Sunday Dinner Series Part II: Not My Nonna's Gnocchi

Try saying that ten times fast!

A few weeks ago, I decided to make good on a promise I'd made Deb.  She very graciously agreed to look after our kitties in the summer while we were back in Ontario gettin' hitched... despite her pet hair allergies (uh-oh).  I honestly don't remember how we got on the topic of sweet potato gnocchi, but we did, and Deb said she wanted to try it.  So as a (belated) thank-you for watching the quadrupedal fur children, I started Googling my way to a decent-looking recipe.

I succeeded in my search.

Now, I've made gnocchi before.  Many times.  But I was VERY wary as to how this version (courtesy of, unsurprisingly, Allrecipes.com) would turn out.  My mother and I share a similar stumbling block when it comes to these "little knees" (yes, that's what gnocchi means if translated literally).  Soft, sticky dough is the bane of our existence.  It's a balancing act: add too little flour and the dough becomes nigh impossible to handle and roll into the eponymous shape.  Add too much, and you end up nomming on leaden, tough dumplings once cooked.  Not good eats, either way.  I figured, with the difference in texture and moisture content between regular potatoes and the sweet variety, I could be in for a troubling time.

Pretty, fall-appropriate little orange darlings.

I was correct in my prediction, to a point.  After seeing all the caramelized, sugary juices that resulted from roasting my (massive!) sweet potato, I wondered if I might be able to get away with just a little more flour than the recipe called for.  Chilling the dough a bit also helped.  In the end, they were nice and tender, with a very distinct sweet potato colour and flavour.  I decided to dress them with a white wine butter sauce that I modified from the interwebs.  I also tossed the hot noodles and sauce with baby spinach leaves, that just wilted into the whole dish (read: I was too lazy to make a salad, so I tried to get veg in another way).  Add some shredded romano cheese, and the result was, as RR would say, "Yum-o".  Even better the next day as lunch leftovers, let me tell ya... though my coworkers were wondering what on earth I was eating.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi Florentino with White Wine Sauce

Adapted from here and here.  I love Google!

Serves four generously... we were definitely hungry!

Gnocchi:

• 2 average-sized sweet potatoes (half a pound or 8 oz.  I weighed the massive one I had in the pantry, and it was close enough)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (don't skip this, it really adds something!)
• 1 egg
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Nonna typically uses cake flour for hers, but I think AP is best here)
• 1 bag (~170 g or 6 oz) pre-washed baby spinach
• Shredded romano, parmesan, or asiago cheese

Sauce:

• 5 Tbsp (just over 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 of a small onion, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley (I used my freeze-dried stuff with no ill effects)
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 3/4 cup chicken broth (not gonna lie, I only had OXO bouillon packets on hand...)
• 1/2 cup white wine

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake sweet potatoes for 30 minutes, or until soft to the touch. Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool.
2. Once the potatoes are cool enough to work with, remove the peels.  Mash them, or press them through a ricer into a large bowl. Blend in the garlic, salt, nutmeg, and egg. 
3. Mix in the flour a little at a time until you have a soft dough. Use more or less flour as needed.  It should be only a TINY bit sticky.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. 
5. While you wait for the water, make the gnocchi. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1 cm or ~1/2 inch thickness.  Cut strips of dough about 1 cm or ~1/2 inch wide.  Lightly flour the cut sides of the strips.  Now cut the strips into cubes, again about 1 cm or ~1/2 inch wide.  You don't have to be precise.
6. Roll the cubes of dough along the tines of a dinner fork, pressing with your index and middle finger to create an indent.  If this makes no sense to you at all, try watching this:
    
   
   
   Alternatively, you can just put the unrolled cubes into the water... but I'll be disappointed.
7. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water, and allow them to cook until they float to the surface. Remove the floating pieces with a slotted spoon, and keep warm in a large serving bowl.  Toss the hot noodles with the fresh spinach, covering the bowl with a lid or plate to trap the heat and wilt the leaves.
8. For the sauce, heat 1 Tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Add the minced onion, parsley, basil, and thyme. Stir frequently and cook for about 1 minute. Add the salt and white pepper and stir.
9. Add the white wine and bring to a boil; turn the heat down to a simmer and reduce the liquid by half.
10. Add the chicken stock and again bring to a boil, turning down the heat once the boiling point is reached and reducing the liquid by half.  This should take about 7-10 minutes.
11. Add the remaining 4 Tbsp butter a few pieces at a time, while constantly whisking the sauce to thoroughly incorporate the butter.  Check for seasoning.
12. Immediately toss the sauce with the gnocchi in the serving bowl.  Top with a generous sprinkling of cheese.
13. Enjoy hot with some white wine and good friends!

Not the greatest pictures, but I was too hungry to perfect a shot!!

Overall, I'm quite pleased with how these turned out, and I'll definitely be making them again.  Maybe, if I pluck up enough courage, I'll make them for Nonna and see what she thinks!

Off to put the finishing touches on THIS Sunday's dinner,

-Honeybee

Cocky Coq au Vin

 So it's not often that I go all-out and make something so swanky for just little ol' me.  But I had the remainder of a bottle of Arabella Shiraz that needed taking care of, as well as a package of succulent boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  I swear by Rachel Ray's 30-minute version of this French classic, hold the mushrooms... honestly, I'm sure the classic slow-cooked version has its merits, but it's hard to see them in this super-easy-and-quick-and-delicious version.  I must say, I'm quite proud of myself for pulling off this presentation, hence the "cocky" in the title.

Quick Coq au Vin
Modified from "30-Minute Meals" by Rachel Ray

Makes 4 servings

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts*
• 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (*I used eight thighs total for this, no white meat)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion (i.e. vidalia), sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups good red wine
• 1 can (14 oz. or 1 3/4 cups) low-fat chicken broth (I used the stock left over from Skyooking)
• 3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, stripped from stems and chopped (since fresh herbs hate me, I used dried)
• 3-4 Tbsp tomato paste

1. Cut breasts and thighs into large chunks (I left my thighs whole, just sort of flattened them out by "unrolling" them). Mix the flour, salt and pepper on a plate and use it to dust the pieces of chicken.  Set aside. 
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil.  Brown and crisp the chicken pieces by cooking for 4-5 minutes per side.  Remove the chicken and add the onions and garlic.  Stir every few minutes, cooking down for five minutes or so.
3. Add the red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the tasty brown bits from the chicken.  Add the chicken broth.  Return the par-cooked chicken to the pan and add the thyme.
4. Bring to a boil and stir in the tomato paste.  Continue at a low boil, allowing the stock and wine to cook down and thicken for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve, either alongside potatoes and asparagus as I did, or with giant "croutons" made from slices of French baguette, toasted under the broiler, then brushed with garlic-infused olive oil (just microwave some olive oil with a crushed clove of garlic for about thirty seconds to make this).  They're very good for sopping up the juices!

You can see Miss Chief in the background, wanting in on this poultry action.

Who DOESN'T love these gorgeous purple baby potatoes?!

The juices made a very nice "drizzle" for the schmancy white plate

Sometimes I get little twinges of loneliness, looking down at a plate like this and wishing that my romantic partner were around to share it with me.  Then I remind myself... due to a rather dry relationship with all manner of fowl in his formative years, Hubs would gladly pass on even a super-moist and delicious offering such as this.  So I guess I'd better get my chicken kicks in before he moves out here!!

Contemplating how I'll manage to cook for my (hopefully long and happy) married life without using poultry of some sort,
-Honeybee

Table for one... a little lonely, perhaps, but quite pretty and enjoyable overall.

Red curry shrimp pasta, and a confession

Ever wanted to make a particular recipe, only to be repeatedly thwarted by lacking the right ingredients?  Or, in my case, using up a key ingredient in ANOTHER recipe before getting to the intended one?  Yeah.  That's the case here.  The ingredients in question?  Red curry paste and cilantro.  A note on that herb, confusingly also referred to as coriander and/or Chinese parsley.  Some love it, some hate it... it really seems to polarize people that way.  I'm part of the former group, which I discovered some years ago at my favourite Thai restaurant in Windsor (Basil Court.  You should go, right now, and order the Matsaman curry, Thai spicy noodle, and/or sweet and sour chicken.  I'm not kidding.  Tell them I miss them desperately).

There you are.  I'm so sorry I left.  Nothing in Winnipeg compares to you... not that I'm trying to replace you, I swear. *Sniffle*
(Image shamelessly and somewhat stalker-ishly ripped from Google Street View).

Ahem. *Discreetly dries tears*.  Sorry, back to cilantro.  I had bought a bunch, stuck it in my fridge, and then ended up using most of it for guacamole a few weekends ago when I had my friend/coworker over for some vino (more on that sinful liquid later).  As with pretty much any herb I bring into my house, I forgot about it, and it got all wilty and mushy.  Ew.  Not good eats, as Alton would say.  I had originally bought it with the idea of re-making this pasta, which I made for Hubs and myself several months ago with mid-level success.  In a fit of laziness, I had substituted drained, canned diced tomatoes for the fresh ones called for, with the results being somewhat lackluster.  

Not to be defeated by a pasta recipe (my ancestors, I'm sure, were rolling over in their graves at the prospect), I decided to give it another go this past Friday.  I was especially keen since it was a "green-light" dish from my glycemic index diet book (stay tuned for more on that; I'm just not ready to face the fact that I haven't been strictly following that book for the past month or so).  The stumbling block was a lack of red curry paste.  Despite a microscopic examination of the shelves at my local Superstore (which, strangely, also has a hard time keeping cilantro in stock), I have been curry-less for the past two months.  It wasn't until I tried switching supermarkets to Safeway (a Big Deal, since the Loblaws family of companies helped pay for my undergrad degree), that I found the coveted little jar of deliciousness.  Safeway also had an ample stock of what can only be described as the most luscious-looking cilantro I've seen in all my born days.  Full steam ahead!!!

Mmm, steamy.  See what I did there??

Now, I've been wrestling with the idea of posting this recipe, since my second attempt (with fresh tomatoes, GOOD wine, and better-quality shrimp) was so very successful.  Since I modified things slightly, I think I'll go ahead with it... mostly because I can't deny any shrimp and/or curry lover the means to try this delish dish.  I mean, c'mon.  Just look at it.

The acidity of the lime and cilantro really balance out the heaping spoonful of red curry I added, so my "version" of the recipe contains considerably more curry than the original.  I like it spicy.  If you don't, you know what to do: just cut back.  Marinading the shrimp in the paste is genius... not only are the shrimp infused with the flavourful heat, but any residual paste marries into the resulting sauce.  If you're not afraid of a departure from your standard American-Italian spaghetti and meatballs fare, give this a whirl.

Check out that cilantro in the foreground.  Gorgeous.

 Red Curry Shrimp Pasta

(Barely adapted from the "G.I. Diet Clinic" by Rick Gallop. 

Please don't sue me, Mr. Gallop, you won't get much)

Makes 2 servings

• 1/2 lb (half of a ~400g bag) large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 1/2 tbsp Thai red curry paste(see note below*)
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (don't skimp, or I'll hunt you down)
• Zest and juice of 1 lime (2 if all you have is key limes)
• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped into about 1 cm squared pieces
• 1 cup white wine (see note re. skimping above)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste (maybe 1/4 tsp for salt, 1/2 tsp pepper)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 oz (~1/4 lb or 226g) whole wheat linguine (I have no idea what 4 oz of pasta looks like.  I went for a quite small fistful.  I know that's not incredibly helpful.  You want enough pasta for two servings)

1. In a large zip-top bag, add shrimp and curry paste.  Squeeze the excess air out of the bag and seal it, mushing it around to coat the shrimp with the paste thoroughly.  Place in the refrigerator.  If the shrimp is frozen (as mine was), you can leave it frozen and let it thaw overnight with the curry on it; if it's fresh, leave it for anywhere from two to eight hours in the fridge.
2. When the shrimp is done getting happy with the paste, get a medium-large pot of salted water on to boil.  To a large non-stick frying pan, add oil and garlic and heat on medium until the garlic starts to get golden (~1-2 minutes; you'll hear it sizzle.  Don't let it burn).  Add tomatoes, wine, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper; bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce reduces and thickens, about 8 minutes.  Add shrimp to the sauce and cook, stirring, until the shrimp are pink and firm (about 3-4 minutes).  Stir in cilantro.
4. Add the pasta to your water (which should be boiling by now) and cook until al dente (read the package, I'm still not very good with cooking times for whole wheat noodles.  Recipe says 8 minutes, I think I did 10-12).  Drain and add pasta directly to shrimp mixture in frying pan.  Toss to coat with sauce.
5. Devour.  Preferably, consume with a glass of the same wine you used in the recipe.

Note: I use Thai Kitchen authentic red curry paste; it comes in a small 112 g glass jar, and can be found in the "ethnic" section of most large grocery stores (though apparently not the one at Sargent and St. James, so don't look there).  Do NOT use President's Choice red curry sauce; this is NOT the same thing, as it contains large amounts of coconut milk.  Whatever you buy, it should be a concentrated deep red colour.  Oh, and I was joking about hunting you down.  Probably ;)

Those last two shots bring me to the "confession" promised in today's title.  I love wine.  Really, I do.  However, I know next to nothing about it, which I find somewhat shameful given my ethnic background(s) and level of adoration.  Oh, sure, I've been on tons of wine tours, and swirled and sipped and trilled with the best of 'em.  Just please, don't ever ask me to describe the bouquet, comment on the notes, or expertly pair a wine with a meal (unless I've already sneaked a look at the back label).  I'm an expert on two things: either I like the wine, or I don't.  Don't expect me to tell you why, with one exception: if my tongue goes dry and my cheeks pucker in, there's too much tannin for me, and I don't like it.

One of the few reds that doesn't have me chugging from a water glass...

As you can see in the pictures of my delish shrimp, I was drinking a bottle of Pelee Island Gewürztraminer (my all-time fave white).  The recipe originally called for a "dry white wine".  This ain't it.  It's a 2 on the sugar scale (read: pretty darn sweet, the very opposite of dry).  It's suggested as an apértif or as a dessert companion.  Bah.  It was the only white I had on hand that I was willing to crack open and cook with, and the label also describes it as "spicy and fruity".  Hmm.  My curry: spicy, check; fruity (owing to the tomatoes and lime), check.  Seems like a good enough fit for me, so I used it in the recipe and to drink alongside.  No complaints here.  Though I'm a million steps below a sommelier, I do know that you should use wines you'd actually drink in recipes, and then drink them.  At least I follow SOME rules.  I'm also pretty good with trying to find reds I like (merlot, shiraz) to go with my infrequent red meat binges:

Are you tired of seeing this burger yet?  I'm not.  Sorry.  But I think this'll be the last of it.

That's it for now.  Just needed to get that wine confession off my chest... I don't want anyone to think that my examples for wine/food pairing should be followed in any way whatsoever.  I know nothing.  Do as I (well, the recipes) say and not as I do, and all that.

Cin cin, à votre santé, and sláinte!
-Honeybee

Last weekend (aka "the inspiration")

So, as Hubs kindly pointed out to me last night, I haven't yet fully shared all the deliciousness from last weekend that prompted this blog.  Yes, dear.  Sorry that I beat you to the blogging game, though I'm looking forward to reading yours once it's up and running :)

Before I get to the good stuff, though, a quick note: I'm not 100% sure if I'll be posting recipes here to accompany the pictures.  Reason being: a lot of them will likely come from my G.I. Diet cookbook (more on that some other time), and I'm really not up on my copyright laws.  If Hubs (a font of useless obscure knowledge) or any fellow food bloggers want to jump in and clear things up for me, feel free; but for the time being, we'll stick to stories and pics.  If I yanked a recipe from the World Wide Web, though, I'll link to it... it's public domain at that point, right?? :)

So here we go.  This is what happens over a 24-hour period, when you're all alone (save for a dog and two cats) with a well-stocked fridge and pantry and about six different J.D. Robb books from the library:

Breakfast, of the "-in-bed" variety.  L-R: ramekin of peaches and mandarin sections, cherry pomegranate yogurt, ancient grains toast with margarine and cherry-blueberry jam, royal gala apple slices, my secret coffee blend, OJ, and a Lieutenant Eve Dallas tome.  Perfectly lazy.

 I know what you're thinking.  That breakfast looks... simple.  Bordering on lame.  Those who know me know that I went through a huge period in my formative years where an indulgent breakfast would include a homemade belgian waffle, smothered in chocolate syrup, maple syrup, and whipped cream.  In comparison to that, yes, this looks a touch meager... but think of the goal here.  Bed.  Sweet, comfortable bed, while reading.  I didn't want to have to muck around with a fork, knife, and ridiculously gooey pastry while trying not to smear the pages of my library book.  I wanted to be LAZY, and I was.  The real star here was the tray.  As my parents can attest, all my early attempts to serve them breakfast in bed came on a well-seasoned baking sheet... not the most elegant.  But thanks to Walmart and my sister Sara's mad assembly skills (thanks again, sis!), I have a coffee table with a drawer/tray insert. Voilà!

Lunch was a similar affair that day: tray, collection of food, little preparation.  It was more the feel of the meal than the complexity; I yearned for the simplistic but amazingly delicious lunches that I shared with my family during a trip to Europe two years ago.  Nothing, NOTHING will beat our simple picnic of baguette, olives, cured salami, aged goat cheese, and cheap inexpensive French wine on the banks by the Pont du Gard... but I came somewhat close.

Lunching on the patio. L-R: Water with lime, platter of aged cheddar, farmer's cheese, smoked gouda, seedless red grapes, Breton-like copycat crackers, Wasa rye crispbreads, and the remainder of my last bottle of my Gewürztraminer 2008 (yeah, I'm cheap, I bottle my own).

The view from the top... I love being seventeen stories up, even if my side of the building doesn't face the river...

A toast to the city I'm currently calling home!

 Midafternoon snack follows.  I swear, if I were completely left to my own devices, I'd be like a hobbit: breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, tea, dinner, supper...  Baking is one of my passions, though I'm usually too chicken to get too far into the realm of pastries.  Something about needing all that cold butter, plus the astronomical failure rate, keeps me away.  Maybe someday that'll change, but for now I stick pretty closely to cakes, cookies and breads.  Many will attest to how strongly I cling to my Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (yes, it deserves capitalization).  It's one of Anna Olson's, and is just about perfect in every way.  With this last batch, I think I expanded on the perfection: I used not only a bar of Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chopped into chunks, but also two packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, hacked into small pieces.  Oh my.

Delish chocolate-chunk-and-peanut-butter-cup cookies, with more coffee and more mystery/smut.  Yes, it's a different book than at breakfast.  No, I didn't just switch them for the pictures; I'd actually finished reading the first and moved onto a second.  My voracious appetite extends to more than food, it would seem.

The aptly-named Snickers, my canine charge for the weekend, joining me in relaxation.  HUGE thanks again to Tori and Graham for not only buying me patio furniture, but also making the ungodly 2-day trek to the 'Peg to visit me for a week.  You guys are true friends!

 Dinner, of course, was conceived in my mind before the last cookie was devoured.  I wanted a BURGER (yes, all caps this time).  I wanted a burger like my mother used to make- thick, juicy, flavourful.  I'd never quite hit on the right combo of additions ("fillers" for the ground-beef-only purists) to mimic hers.  Today would be the day.  Slight problem: at this point, I'm still lounging in PJs, and don't feel like leaving the sanctuary of laziness that is my apartment to buy hamburger buns.  No worries; I'll MAKE them.  See above feelings re. baking: breads are okay.  Though, past attempts at light and fluffy buns typically ended with quite hard, dense rock-like substances.  I must've really been feeling it, since I decided to tackle these, too.

Ready to rise.  See the green flecks?  I decided to put herbes de Provençe on my counter while kneading and rolling out the dough; I was craving something like the Italian herbs D'Italiano packaged buns (but without all the preservatives)

Finished product.  If you attempt these, don't skip the egg wash; it made such a delicate, delicious light brown crust.

Now the beef.  I just tried to stop over-analyzing mom's tried and true recipe, and go with gut instinct.  I, of all people, should know that the knowledge of how to make a fantastic, meaty, juicy burger isn't inherited... but still.  Call me superstitious if you want.  I reached for some dried breadcrumbs, an egg, some grated parmesan cheese, a packet of onion soup mix (which, I suspect, was the key ingredient I'd been missing all these years), and an extremely healthy splash of Worcestershire sauce.  Done and done.

Grilling away, crossing my fingers that they'll come out meeting all expectations.  And I know, I'm a terrible person: I don't have a proper grill (indoor, outdoor, propane, charcoal, or electric), despite being able to keep one on the patio.  I'll leave the procurement and installation of such a contraption to Hubs; he uses it more anyway.

The "accoutrements", as Irene would say... pesto aioli, smoked gouda, tomatoes, red onions, and baby spinach.

Side dish: blanched baby potatoes, fried up in the same delicious beefy juices that the burgers gave off, with another healthy sprinkle of herbes de Provençe.

The finished product, with some asparagus to assuage my guilt.  Don't lie, you want to sink your teeth into this (barring vegetarianism, of course...)

Et voilà.  My day in food.  This obsession with preparation and photography continued into the next day, but I'll leave that for another time.  Like any proper foodie, I'm off to peruse the offerings at the fantastic seasonal outdoor market in St. Norbert.  Those Hutterites sure know how to grow their veggies, no doubt about it... and maybe this time, I'll spring for some bison meat and really get into the Prairie flavour.

To quote my nerdy/foodie crush, Alton Brown, I bid you good eating ;)  Cheers!
-Honeybee