Cooking Italy: Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi are very good. I've only eaten potato gnocchi before. So this recipe was not only a new experience in cooking the gnocchi, but also in eating them.

These ricotta gnocchi are very light, soft, almost melty tasting. The recipe states the gnocchi will remind you of a pasta filling without the pasta around it. I agree and I like how the sauce (once mixed over too) surrounds the gnocchi and provides a great flavor.

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi, Adapted from Marcella Hazan

10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon onion, chopped very fine
2 tablespoons proscuitto, chopped
Salt
3/4 cup ricotta
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 egg yolks
1 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese, freshly grated
Whole nutmeg

Melt butter in a skillet and add the onion. Cook until the onion is pale gold, stirring occassionally. Add in the proscuitto and cook just to coat the meat with the onion and butter.

Add in the spinach and sprinkle with salt. Cook for about 5 minutes until heated through. Remove from pan and let cool.

Once cool, add ricotta and flour and mix with a spoon. Be sure all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg, parmesan and a very small grating of the nutmeg. Taste and add salt if needed.

Take a small amount of the mixture and roll them into small logs. Gnocchi sized. Reminded me of the size of a chocolate egg at Easter time. Flour your hands if they are too sticky when rolling.

Only cook the amount you need for your dinner. The rest can be laid on a parchment lined cookie sheet and placed in the freezer. Once firm, drop into a ziploc bag, remove the air and freeze. Frozen gnocchi can be cooked directly from the freezer.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Large enough to accomodate the amount of gnocchi you are preparing. Drop the gnocchi into the water and when the water returns to a boil, cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Serve with the tomato sauce below and freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Spinach ricotta gnocchi can be served in a variety of ways. It could be with a tomato sauce, as a soup dumpling or even gratineed. All of the methods sounded wonderful to me. I chose the Tomato Sauce with Heavy Cream.

Tomato Sauce with Heavy Cream, Adapted from Marcella Hazan

1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons of onion, carrot and celery, chopped very fine
2 1/2 cups canned imported Italian tomatoes, with their juice*
Salt
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Add all of the ingredients except the cream into your saucepan. Cook, uncovered at a very low simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir occassionally.

Bring the heat up and add the cream. Stir well for about 1 minute and it's ready to serve.

*I used 3 cups of my own canned tomatoes and let it simmer about 1 hour.

This is a very rich and buttery sauce. I will use this on other dishes. I am always a fan of the tomato sauces that are "pinked up". Meaning have a cream/dairy added which lightens their color and richens the taste.

Want to cook this and other dishes with a group of friends? Join Cooking Italy where we are cooking our way through Marcella Hazan's book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Shrimp Tacos - Quick and Flavorful Dinner

I loved these! I had pulled into Taco Bell recently for a quick lunch and saw the signs advertising their shrimp tacos. I thought...hmm...shrimp tacos from a fast food restaurant? Would they be any good? I gave one a try. It was actually surprising good.

I decided that I could definitely make these at home. It would be such a quick and simple dinner.
I buy raw, frozen shrimp on a regular basis because it's so easy to make dishes with shrimp. It's very low cost and I love shrimp. Really...shrimp when on sale are very economical. Especially when purchased frozen. They can be defrosted very quickly and used in a variety of dishes.

I pan sauteed shrimp with olive oil, fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne.

Mix your avocado sauce. Drizzle over the shrimp, add lettuce, roll and devour! Great tacos.

Shrimp Tacos - Serves 2
16 shrimp*, peeled, deveined and defrosted if needed
4 cloves garlic, minced
1T olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
sprinkle of cayenne
2 flour tortillas, burrito sized
1/4 cup mexican or cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup lettuce, chopped
Avocado Sauce:
1/4 cup premade zesty guacamole
1/4 cup milk, half and half or cream

Preheat oven to 275. Wrap tortillas in a foil package and stick in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Mix guacamole and milk to desired consistency. I have seen several recipes for an avocado dressing, but the premade guacamole just made the seasoning quite easy.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat, add garlic and stir it for about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and toss well. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Cook until shrimp just turn pink. About 4-5 minutes.

Remove shells from oven. Lay 8 shrimp on each warm tortilla. Drizzle with avocado sauce, top with lettuce and cheese.

Serve.

Shrimp: I normally get the 31-40 size shrimp. The average serving size is 7 per person according to the bag. I pay about $9.99 per 2 pound bag. That's 80 shrimp for $9.99. If you are serving 8 shrimp per person that's less than a $1. As I said, very economical and also lower in fat. Good food choice.

Defrosting shrimp: I pull out the bag from the freezer, drop the shrimp into a strainer (in this case only 16), rinse with cold water and let sit for about 30 minutes. During the defrosting, I prepare other parts of the meal, do laundry, go through mail, etc. The shrimp I buy is normally cleaned, I just need to remove the tail. I love the raw frozen shrimp because then I can cook them as needed with the flavors.

Blue Cheese - Bleu Cheese - Great Dressing!

I was watching the Food Network on Sunday morning and saw Ina Garten make this fabulous looking Blue Cheese dressing. I missed her comments on it but it looked really good. I read the recipe on the Food Network website and headed into the kitchen to whip it up.

It's fabulous! Rarely do I look forward to packing or eating work lunches. This one actually has me excited about my work lunch salads.

This dressing has an actual blue cheese flavor versus just a creamy background with blue cheese bits. I would even use less cream/milk and leave it thicker for a dip.

I've found that many blue cheese dressing recipes contain several ingredients and I often am short one item for the recipe I'm interested in. This is a version where I would always have the ingredients on hand.

It tasted great right out of the food processor and I would use it right away. Sometimes recipes have you make the dressing in advance and then refrigerate for the flavors to meld. This is quick and ready the moment you open the food processor lid.

Blue Cheese Dressing, Adapted from Ina Garten

5 oz Danish blue cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients in the food processor. Add in more cream or milk if necessary to bring to the desired consistency.

For a copy of Ina's original recipe, visit here. She did not have the milk added and I felt it definitely needed it. Without the milk, it was thick enough to be sour cream. Her version included tarragon wine vinegar but I'm not a huge fan of tarragon and I had white wine vinegar handy. Ina also used Roquefort cheese but I used Danish Blue.

One thing about making your own dressing is that the ingredients are items you know and trust. The jar of store bought blue cheese dressing in my fridge has ingredients listed that I'd have to Google to understand. Xanthan Gum. Does that sound yummy to you? "Oh honey, I just tasted the best Xanthan Gum". Not appealing. Making your own food has less processing and less unknown ingredients and will be more healthy and pleasing to you.

Potato Galette or Pommes Chef Anne

A great brunch! Sliced potatoes, layered with cheese, olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper, baked till the potatoes are tender but the outside crispy. Oh yum.

I recently saw an old episode of "Secret of a Restaurant Chef" with Anne Burrell and she made these potatoes. Her recipe name is Pommes Chef Anne. Sort of an off take of the Pommes Anna potatoes and are layered galette style.

I have always wanted to try a Potato Galette and this recipe gave me a good base with some very important instructions.

Pommes Chef Anne, Adapted from Anne Burrell

3 russet potatoes, scrubbed clean

Extra-virgin olive oil

3/4 cup grated Parmigiano

Kosher salt

Special Equipment: Mandoline, 8-inch nonstick saute pan

I used about 6 potatoes, although smaller ones and they were Idaho potatoes. I also used a 10" nonstick skillet because I thought the 8" looked awfully small.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Drizzle olive oil into your pan and begin layering your potato slices. Brush the slices with olive oil, sprinkle cheese, salt and pepper.

Turn the burner on medium heat and cook until the potatoes are brown. This will be your top, so be sure they are brown and crispy. This took me about 20 minutes. Do not check until at least 10 minutes because the potatoes are soft at first and will tear when you do the initial peak.

Take a pan lid, cover your skillet, and drain the olive oil from the pan. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. YOU MUST DRAIN BEFORE FLIPPING. After draining, use the pan lid to help you flip the galette. Flip the potato onto the lid and then slide the galette back into the pan with the browned side now on top.

Bake at 425F for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, slide out onto your serving plate and be ready to eat.

Serving condiments such as sour cream and chives are perfect.

Thank You Chefs Catalog!

I follow Chefs Catalog on Twitter. (@CHEFSCatalog) They have all sorts of fun questions, posts, and contests. Recently, they had a contest for "name this kitchen tool". If you guessed correctly and were randomly chosen from correct responses, you won the item. I won a Salad Spinner. I was pretty excited. Really? From Chefs Catalog? I love their catalog.

Last Saturday, the door bell rang and I thought...who is that? I opened the door to a nice FedEx man holding a Chefs box. Ooooo I thought, my salad spinner! I quickly signed and dashed back inside to open my box.

Aren't food gifts the BEST?

Ooo the lastest catalog too. :)

I just had to take it for a spin. Ha...no pun intended. I'm sorry to say I only had bagged salad on hand.

Rinse your lettuce in the colander like insert.

Place the lid on top. Pump the black knob on top a few times and voila! Washed lettuce.
Look at the extra water left behind!

Using the salad spinner helps to extract the extra water from your lettuce which makes a fresher, cleaner, crisper salad. It's great! Thank you so much Chefs Catalog!

Cooking Italy: Sausage and Cream

Just a quick post to share the Sausage and Cream dish I made last night for Cooking Italy.

What an interesting dish! I thought I wouldn't like it...just sausage, onion, butter/oil, and cream?? Then the first taste came. What a unique flavor and texture! The cream/butter sauce was velvety whereas the crumbled, yet tender, sausage gave a bit of a mouth feel and then savoring the mix and tasting the flavors really made the dish one to enjoy.

If you like Italian cooking, feel free to join us! We are cooking our way through Marcella Hazan's book, "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking". It's been a real learning experience and the tastes have been beyond just pastas and sauces.

Pulled Pork for the Crockpot

While reading the Detroit Free Press newspaper the other day, I found an interesting recipe for Pulled Pork in a crockpot. Sure there are zillions of pulled pork recipes for a crockpot, but what I found in this one was the marinating overnight. From past experience, I've found the "Freep" to offer many good recipes and knew this one would have similar results.

Pulled Pork, Adapted from the Detroit Free Press

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 cups ketchup

1 teaspoon garlick powder or garlic salt

1 large onion, coarsley chopped

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

5 pound boneless pork shoulder roast, fat trimmed

Barbecue sauce for serving

Line your crockpot with a "Slow Cooker Plastic Liner". Mix the first 8 ingredients and pour into your lined crockpot. Set the roast inside and marinate in your refrigerator overnight. Rotate the roast/marinate a couple of times.

In the morning, remove the roast from the refrigerator and turn the crockpot on low for 10 hours. You want the pork roast to be fork-tender.

Remove the roast from the crockpot and let rest. Skim fat from the sauce.

Shred the meat using two forks and put aside.

Recipe posted in Detroit Free Press with source listed as http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/ and "Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever: by Diane Phillips. Tested by the Contra Costa Times.

My Changes:

When I got to the grocery store, they only had bone-in pork roasts. I chose one. However, the sizes were um...enormous! I heaved an 8 pound pork roast into the cart. Would it fit in my crockpot? My crockpot looks like this and holds about 5 quarts.

I made the marinade ingredients at about 1 1/2 times the amounts. Boy, it sure did look "ketchupy". When I sampled it, I wasn't too pleased but you never know how pork can change a dish till you try. I lined my crockpot, filled it with the marinade and then the roast and stuck it into the garage. Gotta love Michigan...in the winter your garage becomes a mega sized fridge!

The next morning, I brought it in and turned on the crock pot at about 7:30am. Pulled the pork roast out at about 5pm. It was perfect. The meat came apart so easily and the bone just fell out. Loved it! Maybe I snuck a sample piece at that point. Just maybe. Let's just say...hypothetically...I did taste a piece. It would have been wonderful.

Not sure what a "Slow Cooker Plastic Liner" is? Check out this link to Reynolds.

How did I finish the dish? Well I defatted the sauce by spooning off what I could remove. There was a quite a bit of sauce. I kept the sauce seperate from the meat for ease of reheating/serving, etc.

One dish became a pulled pork sandwich. My dish was strictly just the pork. (I lived in North Carolina for a few years. Just a pile of pulled pork, a requirement to learn to eat just the meat.)

I shredded the meat and reserved the leftovers. I only heated what I would serve. I used some of the sauce as the moisture during the reheat and had the mess cleaned up before I even prepared the plates. Easy peasy! Add more sauce if you like it or serve with BBQ sauce as the recipe suggests.

I also ate leftovers last night which heated up perfectly and I did toss some of the pork into my mexican salad for a work lunch today. FANTASTIC. Only wish I could find pork roasts about 200 pounds, see that would really be nice. Rival..get your crockpot design a little larger!