough in half, and create a think sausage with one half. You can divide it into quarters if you think it will be easier. The thickness/thinness of the sausage will determine the size of your gnocchi. 

6. Using the d-scraper, cut the dough into pieces of dough, about 1cm wide. Now you can see your gnocchi forming!

7. Lastly, using a fork, roll your pasta down the fork in order to create the little ridges. 

8. Boil a pot of water with some salt. Add the gnocchi and remove once they begin to float. This will not take a long time, around 1 minute. Some will float before others, so just remove as you go using a slotted spoon, so you can make room for the others. 

9. Enjoy with some pesto or sugo di pomodoro (tomato sauce!)