Gnocchi

So fresh gnocchi in a restaurant just beats the hell out of any kind of store-bought gnocchi. Hands down. But like many of us, I can’t afford to go out to a nice restaurant and order gnocchi every time I get the craving. Believe me, it’s often [potatoes are one of my favorite substances, and pasta is right up there too. Obviously pasta made out of potato is even better].

So thus the making of the gnocchi began.

We started by baking a potato. Which of course is way easier and quicker in the microwave than in the oven (sorry, purists, I’m impatient). It should be good and cooked, so that it’s super easy to mash/crumble up [see above]. Added flour, eggs, and then… rolled into long ropes.

And then cut into pieces! It ended up being super simple, and having a very capable friend around to help with the rolling was nice. Oh and also because there are about a million pieces that it would have taken forever to cut into individual gnocc’s. Is that the correct word? I think it might actually be gnocco. But gnocc’s sounds fun too.

When you’ve got yourself some individual gnocc’s, you can do the fancy thing and roll them along the tines of a fork to make them textured.  But we were (1) lazy and (2) starving, so that didn’t happen. Plus, they look like miniature pillows, so we thought that looked acceptable too. Try it out, maybe do half textured/half not? See if there’s a taste difference? I sense a randomized experiment is needed.

To cook the gnocchi, boil a big pot of water (you don’t want the gnocchi to get stuck to one another, so make sure it’s got plenty of space). When boiling, individually plop the gnocchi into the water (watch out for splashing!) and wait until all the gnocchi float to the surface.  They’re done when they float.

As a bonus: we threw some fresh broccoli pureed with some pecorino on top (see Hiding Vegetable in Pasta, pt. 2)– definitely tasty, though it might not have been the prettiest thing in the world. But who doesn’t need extra fiber, Vitamin C, and phyto-nutrients, am I right?

Basic Gnocchi

2 large potatoes (Russet? anything starchy really works)

1-2 cups flour

1 egg

Bake the potatoes, either the oven or the microwave, until they’re definitely soft and mashable. Peel them, being cautious of the hot temperature (try holding with a kitchen towel).

Put the potatoes into a large bowl, and either using a potato ricer or a masher, mash them until they’re the consistency of little peas. A fork works too, for the less-equipped cooks out there. Sprinkle some salt on top, then add about a cup of flour. Mix with your hands until combined. Working swiftly, add in the egg and stir to combine.

Adding the flour by small amounts (~1/4 cup at a time), work the mixture into a dough by hand until it forms a ball.  Be careful not to add too much flour – you don’t want the dough to crumble.

Tearing small pieces of dough off, roll with your hands into rope-like pieces that are about a half-inch in diameter.  Using the back of a knife, cut into individual pillow-like pieces.  Optional texturizing step here: roll each gnocco against the tines of a fork to leave the characteristic ridges. Place (don’t drop!) individual gnocchi into boiling water, making sure to keep them separate. It might help to pour a little olive oil into the pot to prevent sticking here, too. Work in batches so that there’s plenty of room in the pot.

When all the gnocchi rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and serve with sauce of choice. Or try with some salt, pepper, and olive oil for a super simple meal!

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collaborative friendship ice cream-making.

[Grandma Butterly’s Caramel Ice Cream]

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summer veggies.

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Part 2 in my life experiment of hiding vegetables in pasta.

[parmesan-broccoli-spinach penne]

Do you ever get inspired to make a tasty-sounding recipe, then realize you have no freaking idea what half the ingredients are? Or realize that it’s way too time-intensive to actually make when you get home at 8pm on a weeknight and really just want food, now, in a bowl, to shovel into your mouth? Well, this happens to me frequently (read: almost every night). Often, I’ll settle for an enlarged snack that most likely will involve a large amount of peanut butter and some random vegetable that’s lying around the kitchen.

But then sometimes I get inspired by a recipe that actually looks reasonable. Perhaps I only don’t know what the name of one ingredient means. And the other stuff just happens to be already here, with no need to make a grocery trip.  This was one of those nights.

I happen to like oatmeal a lot, so when I saw a recipe that involved oats – for dinner – I got pretty excited.  Apparently my dad made this and it was fantastic, so I decided to make a poor-man’s version to test it out. Turns out it’s (1) super easy and (2) way too tasty to leave for leftovers. Did I follow the directions exactly? No. Was it still good? Yes.

Oat Risotto with Leeks, Peas, and Pecorino

Serves 4.*

Heat 4-5 cups (chicken/vegetable) stock (2 cans) in a small saucepan over low heat.

Chop one leek finely, after washing thoroughly and removing the less-than-tender green ends. Meanwhile, in a large pot, melt a couple tablespoons of butter until bubbling. Add chopped leeks, and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes.

Add 1 pressed or finely chopped garlic clove, and mix into the leeks.  Cook for another couple minutes, still stirring. Add about a cup of cream (or white wine – though I like my wine too much to ever not drink it) and stir, cooking until the liquid is mainly evaporated.  Add 1.5 cups old-fashioned oats (oh hey, it’s what I had for breakfast!) and toast with the leeks and garlic for about a minute.

Add a cup of the simmering stock to the oats and leek mixture, and continue to cook over medium heat while stirring. Allow the stock to be absorbed by the oats, and keep stirring, adding more stock by the cupful and repeating the process. Keep stirring. No really, don’t stop stirring. Add until the chicken stock is all in, and continue cooking the oats until tender. It might take fifteen-twenty minutes, but hey, at least you’re getting an arm workout!

When liquid is all absorbed and oats are tender, add some (3-5?) finely-chopped green onions and about a cup of peas (frozen? why yes I did). Stir into the oat risotto, along with a fair amount of shredded pecorino (only got parmesan? go for it). Throw some salt in with some freshly ground black pepper to taste. Still stirring? Good.

When vegetables are warmed in the risotto, remove from heat and serve in bowls, topped with some more cheese and a tiny bit of olive oil. Gorge yourself.

* I don’t know who thought this would serve four people. Maybe four… miniature people. I’d say it serves 2 people with medium appetites – or for me, about 1 dinner and 1 snack.

Adapted from Sean Brock for the Wall Street Journal’s recipe, “Oat Risotto with Peas, Ramps, & Pecorino.” But I had no idea what ramps were and truffle oil is way out of my price range…

homemade gnocchi with spinach-pesto cream sauce

assemblage and cutting: roasted red pepper and onion pizza with feta and kalamata olive tapenade. I love my new pizza stone.

[recipe from Cheeseboard cookbook]

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Yet again, the curse of the weeknight cook struck.  I got home relatively early and decided that hey, it would be a great night to try and cook something and have some leftovers for the next couple days [well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, leftovers rarely last me more than 2 days].

So I set out on my bike to make a quick trip to Market Basket to pick up some veggies to roast and add to a quinoa dish that I vaguely remembered from a family gathering a long time ago.  This Market Basket is actually insanely busy all the time [Somerville Ave Market Basket - actually infamous because you cannot move shopping carts down the aisles because of the masses of people] so I grabbed a hand basket and quickly found what I needed.  I’m standing in line when I realize I don’t have my wallet.  Damn.

After biking the couple blocks home and then back, I picked up my groceries and checked out.  Really, my groceries consisted of impulse buys.

• the vegetables I wanted for my dinner
• oatmeal [I might be the most boringly regular person for breakfast]
• anything else I could fit into the backpack I brought

Got home. Chopped vegetables.  Started the quinoa. Put vegetables in oven. 25 minutes later I had an awesome meal. Weeknight win?  I’d say so.

Roasted Vegetable and Tomato Quinoa

- vegetables for roasting [I used 1 eggplant and 2 zucchini… but I probably could have made this work with anything similar]

- 1 red onion

- a couple small tomatoes/1 container cherry tomatoes

- olive oil

- 1.5 c dry quinoa + 3 c water for cooking

- salt and pepper

- crumbled feta cheese [optional]

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Combine quinoa with water in a pot; bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer.

Meanwhile, chop zucchini into half-circles and cut eggplant into flat pieces lengthwise.  Cut the onion into flat discs as well, and then in half (so that pieces are in strips).  Add all vegetables to a baking tray or two, pour olive oil over it all and add some salt and pepper.  Mix around with your hands until veggies are well-covered.  Put in the oven.

Chop tomatoes into chunks, or halve them if using cherry tomatoes. Keep an eye on the vegetables while they roast (it should take ~20 minutes, maybe a little longer for the eggplant).  For the last couple minutes, turn the broiler on to give them a little extra crispiness.  Remove promptly before they burn.

Add zucchini and onions to the cooked quinoa, and mix with a fork.  Cut cooked eggplant into chunks as well, and throw it into the quinoa too.  Generously add salt and pepper; combine with chopped tomatoes [and crumbled feta, if using].  Serve warm or refrigerated.

As always, I’m having trouble not breaking into the fridge for more of this an hour later…

Cooking planned for this weekend:

[just a plan, but gotta start somewhere - cooking + friends extravaganza]

- butternut squash macaroni and cheese.

- triple-chocolate-chip espresso cookies.

- onion-garlic whole wheat bread knots.

- roasted carrots and sweet potatoes.

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chopped zuc’