The slow-cooker hype has been around for a minute now, and given the cherished kitchen appliance’s versatility, it’s safe to say it'll be sticking around. There are, however, more ways to use it than you’d know, and that’s why we’ve called in chef, author and slow cooker guru Katrina Meynink to share with us some of her most progressive—and let’s be honest, down-right smashable—recipes. First up, her Bloody Mary gnocchi with pickles and hope. And more cheese. And more pickles.
“This recipe is for when you are done. Toast. Completely finished. If you want to pan-fry the gnocchi before throwing them in, it can add a nice touch, but not doing so certainly isn’t a deal breaker.”
Ingredients
- 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) gnocchi
- 200 g (7 oz) ball mozzarella, roughly torn
Bloody Mary mix
- 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) jar passata (puréed tomatoes)
- 100 ml (31/2 fl oz) chicken stock
- 100 ml (31/2 fl oz) celery juice
- 2 tablespoons dill fronds, very finely chopped
- 5 cm (2 in) piece horseradish, grated
- 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) pickle juice from a jar of pickles
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) vodka
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- Juice of ½ lemon
To serve
- Chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- Mozzarella, roughly torn
- Spicy cucumber pickles (optional)
Method
- Combine all the Bloody Mary mix ingredients in the bowl of your slow cooker. Add the gnocchi. Shut the lid. Pour yourself a wine.
- Cook on low heat for 2 hours. Remove the lid, add the mozzarella, close it again and continue to cook for a further 20 minutes, or until the mozzarella has melted.
- Scoop into bowls, being careful as the gnocchi will be very soft and some will break. Top with parsley, extra mozzarella and spicy pickles, if using. Serve.
Chef Katrina Meynink is a cookbook author—most recently Slow Victories—and food columnist who lives and breathes all things food. She is particularly fond of butter, Persian fairy floss, all salads and the odd bit of crisp bacon.
This is an edited extract from Slow Victories by Katrina Meynink published by Hardie Grant Books $35.00 and is available where all good books are sold.
Photographer: © Katrina Meynink, Kait Barker