Spinach Gnocchi

When I was younger, I actually would go over to the neighbors house every Friday since that was their gnocchi day and gnocchi just was not something we ate at home. I thought it was incredibly exotic (my mom ate stuff like chicken mole, gorditas, and enchiladas - how boring). I'm sure they were store bought, because I seem to remember them being a bit chewy, topped with a can of red sauce, but at the age of eight, with my discerning palette, I thought they were totally the best. thing. ever.

Fast forward about 10 years and I tried making some pre-made gnocchi remembering my love of it as a child. Sadly, the stuff from the grocery store was just not that good. Now, almost 20 years later, I decided to try my hand at making them from scratch. It's not a complicated process and I'm sure it would get speedier the more that I work at it. As it was, it took me about an hour and a half, but I'll be reaping the rewards for some time (we froze seven dinners worth and ate one that night), so I'm okay with it.

Cooked up in salted boiling water until they floated with an optional sizzle in a skillet, topped with either butter and grated cheese or your favorite sauce and you've got a flavorful, light and airy dough ball dinner. And as much as I love love love potato gnocchi, these spinach gnocchi can alleviate some of the guilt that you might get from eating a meal consisting solely of carbs. But (in my opinion, of course) I think that occasionally indulging in something delicious and not insanely healthful is nothing you should feel guilty over. But if you are tinged with guilt, remember, you're eating vegetables too!

Spinach Gnocchi

Ingredients:
Spinach, 12 oz
1 3/4 lb potatoes
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

Begin by cooking your potatoes, until soft, in salted boiling water. This should take about 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes. While the potatoes are cooking, wilt the spinach in a large saute pan or pot. Once all the leaves have turned a darker green color and have completely wilted, remove from the heat. Once cooled, squeeze any remaining water from the leaves and chop fine. 

Once the potatoes are done, drain them and then mash. I used a potato ricer to get a finer texture, but you could also use a regular masher or fork. Add the flour, egg yolks and spinach to the potato mixture and season with salt. Then get in there and get dirty. With some additional flour standing by, begin to knead the mixture until it is incorporated together. It will still be a bit sticky, so keep whatever surface you are working on well floured. 

Break the large dough ball into smaller, easy to handle sizes to begin rolling into logs. Roll the logs into 2/3" diameter and then cut out the individual gnocchi (with a sharp knife!) to about 1/2 in length. Flour the gnocchi so that they don't stick together or to the board while you work on the rest. Continue until all the dough has been used up. 

To cook the fresh gnocchi, boil some salted water on the stove. Give it a stir to begin a whirlpool effect right before you drop them in - this will prevent them from sticking together and from immediately sinking (and sticking) to the bottom. Once they float you can remove them - they are done cooking. 

At this point, you can top them with you sauce and enjoy. Or you can add some olive oil to a skillet heated over medium heat and add the gnocchi to that pan, giving each a nice crispy outside while preserving that puffy, pillow-like ball of dough on the inside. Top with sauce (this shallot cream sauce, for example) or butter and enjoy!


To freeze the gnocchi for later use (which will taste way better than the frozen store bought, in my opinion), place the floured gnocchi on a large metal sheet pan (covered with parchment paper) and freeze. Once individually frozen, the gnocchi can be placed in bags or containers to be enjoyed later. We put 30 gnocchi in each container to yield 2 adult servings. Boil directly from frozen.

Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is one of those ingredients that I like to use (because ya'll know how we love pasta in this house!). It gives us a little more veggies and just switches things up on occasion. I've tried this squash with plenty of sauces, but my absolute favorite is this recipe.

Baked Spaghetti Squash with Vodka Sauce

Ingredients:
1 small spaghetti squash
1 recipe Vodka Sauce (recipe below)
1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)
1/2 lb Italian turkey sausage, cooked into crumbles (optional)
Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

To bake the squash, you'll need to cut it in half lengthwise. Please only attempt to do this with a sharp knife as the squash is rather hard to cut and I don't want you all to get maimed.

Once cut, scrape out the seeds and the stringy portions from the center of the squash. You can reserve the seeds and bake them as you would pumpkin seeds (or toss them, your choice). Rub some oil onto a baking sheet and place the squash cut side down onto the baking sheet. Bake in a 350 F oven for about 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender and can be punctured easily with a fork or butter knife.

Remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool slightly before handling. When it is cool enough to touch (you can also use an oven mitt or oven-safe glove like I do because I am not quite so patient at this point), scrape the insides of the squash with a fork and remove the pasta-like strands. Place the strands of squash in a large bowl or smaller serving-size bowls and top with the vodka sauce. I like to serve with a bit of grated pecorino romano, chiffonade basil and a wedge of lemon which I find breaks up all the sweet flavors of the sauce and squash. Another option is to top with sausage crumbles; the heat from the sausage also compliments the sweetness of the vodka sauce & squash.

Vodka Sauce
adapted slightly from this Food Network recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 c. vodka

3/4 c. heavy cream, at room temperature

3/4 c. grated Pecorino Romano 

In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add the celery and carrot and continue to cook until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cans of tomatoes and bay leaves and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the bay leaf and adjust seasonings.

Stir in the vodka and reduce by a quarter, stirring often. Once reduced, stir in the cream and then the cheese. Stir to combine. Once heated through, you can serve or allow to cool to room temperature before freezing. The sauce can be frozen for up to 6 months.

Stuffed Artichokes

I made this up for dinner when Nick was feeling under the weather. I needed something quick and easy and full of pantry staples because a trip to the store was not happening. It was a great light meal in and of itself, or could be served as a side or appetizer.

Stuffed Artichoke

Ingredients:
2 artichokes
2 bay leaves
salt
1/3 c. yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
pepper
pinch oregano
2/3 c. diced tomato, canned
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 c Pecorino Romano
1 1/2 c. bread crumbs
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add two bay leaves and some salt to season the water. Add in prepped artichokes* and prepped stems** (optional). Continue to boil lightly with the lid on until you can stick a fork through the base (about 25 minutes).

While the chokes are boiling, prepare the stuffing. Start by heating the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are just soft and transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute. At this point, check to see if the stems are cooked through. If they are, remove them from the water and dice (be careful they are hot - I held mine with tongs while I sliced), then add to the onion mixture. (If they need a few minutes, add them in after the tomato). Add the tomato and stir, continue to cook until the mixture reduces. Add pepper and dried oregano to taste. Once reduced to the desired consistency, reduce the heat to low.

In another pan, melt the butter and olive oil together and heat over medium low heat. Toss in the bread crumbs and toast.

Once toasted, remove from the heat and toss in the cheese and parsley. Add the bread crumb mixture to the tomato-onion mixture and stir to combine the two.

Once the artichokes are done, remove them from the water and sit, facing down on a towel or in a colander to drain and cool. Once cool enough to touch, open up the leaves just enough to get to the center leaves. Pull out those little leaves until you can see the bottom fuzzy parts. Grab a spoon and scrape (gently!) the fuzzy part out of the center, leaving the solid, fleshy part (aka, the best part).

Once the center has been cleaned of all the fuzzies, add in the stuffing. I first add to the center portion and then fill in between each of the leaf layers. Once both have been stuffed, place the artichokes into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. This will re-heat the chokes and crisp up the outer edges of the stuffing.

Remove from the oven and serve.

* To prep the artichokes, cut the stem around the base of the plant. Also cut off the about 3/4" below the top point. I also like to trim (with kitchen shears) the pointy end of each leaf.

**I also save the stems, cutting off the very end that's usually brown and slicing off the green woody parts vertically until I reach the tender white inside of the stalk. It is only really worth it if the stems are thick.

Pasta Rustica

Nick went on and on about Pasta Rustica for quite some time. I, being the ignorant non-Italian, had no idea what Pasta Rustica was. So, when I put it on the weekly menu, I needed a starting point. I turned to his family cookbook and grabbed his Aunt Denise's recipe.

Making up the weekly grocery list, I realized that almost all of the ingredients were what we consider pantry items, so we actually didn't need anything for this recipe. I already liked it. Any recipe that can be made with easily found on hand pantry staples is one I love. I do like to experiment with odd ingredients and ethnic cuisines, but there is definitely something to be said for pantry recipes. I love to have these types of recipes as fall backs in case I'm stuck late at work or realize that I forgot an ingredient for another recipe I was planning to make.

And especially one this delicious. The creaminess of the cheeses, the spicy flavors of the sausage and  topped with sauce tastes like a crispy version of lasagna, but so much easier to prepare. It also freezes well, so don't let any of those leftovers go to waste!

Pasta Rustica
serves 6-8

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed (we used Nick's homemade pork sausage)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes in puree (tomatoes coarsely chopped and puree reserved)
salt, to taste
1 lb. penne pasta
1 1/4 c. ricotta cheese (we used re-hydrated Ricotta Salata)
2 c. Landana Mild Goat Cheese**
1/2 c. grated Pecorino Romano

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large dutch oven, over medium heat, warm oil. Add onion and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring for about 1 minute. Add sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite size pieces, until no longer pink, about 6 minutes. Stir in basil, oregano and red pepper flakes. Add tomatoes with puree and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 10-12 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Lightly oil a baking dish*.

Cook the pasta until barely al dente and drain well.

In a large bowl, toss pasta with sauce, ricotta and the goat cheese. Spread in a prepared baking and sprinkle with Pecorino Romano. Bake until cheeses are melted and tips of pasta are crusty (about 30 minutes). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

*We used one 9" x 9" baking dish and one smaller dish to freeze for a later meal. If you are making all of it at once, I recommend a 9" x 12" dish.

** This was a mild, semi-soft goat's cheese with a rich, buttery flavor.

Warm Caprese Salad

I threw together this quick and easy side one night when we were running a little late with the rest of dinner. I needed a side dish to curb our hunger while we got the rest of dinner ready. Nick loves caprese salad (I mean, who doesn't?), but we had cherry tomatoes that were starting to go so I wanted something that could use them up.

To start, heat up some olive oil in a pan on medium low heat. While the pan is heating, mince one clove of garlic and finely dice a shallot. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and shallot and saute until the shallot is cooked through and turns clear. Then, add one pint of halved tomatoes and cook until they are warmed through.

While the tomatoes are cooking, slice off two pieces of chevre (mozzarella would work also) about 1/3" thick and place on plates. Top with the cooked tomato mixture. Sprinkle with basil leaves (we used purple basil just because it needed a trim) that have been chiffonade cut. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and serve.

This recipe was adapted from this recipe.

Champagne Asparagus Risotto

This is a great risotto, light but full of flavor. It compliments almost any protein and is delicious as leftovers the next day. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients (for four servings, trust me, you'll want to make at least this much!):


8 thin slices prosciutto
6 c chicken broth
1 bunch asparagus spears*
4 tbsp butter, divided
2 shallot, finely chopped
1 1/2 c arborio rice
1 1/2 c Champagne
1/2 c freshly grated Pecorino Romano
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Crisp the prosciutto slices in a 450 F degree oven (about 6-8 minutes). Set aside to cool.


Boil chicken stock in a pot. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and toss in the asparagus spears. I prefer to keep them whole stalks at this point (with the woody end removed**) since they are easier to fish out the the stock. Blanch them for a couple minutes, but don't over do it, since you want to keep them pretty firm and crunchy. Once removed, keep the stock at a simmer. Cut asparagus into 1 inch long pieces when they are cool enough to handle.

In a saucepan, melt 2 tbsp of butter. Add the shallot and cook until tender (a few minutes). Add the rice and toss with the shallot and butter. You want to toast the rice, so keep it moving in the pan with the butter until it turns in color from opaque white to more of a clear color (about 3 minutes). Add the champagne and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add the stock at a 1/2 c at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid in between additions. It's a slow process, but very worth it. Once the rice is creamy and tender, you can stop adding the stock and stir in the remaining butter, cheese and asparagus spears. Season with the salt and pepper. Top with crumbled bits of proscuitto and serve.

* I like to keep my asparagus spears in a water glass in the fridge. I find they keep fresher longer when I store them this way as opposed to a bag in the crisper drawer.

**To remove the woody portions of asparagus, hold the two ends of the stalk and bend, it will break at the point where the woody portion begins. Discard that bottom of the stalk and cut all others at that length (or break them all off individually). The tips are the best part (despite what my picky eater sister thinks!) so don't discard those!

This recipe was adapted from this recipe, by Giada De Laurentis. 

Beet Green & Goat Cheese Ravioli

Did I tell you? I got a pasta machine! Yes, after the hassle of making thin sheets of pasta with a water glass, I invested in a pasta machine. And this thing is wonderful. I love it. In one day I turned out 100 various ravioli to stash in the freezer for those "I'm too tired to cook" nights and even made a little bit of fresh spaghetti. So far, we've pulled the beet green & goat cheese from the freezer and made them as a side with our beef tenderloin roast. I love steak and goat cheese so this was a perfect combination.

This recipe is based on the recipe for the Goat Cheese Ravioli I had made before, but instead of spinach, we used the greens from our first beet harvest for the greens. It took a bit longer to steam the beet greens, and they needed to be torn apart because they were a bit large, but this basically is the same recipe. I love the fun pink color that it gives to the filling. Festive!

The other big change from the first ravioli recipe was the pasta dough. Remember I had mentioned the recipe from The Silver Spoon? Well, it uses a ton less egg (yay! even cheaper!) and took a bit more kneading, but was definitely lighter and more tender than the first recipe I used for pasta. We still had to tweak it a bit, since it was a bit dry, but I've listed the modified recipe here. Also, instead of the egg wash, I just would spray the pasta sheet with a water spritzer if they got a bit dry while filling. It seemed to work a lot better than the egg wash and kept the edges sealed well without making the edges tough at all in texture.

Ingredients (for pasta dough):
1 3/4 c all purpose flour (the Silver Spoon recommends type 00, but I have yet to find it)
2 eggs
salt
3 tbsp water

Fill a bowl with the flour and salt, or alternatively, place the flour and salt in a mound on your slipmat or non-stick surface. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and mix lightly. Make a well in the flour and fill with the eggs and water. With your fingers, whisk the eggs and being pulling the flour into the eggs. Mix the flour into the eggs until it begins to get stiff, then being to knead. Some of the flour may not be mixed in, that's okay. Also, add more flour if the mixture is too wet or more water if it is too dry.

Once it is a uniform, smooth mixture and seems well incorporated (about 10 minutes of kneading), rest the ball under a damp cloth. To make the ravioli, I divided the ball (it looks so small, it's deceiving) into 4 parts and rolled one at a time to make sure the dough didn't dry out before I could fill and seal the ravioli. I also ran it through the pasta machine a few times on the thickest setting, folding it over on itself afterward and repeating to finish the kneading and to prep the dough before rolling into the thin sheets.

Make sure to make your filling ahead of time (before the dough), so you aren't scrambling around while the dough is getting dry. I also found this, like the previous ravioli, to scoop better into the ravioli when it was a bit cold. So, toss the cheese and beet green mixture into the fridge while making the dough to get it a bit firmer in texture. Once the dough is rolled thin, place the filling 1" apart on the pasta sheet. Cover with a sheet of the same size. Pinch the air pockets and seal between and on the edges surrounding the filling.

Cut the raviolis apart and place on parchment paper or another non-stick surface. Freeze for later use, or heat in salted boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes.

I'll be posting the other ravioli recipes as we thaw them from the freezer and make them. Look forward to:

• Sweet Potato Ravioli (a whole wheat pasta!)
• Mushroom Ravioli
• Sausage Ravioli
• Chicken ravioli

and whatever else I can think up in the meantime!

Mushroom Lasagna

Who doesn't love lasagna? Creamy layers sandwiched between layers of pasta? This twist on the traditional lasagna (original recipe from Food & Wine) was not only delicious, it was meat-free. Nick adores meat, and so making a meat free meal is pretty rare. This lasagna, though, is a keeper. We'll definitely be making this one again!

Ingredients:

2.5 tbsp butter
1/8 c flour
1 1/2 c. heated milk or cream
3 cloves garlic, 2 finely chopped, 1smashed
pinch of nutmeg
6 lasagna noodles (we used no-boil to save a step)
1 large onions, diced
2 lb whole portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch basil, diced
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. Pecorino Romano, grated
salt and pepper

Melt 1.5 tbsp butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and incorporate into the butter, creating a rue. Add the cream to the rue and stir so that there are no lumps and the milk/cream is thoroughly incorporated into the mixture. Throw in the crushed garlic clove and nutmeg and simmer, stirring. Once it has thickened, turn off the heat and set aside. Salt and pepper to taste. In another pan (I recommend one that's deep), saute the onions and garlic in the remaining butter. Once the onions are clear, about 5 minutes, add the mushrooms and saute until tender. In a food processor, mix the cream and basil. Mix half of the cream mixture into the mushroom and onions and set aside the other half.

In a greased 9" x 9" baking dish, layer the bottom with the cream garlic sauce. Add a layer of lasagna noodles and top with the mushroom mixture. Add another layer of noodles and mushrooms and continue until the mushrooms are used up (I think we had 2 layers). Place noodles on top of the last mushroom layer. Mix the remaining cream garlic sauce with the basil cream and half the pecorino. Pour on top of the noodles. Top with the remaining cheese and bake in a 450 F oven for 45 minutes. Let rest before serving for 10 minutes.

Goat Cheese Ravioli

Remember these? Well, they were my first ravioli since my dairy allergy and I decided that I needed to eat more because they were so delicious. Since typical cheeses for ravioli, like ricotta, are no-go's for me, I thought to make them with goat's cheese, chevre to be specific.

Also, in our first go-around with the wonton wrapper raviolis, we were less than thrilled. They are fast, and easy, but flavor and texture wise they just weren't cutting it. Plus, they were a little hard to seal. So, this time around it looked like we were going to be making pasta.

So, I made some pasta dough. It was an interesting experiment, since well, we don't have a pasta roller, or a rolling pin for that matter. If you are interested in the pasta recipe, check it out at Serious Eats. It was a very tasty pasta, but I think next time we'll try the recipe in The Silver Spoon, since it seems simpler and uses less ingredients. Less fuss = better in my book.  I'll do a post on that when we try it.

Ingredients (for ravioli):
1/3 lb chevre, I used plain so that I could add flavors myself
2 bunches of spinach leaves, steamed
1/4 c pecorino romano, grated
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg
pasta dough

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate for easier spooning and shaping when filling the raviolis.

I rolled the pasta dough very thin (with a water glass). I placed 1 tsp of the filling on the pasta every two to three inches. I used an egg wash to seal the edges once I folded the dough over the filling (don't forget to squeeze out any air bubbles), but if your dough is moist enough and sticking together easily, it's a step you can probably skip.

Since I don't have a biscuit cutter or anything, I cut the rounds out with a measuring cup (1/3 c. worked out pretty well). Since I made them earlier than we were planning to eat them, I froze them on a cookie sheet until solid and then placed in freezer bags so they wouldn't stick together.


When we were ready, I simply took them out of the freezer and placed them into salted boiling water. Once they floated, I pulled them out, drained and tossed them with the sauce and served.

Ingredients (for sauce):
3 tbsp butter
2 shallots, diced
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 c chicken stock
2 tbsp heavy cream
salt and pepper

To make the sauce, melt the butter over medium low heat, add the shallot and saute until tender. Add the flour and mix into the butter forming a light rue. Add the chicken stock slowly, and stir often to avoid lumps. Add the cream, salt and pepper and cook for a few more minutes, without boiling so the rue doesn't separate. (If it does, however, a quick blend with an immersion blender should bring it back together).

We served them with a side of roasted asparagus and some fresh and crusty french bread.