The Gnocchi Saga Continues

Recipes for ricotta gnocchi on the web seem even easier than potato gnocchi. Of course, not being satisfied to simply follow a recipe to the letter, I decided to violate a few "rules" others had set down.

First rule to be violated: Use fresh whole-milk ricotta and drain it overnight. I used part-skim ricotta from the supermarket and didn't drain it.

Second rule to be violated: Carefully mix the egg and ricotta by hand, adding very little or even no flour. I used the food processor and flour about equal in weight to the ricotta.

Potato gnocchi must be made without blending or processing the potatoes because to do so breaks the cell walls of the potato, setting the water loose. More water means more flour which means heavier gnocchi.

But, if careful and limited pulsing of a food processor can make pie crust, why not try it for ricotta gnocchi?

You need a fairly large food processor to make this recipe. I have a 1980s vintage model that refuses to die.

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. container part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
  
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1-2 ounces freshly grated parmesan or other grating cheese
• Salt and white pepper to taste.
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups sifted flour

Procedure:

1. Quickly mix the first five ingredients in the processor.
2. Sift 1/2 cup flour into the processor and pulse briefly on slow speed to mix.
3. Repeat step two until the dough is stiff enough to form a ball. Use as little flour and as little pulsing as possible.
4. Remove the dough from the processor and divide into four balls. Wrap and refrigerate briefly to help firm the dough for handling.
5. Taking one ball from the refrigerator at a time, divide it and shape it into stubby rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter.
6. Cut the rolls at 3/4 to 1 inch intervals and roll each piece into a ball. Shape the ball by rolling it over fork times, whisk wires, or other surface to make grooves.

Store and prepare to eat as with the potato gnocchi in the previous post.

How to Use a Whole Bag of Potatoes

There are only the two of us, so I generally buy potatoes only as needed. Bill has been swooning for lack of mashed potatoes, which really are best made with baked russets. Summer is no time to turn on the oven for just two potatoes. If I just microwaved them one or two at a time, inevitably some poor, lost potato would end up sprouting in the bottom of the veggie bin. What could I do with a bag of 13 good-sized russet potatoes that would allow me to bake them all at once? Time for some new cooking experiments.

The web came to the rescue with many seemingly simple recipes for potato gnocchi. Gnocchi are little Italian dumplings. Like dumplings everywhere, they can be made from a variety of ingredients, a simple version using potatoes, flour, eggs and salt. The pictures of web versions can be a bit intimidating because they seem so evenly shaped. Mine might more appropriately be called "malfatti," Italian slang for poorly shaped dumplings or pasta. No matter, they were very tasty.

Ingredients:

• Cooked russet potatoes, still warm, skins removed.
  
• 1 egg for each two medium-large potatoes
• Enough flour to make a dough you can handle.
• Salt to taste
  

Baked potatoes are drier than boiled resulting in less flour being needed to make a dough. Less flour means more potato flavor. Measurements and proportions vary with the weather, size and moisture of potatoes and eggs. I had seven biggish potatoes, 4 large eggs, and added about two-and-a-half cups of sifted flour to get a sticky dough that left the sides of the bowl.

Procedure:

1. Mash or grate the potatoes by hand. Do not blend or process them. Using a blender makes the potatoes runny which would result in more flour being needed and heavier gnocchi.
2. Mix the egg into the potatoes.
3. Work in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough leaves the side of the bowl and can be handled.
   
4. Refrigerate the dough a few minutes to stiffen it a bit and make it easier to handle.
5. To shape the gnocchi, roll pieces of dough into snakes about 3/4 inch in diameter and cut into 3/4 inch pieces. You may then roll these pieces into balls and roll the balls across the tines of a fork, holes of a grater, or wires of a whisk to make ridges in the gnocchi that will better hold sauce.

If you are going to freeze the gnocchi, place them separated from each other on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen, put them in meal-sized plastic bags.

To cook the gnocchi, whether frozen or not, bring a pot of water to a boil and gently put the gnocchi in one or two at a time. Make sure the pot is big enough that your gnocchi can poach without touching each other. At first the gnocchi will lie at the bottom of the pan. Move them gently to make sure they are not stuck. Wait until they float and then remove them from the water.

At this point, gnocchi become a wonderful canvas to be painted with sauce, pesto, butter, whatever strikes your fancy.

Yummy!

Dilled Chicken Croquettes with Mushrooms and Creamed Leeks

If the word croquette is new to you, think in terms of something smaller than a crab cake but bigger than a meat ball. A croquette usually has a crumb coating.

I first had a puddle of creamed leeks at a wonderful restaurant in Cleveland. I've been thinking about them ever since. I decided to try the simplest of preparations: just simmering in skim milk. Bill said, "Try to remember this recipe!" So here we go.

Ingredients for two servings:

• 1 boneless chicken breast half, chopped
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp. dried dill
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 or 2 eggs
• 1 cup bread crumbs, divided, 1/3 cup for the mixture, the rest to roll the croquettes in.
  
• 1/2 cup or more sliced fresh mushrooms
• 3 Tbl. olive oil
  
• 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, julienned
• 1/2 cup milk (any fat content)
  
• a few grinds of nutmeg
• white pepper
• salt

Procedure:

1. With a cleaver or large knife, chop the chicken breast until it is not-quite minced. Although ground chicken may be used in this recipe, the chopped chicken provides a more interesting consistency.
2. Stir together the chicken, eggs, dill, 1/3 cup bread crumbs. Add salt & white pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the bread crumbs to swell.
   
3. Slice the mushrooms and sauté in 1 Tbl. olive oil
4. While the mushrooms are cooking, form croquettes of the chicken mixture and coat in the remaining bread crumbs.
5. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.
6. Add the rest of the olive oil to the pan and heat.
7. Brown the croquettes on all sides but do not worry whether they are cooked through at this point.
8. Remove the croquettes from the pan and place on a microwave safe plate.
9. Pour any remaining olive oil from the pan but do not wipe the pan.
   
10. Put the julienned leeks in the pan and and cover to allow them to steam a bit.
11. Add the milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg to the leeks and simmer until the leeks are tender and the milk is somewhat reduced.
    
12. Heat the croquettes for 90 seconds in the microwave to make sure they are thoroughly cooked through.
    
13. To reheat the mushrooms, stir them into the leeks.
14. Arrange the croquets on the plates and spoon over the leek and mushroom mixture making sure not to waste any of the thickened milk.

If you want to make this look more impressive, reheat the mushrooms for a few seconds in the microwave. After spooning the creamed leeks on the croquettes, spinkle the mushrooms on top.

Yummy Ham & Split Pea Soup

Hams were on sale last week for Easter. We've been making meals of a very tasty smoked bone-in ham since Friday. By tonight, we had gotten to the bone with a bit of meat left on it. No sense wasting any of it! Time for pea soup.

Split pea soup doesn't take much work and is done in about an hour. If you don't have a leftover ham bone, a ham shank or even a smoked turkey leg will work.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups green split peas, washed
• ham bone with some meat
  
• 6 cups water
• 3 or 4 carrots, diced
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• salt & pepper

Procedure:

1. Put all ingredients in a large soup pan, covering as much of the ham as possible with the water.
   
2. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally to bring the peas off the bottom of the pan.
3. After about 45 minutes, remove the ham and let it cool about 15 minutes while the soup still simmers.
4. Whir the soup with an immersion blender.
5. Cut the remaining ham off the bone and add it back to the soup.
6. Add salt & pepper to taste.
   

That's it. Smooth, warm, and creamy and all it has in it is water, ham, and veggies.

Good but Almost Ruined by a Rookie Mistake

I used curly parsley as the leafy green tonight but made the mistake of briefly rinsing it rather than giving it a good wash. GRIT!! Blech. The food was yummy but the occasional crunch of grit was disconcerting. Next time, the curly parsley will be treated to the same thorough cleaning as celery and leeks! Lots of soaking and swishing.

But the otherwise delicious dish at right is chicken and mushrooms over cheese polenta (corn meal mush). If you've saved a few cheese shavings, sprinkle these on top.

Ingredients (for two servings):

• Cooked chicken from one largish breast half, boned and cut into smallish chunks
• 2 Tbl. olive oil
  
• 1/2 cup or more coarsely sliced or chopped mushrooms
• 1 large shallot or small mild onion, julienned
• 1/2 jalapeño or other hot pepper, seeds removed and inner membrane removed, then diced. Delete or add more to suit your taste
• 1/4 cup chopped, oil packed sun-dried tomatoes or sun-dried tomato pesto. I used Classico Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
  
• 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups water
  
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
  
• salt, pepper and nutmeg

Procedure:

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan
2. Sauté the mushrooms, shallot and jalapeño
3. Add the chicken and sun-dried tomatoes or pesto and heat through
4. Add the parsley and wine or broth. Simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

While the chicken mixture cooks, make the polenta (corn meal mush)

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring the water to a boil. Slowly pour in the cornmeal, whisking constantly.
2. As soon as most of the lumps are gone, turn off the heat and whisk in the cheese.
3. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Serve the chicken over the polenta. Warm, tasty, with a little bite from the jalapeño. Hopefully, yours won't be gritty! Ours won't next time. Lesson learned.

Last Minute Mashed Sweet Potatoes

They are sweet; add a little brown sugar and they are decadently sweet. They can be cooked using almost any method from microwave to stove top to oven. They are even good raw. They feel wonderfully starchy yet, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, sweet potatoes are better for you than broccoli!

If you need to hurry along sweet potatoes, they take well to being microwaved and mashed.

For two helpings of decadent mashed sweet potatoes:

• 1-3 sweet potatoes (depending on size)
• 1-2 Tbl. butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 Tbl. brown sugar
• Salt & white pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Peel and thinly slice the sweet potato. The thinner you slice it the easier it will be to mash.
2. Place in a covered microwave bowl with about 1/3 cup water.
3. Microwave on high, covered, about 15 minutes, until the water has almost disappeared and the potatoes are soft.
4. Mash remaining ingredients into the sweet potatoes.
   
5. Microwave another minute to bring back to temperature.

In the picture it's served with pulled pork that has been heated with a mustard-based barbecue sauce typical of the South Carolina Midlands.

Green'n'Leafies

Green, leafy vegetables, the darker the better, may just be the healthiest things we can eat. I am not a rabbit so I strive to hide, disguise, and otherwise alter green leaves in a lot of my cooking.

Heidi's Hints for Tastier Green Leaves:

• Most salad greens can be eaten cooked.

Sauté mushrooms and add julienned Romaine or other leafy green for a minute or two. Baby Arugula (Roquette) is a great veggie to throw into soup or pasta.

• Hide spinach in strange places.

When making meatloaf or meatballs, whir spinach with the egg and other flavorings in the food processor. The meatloaf will be moister and you'll never taste the spinach.

• Parsley is a vegetable not a decoration.

Use whole bunches of fresh parsley (flat-leaf or curly) to add flavor and color to a pasta dish.

• Cabbage and its relatives only stink if you abuse them.

Do not boil cabbage. You heard me. Do not boil cabbage or Brussels Sprouts or Savoy or any other member of the cabbage family. Sauté, stir fry, steam, roast, or eat them raw. They taste much better and do not smell.

Save boiling cabbage for times when you want to get rid of houseguests.