I absolutely had to finish that colcannon tonight. I don’t like the way potato freezes. Plus I have a strange aversion to serving up leftovers in their original state. So I needed an idea that would work well with a potato mash, bearing in mind I made a potato dough with some yesterday.

That left either shepherds pie, which would have worked well with the leftover hoggett or gnocchi. I went with gnocchi on the grounds of greater flavour variation. Easy enough, I simply beat enough flour into the colcannon to make a stiff dough, rolled and cut into shape. Then it was simply a matter of checking the fridge for other leftovers with which to make a sauce.

One close to limp zucchini, 2 rashers of bacon and half an onion were on the urgent list. To pad that out I added a carrot. The zucchini and carrot were thinly sliced lengthways and the onion and bacon finely sliced. The vegetables sweated in a fry pan and then lightly caramelised. Once they had a little colour, the bacon was added. When the bacon was added, the sauce was complete.

This was a winner according to household inhabitants. It didn’t taste remotely like leftovers which is always the aim and the cost is close to negligble. The gnocchi exceeeded expectations, being perfectly light and fluffy. I wasn’t sure how it would go with the cabbage, bacon and spring onions in the mix.