Monday and I Don't Wanna Do Anything

After a long day at work where I accomplished little except some self frustration and a rainy commute to get home...

Tomorrow's trash day so out with the rubbish and recycle, a bit of time standing with the dog scratching behind his ears and listening to the back garden waterfall during a respite in the rain and I just don't want to do anything. No dog walk, no gardening, no cooking, no nothin'...

After surfing a bit o' internet I still couldn't come up with anything to do for dinner nor was I very motivated to think harder. First thought ran to a galette of chanterelle & parmesan but the pastry would have taken too long and even a pizza type dough would have set back the time too much so I made a drink and as I sat sipping the juice of distilled Swedish grains with citrus and water of quinine I continued to contemplate the problem of dinner (well, better than the old days of sitting around getting smoked up and contemplating meaningless things like my navel, huh?) and came up with broccoli & button mushrooms in oyster sauce with brown rice, pad Thai, cheddar and mushroom omelette, home fries and over easy eggs and even not having any dinner at all. Take out is an option but I'm trying to quit running out anytime I want something (I was terribly spoiled being able to walk everywhere at our last house), delivery would work but I'm also trying to quit spending money frivolously when I have food in the house.

After making another drink and reading a bit I had it; a tried and true not too much cooking, hearty, cheesy, hot and good and done nearly as quickly as boiling water... gnocchi. Rich in taste and texture, creamy and satisfying and best of all, nearly effortless so here it is -

Monday Night Throw Together Gnocchi

• 1lb Gnocchi, I like to keep a couple 1lb packages from Trader Joe's around the house
• 1Tbl Butter
• 2Tbl Mama Lil's Kick Butt Goathorn peppers in their oil
• .5oz Garlic, fresh minced
• 2oz Asiago cheese, grated
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Boil the gnocchi according to the package instructions reserving the cooking liquid
2. Finely chop the peppers and add to a cold saute pan with their oil, the butter and garlic
3. Bring the burner up to medium high while cooking the garlic and stirring to flavor the fats
4. When the oil is sizzling, add the gnocchi and heat for about 2 minutes stirring and tossing the gnocchi
5. Add about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and reduce until thickened, add the cheese and stir in to make a clingy sauce

Serve with some fresh ground pepper over the top and sit in front of rerun TV and you've got a great dinner in about 15 minutes for a lazy Monday evening

Hasta