Gnocchi

I'm afraid my cameras aren't really working well (of course it could be the photographer) so I stole a similar picture off the Internet. Ok, my gnocchi didn't look quite that good and I didn't put any great effort into the sauce, but still I thought it turned out quite well, but damn it took work. I remember watching Jeremy Neppl make gnocchi last spring at La Chiesa and he made it look so easy. Jeremy, if you're reading this, OMG!

Gnocchi (pronounced somewhat like neyah kee) is an Italian potato pasta. By the way, this is not a diet recipe! The gnocchi are rolled out on a little ridged board with your thumb. This allows the sauce to well in the thumb hole and catch in the outer ridges. Rolling the gnocchi out was the easiest part. It was milling or ricing the cooked potatoes that wore me out. However, I think a lot of my exhaustion is due to the cheap ass food mill I bought. Kneading the dough was fun. It was very sticky. I suspect I'll be washing potato dough off my fingers for about a week. Although I learned a tremendous amount from Jeremy, I used the recipe I found on page 56 in the September 2010 edition of Everyday Food. I didn't get Jeremy's recipe written down. I was too enthralled in watching the process.

The sauce I used was a sauce I make for homemade pizza. I just throw together onion, garlic, basil, oregano, and tomatoes in my food processor. For tonight's dish, I added a little olive oil and some salt and pepper. I heard somewhere that when you have homemade pasta, you should use less sauce, and think that held true for this evening.

I made the full recipe and froze 3/4 of it. And although I made two servings,and it was really good, but it was very filling. Half of it went into the fridge. I've heard that you can fry gnocchi. That excites me. I think I have to try it.

Although the gnocchi was easy to roll out, I did have problems with the size of my pastry mat and my counter. It says to divide the dough into 8 portions and to roll out. I should have divided it into 16. I had to reroll some of them to get them closer to the proper proportions.

By the way, my kitchen is a disaster area, and I'll have to clean it up pronto. Tomorrow my friend Ken is coming over for lunch and I'm trying something different. I'm going to grill split chicken breasts, but I've already poached them first, so I won't have to cook them so long that they'll dry out on the grill. I don't know why I keep subjecting Ken to these new things. He isn't fond of culinary experimentation.

The gnocchi recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
2.5 pounds russet potatoes (about 5 small) (I used my dad's home grown Kennebec potatoes)
coarse salt
1.75 cups of all-purpose flour plus more for dusting (a lot for dusting!!!)
1 large egg

Preparation
1. In a large pot, bring potatoes to a boil in salted water(I think Jeremy baked his); reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 35 to 40 minutes. Lightly dust two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets with flour; set aside. Drain potatoes and peel while still hot with a paring knife (use a think, dry kitchen towel or pot holder to hold them). Immediately pass potatoes through a ricer onto a work surface. Let cool completely.
2. Sprinkle potatoes with flour and 2 teaspoons salt, then top with egg. With your hands, work flour and egg into a dough.
3. Knead dough until smooth but not elastic, dusting with flour if it becomes too sticky, 4 minutes. Do not overwork dough.
4. Divide dough into 8 portions. Roll each portion into a rope (.5 inch thick and 24 inches long). Cut each rope into .5-inch pieces.
5. Gently roll each dough piece against the back of a fork to make ridges(I think the gnocchi board was a lot slicker and it only cost $5), then arrange in a single layer on prepared baking sheets.
6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In batches, add a few handfuls of gnocchi and cook until most have floated top, 2 minutes. With a wire mesh spider or a slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi immediately to the sauce.

Makes 8 servings. I'm not even going to bother with the calorie count etc.

One Stewed Chicken

The men in my family and a few good friends would cry if they knew how I misused good bourbon this weekend. I tried to smoke a chicken that was brined in a Jack Daniels laced concoction. I said "tried" because I don't think I quite smoked it as much as baked it on the grill. I had a hell of a time maintaining the lower temperature that was called for. And despite that, the chicken was wonderful. There were just enough hints of the Jack Daniels and smoke. I could still detect these flavors tonight when I made chicken noodle soup for myself with what was left over.

I decided to try this daring epicurean feat (at least it was for me) after reading how you can smoke foods on small charcoal grills in the August 2011 edition of Cooking Light The recipe that captured my imagination was Fantastic Bourbon Smoked Chicken on page 124. I learned that the tricky part is keeping the temperature in the grill low, around 275°. Most of the time I had the temperature at around 350°, and it really wanted to be in the 400° range. I think a big part of the problem was that I was impatient. I put the chicken on far too early. I should have let the coals burn down further instead.

What had happened was that I had planned on smoking the chicken Sunday night. But I've been fighting a respiratory infection for a while, and it got much worse Sunday morning. I barely had the energy to get out of bed, much less tackle this extravaganza. (I'm a terrible baby when I'm sick.) So, we (my friend Ken and I) decided to put it off until Monday evening. Which meant the chicken was kept in the brine about 36 hours rather than the minimum 18. Anyway, I also had an all day workshop on Monday so I couldn't start smoking until after 4:00. I didn't want to be cooking until 9:00, so I put the chicken on too early. By the way, the chicken is supposed to smoke for about 2 hours.

How it's done is that you pile the hot coals on one side of the grill and have a pan of water under the chicken on the other side. The smoking happens when you put different wood chips that have been soaked in water on to the coals. In this case you use apple wood. So, in theory it's easy enough. I do think I'll be able to pull this off eventually, but there's definitely a learning curve.

So, here's the recipe:

Ingredients
2 quarts water
9 tablespoons bourbon, divided
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 quarts ice water
1 tablespoon black pepper corns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
3 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small onion quartered
1 small Fuji apple, cored and quartered
1 lemon, quartered
1 (4-pound) whole chicken
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preparation
1. Combine 2 quarts water, 1/2 cup bourbon, sugar, and kosher salt in a large Dutch oven, and bring to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar dissolve. Ad ice water and next ingredients (through lemon), and cool to room temperature. Add chicken to brine; cover and refrigerate 18 hours, turning chicken occasionally.
2. Soak wood chips in water for 1 hour; drain.
3. Remove the chicken from brine; pat chicken dry with paper towels. Strain brine through a sieve; discard brine and reserve 2 apple quarters, 2 lemon quarters, 2 onion quarters, and garlic. Discard remaining solids. Sprinkle chicken cavity with pepper; add reserved solids to chicken cavity. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under chicken. Tie legs.
4. Remove the grill rack, and set aside. prepare the grill for indirect grilling, heating one side to high and leaving side with no heat. [....] Place [a] disposable aluminum foil pan [...] on unheated side of grill. Pour 2 cups of water in pan. Let chips stand for 15 minutes or until smoking; reduce heat to medium-low. Maintain temperature at 275°.
5. Coat the grill rack with cooking spray; place on grill. Place chicken, breast side up, on grill rack over foil pan on unheated side. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon bourbon and butter; baste chicken with the bourbon mixture. Close lid, and cook for 2 hours at 275° or until thermometer inserted into meaty part of thigh registers 165°. Add remaining 1 cup wood chips halfway through cooking time. Place chicken on a platter; cover with foil. Let stand for 15 minutes. Discard the skin before serving.

Bacon-Corn Chowder with Shrimp

Today, it's too hot to do anything. I'm staying indoors with the A/C, reading, watching movies, and knitting or crocheting...oh, I'll probably do some laundry too. Stay cool and dry.

I wasn't terribly pleased with the recipe I tried last night. The chowder didn't turn out nearly as creamy as I'd hoped. Perhaps, if rather than following the recipe if I had creamed the portion of the chowder with the half-and-half rather than adding it later it might have come out with a better texture. Actually, I think it might have turned out better without the bacon. The bacon seemed to overwhelm the corn and shrimp flavors. Oh well, when you're trying out new recipes, your going to end up with a few losers. This came from the August 2011 issue of Cooking Light, which sort of surprises me because they almost always have great recipes.

So, if you'd like to try the Bacon-Corn Chowder with Shrimp yourself, here's the recipe.

Ingredients

6 slices center-cut bacon chopped
1 cup prechopped onion
1/2 cup prechopped celery
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
3/4 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1/3 cup half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preparation
1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add bacon to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until the bacon begins to brown. Remove 2 slices bacon. Drain on paper towels. Add onion and next 3 ingredients (through minced garlic) to pan, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add corn, and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth; bring to a boil, and cook for 4 minutes.

2. Place 2 cups of corn mixture in a blender. Removed the center piece of of blender lid (to allow steam to escape), and secure lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in the blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Return pureed corn mixture to pan. Stir in shrimp; cook 2 minutes or until shrimp are done. Stir in half-and-half, pepper and salt. Crumble reserved bacon over soup. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 2/3 cups).

Calories 294; Fat 7grams; Protein 26.8 grams; Carbs 34.8 grams; Fiber 4.3 grams;

Time Swimming by

I'm sorry that I haven't written for months and months. To be honest, I haven't been cooking that much either. I have been doing a lot of swimming this summer. I try to swim at least 4 times a week an hour at a time. I've also been working on some other projects. I've been knitting and crocheting, and I've been working on a longer piece of fiction. It's been a busy though not especially remarkable summer. My garden is doing well, and I'm really looking forward to a lot of fresh garden tomatoes.

Once the weather cools off and my schedule gets back to normal, I'm sure I'll get back to trying new recipes and getting back on the blog on a more regular basis. It may not be every day or even once a week, but I don't think so many months will pass before I get back to it. Actually, I think I'll try a new recipe tonight, but I won't write about it until tomorrow.

Sorry for the long absence.

Wine Diet

In my last entry, I mentioned Mari's "Wine-d Down" parties. They are a lot of fun, but I really overdid it on Saturday. I know it's not a good idea to overindulge like that on a regular basis, but I think every once in a while everyone should blow off some steam. Believe it or not, my job is pretty intense. I have students communicating with me constantly. So, in a way, this is a good occasional occurrence.

However, one unforeseen consequence of this hell raising has been that it's affected my appetite. Only now, 3 days later, am I finding myself hungry in the least. But, by this time, I've grown comfortable again with a slight gnawing in my stomach. So, I've been eating very small meals. In addition, I've been walking a lot! I walk to and from school which is a little over a mile one way, and then I walk Joey twice a day. I don't know how far our regular route is, but I've guesstimated that I've been walking about 3.5 miles a day, and sometimes farther if I run an errand in the process. In addition, I've been starting to work on the yard...which looks like a long process. My lilacs really took a beating this winter. I have a lot of dead wood to clear. So, if it's not apparent, I'm burning off far more calories than I'm consuming. I expect the weight is dropping off. But I haven't been weighing either. I'm going to base my progress based on how my clothes fit.

For now, I've given up the "diets." I'm just going to try to eat light and exercise more. If I find myself drifting into my old bad habits, I might need to put myself back into a more regimented program, but I'd like to try this for a while.

Wish me luck, or maybe "Cheers!"

House Cleansing

A week ago last Saturday, my friend Mari had a house cleansing. She had a rather tempestuous break up and divorce. She brought family members and friends together to help cleanse her house emotionally. I think it was a great success. The peals of laughter virtually shook the roof and those bad feelings were forced out through the cracks...this is despite the fact that Mari does not know what direction counterclockwise is. For those of you who don't understand the reference. When cleansing a space, you use a smudge stick (a bundle of burning herbs, mostly sage)and walk around the space counterclockwise and go around any openings counterclockwise. The great thing about this kind and gentle type of witchery, the spirits are very understanding and aren't demanding task masters.

So wine flowed and food was consumed...that's where I come in. Mari asked me to make something for the occasion. We chose the menu because of it's light spring-like nature. We chose Chicken Oscar. I've had Chicken Oscar several times, and I love it. I attempted to find a good recipe, but none of them seemed on the mark to me. A Chicken Oscar is primarily made up of chicken breast, English muffins, crab meat, asparagus, and Hollandaise sauce. Not too hard. I think most restaurants grill their chicken, I'm not the slickest griller. But I do a bang up poached chicken. Real crab is very expensive out here in the plains. Besides, we don't get enough the real stuff to know the difference, so we settled on faux crab. The English muffins and the asparagus were no big deal. So, I made everything except toasting the muffins and the Hollandaise sauce before I got there. It was a little busier than I expected when I was cooking for anywhere between 9 and 12 people.

So, for a Hollandaise sauce I just went to The Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, on page 450 of the 1996 edition.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
3 beaten egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Dash of salt
Dash of white pepper

Preparation
1. Cut the butter into thirds and bring it to room temperature.
2. In the top of a double boiler combine egg yolks, water, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add a piece of butter. Place over boiling water (upper pan should not touch water). Cook, stirring rapidly with a whisk, till butter melts and sauce begins to thicken. Add remaining butter, a piece at t time, stirring constantly till melted. Continue to cook and stir till sauce thickens (about 2 minutes more). Immediately remove from heat. If sauce is too thick or curdles immediately whisk in 1 to 2 tablespoons hot water.

We're not even going to discuss nutrients of this stuff. In this case, who cares? I felt really good about the sauce. I had been told by someone in the La Chiesa cooking class that I had to worry about it separating. I've made it a couple times now, and it's never separated. That includes the night of the cleansing when I prepared a triple batch.

I think one of the things that helped with that success is that I have a really nice whisk with which I whipped the hell out of it, and rather than a small little double boiler that doesn't really allow me to whisk well, I used a big aluminum pan set on top of a pan of boiling water. It worked beautifully. It tasted good too.

As a matter of fact, I've found that it's an easy meal to make on the spur of the moment, but then I always have these ingredients around. When I make it for myself, I cut way back on the Hollandaise, although it is soooo good.

I should add that Mari's friend Barb brought this delicious salad with spinach, pecans, and strawberries. It was lovely. And Mari made these beautiful cheesecakes for dessert. We had the leftovers at the party we had last Saturday night. Mari calls these parties "Wine-d Down parties." The name is very applicable, and they are a lot of fun. :)

Dessert at La Chiesa

This afternoon was the last class of the series at La Chiesa. Today, Jeremy tackled desserts. He made creme brulee, biscotti, a chocolate tart, and chocolate panna cotta with a coffee foam. They were all fabulous, and this was the lesson with which I was probably most comfortable. None of it was too terribly new for me except the foam thing. I've learned from this lesson, that I can tackle a creme brulee and plan on doing so sometime in the near future.

I was so happy when Jeremy said he's looking at doing another series this coming fall. I really hope he does, and if you are any kind of foodie, you must consider this great pleasure. And if you are just looking for some really good food that's not zapped or just thawed and warmed, check out La Chiesa, and tell Jeremy that I sent you. :) Oh, and the house wine is great!