Last nights Thursday dinner was a concotion of what we had in the fridge with some added beautifully fresh Cavolo Nero. I do believe this is an under used veg as unlike spinch which wilts, Cavolo Nero holds its shape and bite but is still tender enough not to be chewy.We are lucky to have lots of farm shops and artisan producers in our area and earlier in the week we visited our local weald smokery to purchase some gifts for my friend Jess as she made me a stunning harissa chicken dinner last week. The results of the gift is another story, lets just say a letterbox and 2 bengal cats were involved and Jess had no produce to try once she got in from work! Whilst in the smokery we saw the most amazing black pudding, which again is a product Paulie and I adore so we decided to add some into our baked dish. Paulie made this so quickly as we already had the ingredients except the fresh Cavolo Nero. The Gnocchi was boxed in the freezer and was one of the left over boxes from our chicken and fig recipe that we did previously, it freezes so well. Even though this is a simple dish it is so comforting as you get lovely little bits of gnocchi, black pudding or pancetta in every mouthful making it taste very complex

.Ingredients

• 20-24 Homemade Gnocchi fresh or frozen (recipe here)
• 1 Leek
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 200ml single cream
• 5 pieces of black pudding (leave out for veggie)
• Handful of Pancetta (leave out for veggie)
• 200ml Chicken stock
• 1/2 a bag of Cavolo Nero
• Sprinkling of grated Parmasan

Method

1. Wash the cavolo nero thoroughly and then cut the leaves across into 1cm strips. Set aside.

2. Fry the pancetta for 2 mins then add 1 chopped leek, 2 cloves of chopped garlic and sautee for 2 mins then add your cavolo nero and cook for a further 2 mins. Next add the chicken stock and cream, simmer on your lowest heat setting while you prepare the gnocchi and black pudding .

3. Bring a large pot of water to the boil.  Cook the gnocchi,until it floats to the surface usually 1-2 mins. Remove with slotted spoon onto a plate.

4. Fry the black pudding slices on both sides for a minute each side, remove from pan and slice into chunks, once this is done add the black pudding to the sauce with the nero.

5. Fry the cooked gnocchi in the black pudding pan to crisp the edges (2 mins max) add to sauce, grate over the parmasan cheese and place under hot grill until golden (about 5 minutes or so)