Project Cookbook and the Weeknight Gnocchi

Guys, it is actually happening!!! The writing has begun. The cookbook is officially underway! I'm really excited about this project, and believe me it's been a long time coming. As a very young newlywed I knew nothing about cooking, literally nothing. Everything I know today I learned from reading. Reading cookbooks, and magazines, piles of recipes and articles. Long before the days of 24 hour food shows on television I spent many hours poring over books. The first real cookbook that shaped my cooking skills was the old 1980s red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. I never understood why it was called the "New Cook Book' really, but it is the one book every newly independent adult needs to own. Besides some pretty impressive recipes it also covers the basics- how to cook rice, make plain pastry, roast times and temps for meats. It's literally the elementary, junior high and high school of cooking compiled into chapters. 

As the years went by, my collection grew and I began to grow my skills in the kitchen and I started entering contests. I started to think to myself, hey I can do this, I can write recipes, I should write a cookbook! I kept folders of notes, and bought blank journals and wrote page after page of recipes I made up in my different kitchens. I was writing and still reading, new cookbooks come out all the time so I never ran out of things to read. Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines began to pile up at my house too. Scraps of paper became bookmarks and I learned more techniques and entered more contests and then friends started saying "you should write a cookbook!" The time wasn't right, but still I saved and filed and wrote, and cooked and baked.

Then several years ago I met my friend Ray. We had a mutual interest in food and started throwing around some ideas. We put together a group of writers and set out to launch an internet magazine about food in our state. We collaborated on a few social media groups focused on Iowa food, historical foods and eating out. We eventually started talking about cookbooks. Writing cookbooks, to be exact. Ray knew I wanted to write my own, and he encouraged me to do it! He was secretly hoping I'd go down the Iowa recipes path but that's not what I had in mind, and even he thought about writing an Iowa-centric cookbook, or compile one anyway. 

One day, when we thought we still had a lifetime to work on these things, my friend was gone. His passing left a lot of people heartbroken, and made me value the time we did have even more- talking about crazy food ideas, his hobo dinners and the time he ate some "wild peppers" he found and ended up nearly poisoning himself. I knew if there was ever a time in my life to make this project a reality, it was now, for my friend. For myself.

So here we are. Project Cookbook is a go and I'm working on it almost daily. In my head I have a vision, how I want the photography to be, the outline is working. I've got chapters decided and have been sorting through my journals and scrapbooks looking for the right recipes to include in the book. Because I am "The Baker" around here, of course there will be some pretty fantastic cakes and pies and pastries included, but lots of great entrees and appetizers too. I am really going to focus on things my family loved me to cook.

So let's talk about this recipe. It's definitely going in the book, and it's one of my favorite things to make. Weeknight gnocchi. Why weeknight? Because we are using a big time shortcut which shaves a LOT of time off the prep of this dish and makes it something that's totally doable on a weeknight. Who  doesn't love that? These are so easy to make you can even get your kids in on the fun, rolling and cutting into little dumplings. Let's make this!

Easy Herbed Gnocchi

1 cup dry instant mashed potato flakes

1 cup boiling water

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

butter

fresh thyme for serving

Combine the mashed potato flakes and boiling water in a medium bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl stir the flour, salt and pepper and thyme, crushing slightly in your fingers. Add the prepared mashed potatoes and mix in, using a fork or a pastry blender, until mostly combined, looking like small peas. Add the egg and mix in well. Knead once or twice.

On a floured board, roll out egg sized portions of the dough into half inch diameter ropes. Cut into bite sized pieces with a knife. Place on floured parchment on a sheet pan to hold until all dough is rolled and cut.

When ready to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the gnocchi in batches and boil until they float, maybe 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and continue to cook all. 

In a large skillet melt a couple tablespoons of butter. Add the cooked gnocchi and heat, stirring only occasionally until the gnocchi are golden brown in spots and coated in butter. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and serve.

I served my gnocchi with some pan-roasted chicken breasts, and it was easy to do. Using a cast iron or other oven safe skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of oil and butter until foaming. Season 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts with salt, pepper and fresh herbs of choice. I used thyme. 

Brown on both sides then pop in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes to finish. I removed the chicken, added another tablespoon of butter to the drippings and browned the gnocchi in the delicious chicken drippings. Oh. Em. Gee. Talk about luxurious. We will be making this again!!

REALLY Rockin' and some No Recipe Cooking

After all this time, we have yet to have a story about music. Well friends..... we are going to change all that right now. Those of you who know me understand my crazy love of heavy metal, death metal, dark and looming lyrics of hellfire and damnation, gruesome topics, war and disease, the hardest of the hard stuff, and amazingly enough, Lady Gaga. Yes, I am a Little Monster, and I am proud of it. The obsession took hold when she first came on the music scene. I had not yet heard a single song but I saw article after article about her in the London Daily Mail. The more I read about her, the more the fascination grew. Her crazy clothing. Her hair bow made of hair. Shoes that are mile high. I was so curious about her and eventually heard the song Poker Face. My bestie Ronda and I fell in love with the catchy songs on her first album and played them daily, usually accompanied by a round or four of Jager bombs in the townhouse we shared. 

The first album, The Fame, was firmly committed to memory when The Fame Monster came out and a whole new round of songs had to be learned, and learn them we did. Mastered the Bad Romance dance. Slayed it, and slurred it. Born This Way came along next, and by that time Ronda had moved away and The Chef and I had moved to the Little Lake House. Born This Way was filled with songs I just couldn't get enough of. The title track was a favorite, and I'd often belt it out at the top of my voice driving to work. Scheibe- loved it. Bloody Mary- crazy obsessed. It was after this album that I had my first opportunity to see Mother Monster in concert. My daughter Laurie, her friend Jim and I made the drive to Minneapolis on a pilgrimage to see our Mother in the Born This Way Ball. My life was complete that day. I cried when Highway Unicorn began and she rode onto the stage riding upon a giant mechanical unicorn. I died. I truly died, and went to heaven.

Artpop was the next album and once again, became part of me. Every song on that album was fun to sing and I learned every word. This time around when she came to the midwest my other daughter Debbee and I made the drive to Minneapolis to experience ArtRave. The stage was incredible- acrylic floors and waves and Lady Gaga walked all over during the show, singing and dancing over the heads of her screaming Little Monsters. Amazing. The costumes, pure amazing. Again, the songs filled my heart, Venus, ArtPop, Mary Jane Holland, Gypsy, every one was great and made me want to dance and sing, and I did so right there in the arena, with full abandon and not a care in the world.

Lady Gaga's most recent album Joanne is a collection of a totally different kind of songs. These songs are very personal to Lady Gaga and tell the story of her life and different times of pain and happiness, of struggle and triumph. Joanne is named for her late aunt Joanne, who is also her namesake. While the album has a raw, funky almost country vibe, the World Tour lives up to everything her fans expect. This time Laurie, Debbee, Jim and I made the trip again to Minnesota to bask in the presence of our Mother Monster. This show featured no opening act, we were plunged right into the heart of Joanne from the opening notes of Diamond Heart to the classics Bad Romance, Telephone and Poker Face, Lady Gaga just astounds me with her energy and stage presence. Again I cried as she took the stage, and screamed and danced and raised my paws when she asked me to. The show was over in a flash, and I felt so sad walking out of the arena. I do know that I will be back to see her again.

Because the Twin Cities are just three hours away, we didn't grab a hotel for the night. We hit the road and headed home. With good weather, and only a couple stops along the way, we rolled back into Des Moines around 3 a.m. annnnnnd crashed. The next day was a lazy day for me, The Chef's day off, so we lazed around and did very little. I needed to recoup from all the walking, dancing, and driving. So we eventually got to the time of day when tummies are grumbling but neither one of us really wants to cook, and we certainly have no game plan for the meal- what we do have is a package of chicken tenders and a package of frozen gnocchi. These things need to become a meal!

The gnocchi is a no brainer. Trader Joe's has again made it easy, and delicious, for me to get a side on the table in just a few minutes, less than five minutes to be exact. Having already fallen in love with the sweet potato gnocchi, I still had a bag of Gorgonzola gnocchi in the freezer waiting for me to try. I thought this would be perfect with a juicy steak on the side but chicken is what's available today. Following the directions on the package, all you do is pour the contents into a bowl or saucepan and heat. You don't add anything, not even water. Frozen cubes of the creamy sauce and the delicate little potato dumplings heat up in a snap to creamy tender perfection. I wish I had thought ahead and grabbed some fresh parsley from the garden- while these were ridiculously delicious and I will absolutely buy them again, they were pretty rich and needed an herbal note to cut the richness a bit, and could have used a pop of color. Flavor-wise they were awesome, perfectly tender and the sauce was creamy and had the right amount of cheese so that it wasn't an overpowering Gorgonzola taste.

For my chicken, I just went on a whim with a few ingredients from the fridge and pantry. I used a 1 to 1 1/2 lb package boneless skinless chicken tenders, but you could use breasts if you had them, or even cut breasts into strips or nuggets. Drain them well, place in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, then add 2 tablespoons mustard to the bowl. Use Dijon or a spicy deli style mustard- grainy, I don't recommend regular yellow mustard but hey, if that's your thing, go for it. Use your hand to distribute the mustard evenly over all the chicken pieces and  set aside. In a shallow bowl, combine half a cup or so of flour with salt, pepper, your favorite herbs and seasonings. I used a good tablespoon of Penzey's Bouquet Garni and a generous tablespoon of Emeril's Essence. Mix those together well. 

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add a tablespoon or two of oil. Dip the chicken into the flour, coating lightly and add the the hot skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until cooked through and golden brown. Don't crowd the skillet or you will have soggy nasty chicken goo. After I had browned all the chicken, I added a tablespoon f butter to the skillet and a couple glugs of Riesling- I had an open bottle I needed to use up. A quick sprinkle of bouquet garni in the sauce and dinner was served, drizzle the sauce over the chicken if you like. The mustard added a nice flavor to the chicken and the flour brought that crispy texture. Quick, easy, and on the table in under 20 minutes.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Easy Weeknight Gnocchi Skillet Dinner for Two

Someone recently asked me what my favorite cuisine would be. That was a tough question. I love so many different foods from so many different cultures, and I'm always trying new things and falling in love with new ethnic foods. To try and narrow it down to just one was difficult. Of course I love American foods, what's not to love about burgers and fried chicken and comfort foods? I'm part German so of course traditional German foods are part of my childhood and have a spot in my heart. French food is a part time obsession of mine, and so is Chinese/Asian food. Yes, I had considerable difficulty pinning just one down, but in the end, I went with........Italian. 

Italian cuisine is a lot more varied than many people realize. Sure, marinara sauce is a big part, but different regions of Italy feature many different foods and preparations. The Lombardy region is the "meaty" region- lots of beef and pork, along with rice and polenta. Gorgonzola and taleggio cheese hail from this region. You might find rich stuffed pastas, like squash filled ravioli and rich risotto. Calabria showcases a lot of Spanish influences in dishes. You will find seafood very prominent here and Calabrese pizza with sopressata. Campania is the pasta region, and relies heavily on vegetables in their dishes. Spaghetti alla puttanesca was created in this region, and has become a favorite around our house. Coastal Marche is another region where seafood features prominently in their dishes. Puglia brings olive oil to the world, and Tuscany uses many different types of legumes in dishes and you can find white truffle in many foods. 

With a name like Riccio, of course The Chef also loves Italian foods and given the choice, he would live on pasta. We prepare a lot of Italian dishes at home. Red sauce is pretty much a staple, and it's so versatile, why not make lots? Tossed with pasta, ladled over roasted meats and spread on dough and baked into pizzas, it's not very often that red sauce goes to waste here. Even Louie the Bulldog is a fan of pasta and pizza days. Louie gets his own serving of pasta and always gets a few bites of pizza. For myself, I prefer meaty marinara sauce dishes with beef, sausage, meatballs, or even just mushrooms, and The Chef's favorite sauce is filled with clams and seafood like shrimp or mussels. 

Sometimes we get a craving for pasta but maybe don't feel like making, or don't have time to make a pot of red sauce so we look for other ways to get our pasta fix. The Chef makes a mean creamy Gorgonzola sauce....... and it's prefect on top of a juicy filet. We also really like making our own homemade pasta. Pasta dough is a snap with a stand mixer, and a pasta machine makes rolling it perfectly thin so easy you'll want to make it again and again. 

Of course, special equipment is not required to make gnocchi- delicious little dumplings of dough. Usually made with cooked potato and flour, gnocchi can be made with all kinds of things- herbs, ricotta cheese, fruits or vegetables, to give the little dumplings a color and flavor to liven up any dish. They are super easy to make from scratch but most grocery stores also carry ready to cook gnocchi in the pasta section, vacuum packed with no refrigeration needed, and are awesome to have on hand for quick dinners. Whip up some sauce, boil some water- the gnocchi cook in about three minutes, drain, toss and voila- dinner in minutes. They are great as an entree or side. Today we are going to use the gnocchi in a super quick entree that's perfect for busy weeknights when the last thing you want to do is stand over a hot stove for a couple hours. Brown some sausage, add broccoli rabe and garlic, a handful of Parmesan, toss with cooked gnocchi- done!

For the Italian sausage, I used locally produced Graziano's traditional Italian sausage. I used mild- use as hot as you like. If you buy links, just remove the casing and crumble the sausage into the skillet. The broccoli rabe is perfect in this dish but it's not always available. If you can't find it, just buy a couple stalks of broccoli and cut into broccolini-like pieces. It will be just as delicious. 

The olive oil in my dish is Sinful Food garlic olive oil. It makes a big difference in the flavor of the dish to use a high quality infused oil. Get your Sinful Food oils by clicking HERE.

Gnocchi and Sausage Skillet

1 package store bought gnocchi, one pound

1 Italian sausage link, about 1/2 to 3/4 lb.

olive oil

small bunch broccoli rabe or broccolini, cut into bite sized pieces

4-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/3 cup butter, softened

pinch of crushed red pepper, optional

salt and pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to full rolling boil. Add gnocchi and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water.

Remove the casing from the sausage and crumble into a large skillet with the olive oil. Cook until sausage is browned and cooked through. Add the broccoli rabe to the skillet and cook, stirring often for about three minutes until wilted. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute. 

Remove from heat and stir in the softened butter and the pasta water. Add the gnocchi, crushed red pepper and Parmesan. Toss to coat the gnocchi. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle additional Parmesan over if desired. Serve immediately.

This pasta dish is so comforting and delicious and comes together so quickly you will want to keep this in your rotation. Just throw some garlic bread in the oven and whip up a salad if you like. It's even good enough for guests.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." As a Brand Ambassador, the company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift or something of value. Regardless,  I only recommend products or services I believe are of good quality and safe. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

The Pumpkin Flour Project Part 2- Pumpkin Gnocchi with Browned Butter

Way back in the fall I began an experiment I called The Pumpkin Flour Project. Somehow I got it in my brain that I wanted to dehydrate pumpkin and grind it into flour. Why not? After all, people are grinding all sorts of things into flour- grains, nuts, even acorns! I love cooking, experimenting and "winter foods" so I guess I thought pumpkins would translate into flour fairly readily, plus one pumpkin should give me at least a couple cups of flour to work with.

Pasta dough seems simple enough and fettuccine is a great size and shape to work with. I have a plan for that. But first, why not jump in head first and go for something big and with a level of difficulty many cooks shy away from- gnocchi. As I did my research on gnocchi-making I saw the same thing repeated over and over "too hard" and "too difficult." What might be a deterrent to others is a challenge to me, and therefore I decided that my first recipe made with the pumpkin flour shall be.........Pumpkin Gnocchi.

Growing up we were the only non-Italian family in an entirely-Italian neighborhood. I remember playing at my friends' houses and seeing many tablecloths spread with gnocchi to dry. Seems like everyone's mother made them except for my German mother! Now it's my turn to give it a shot and it's going to be an adventure that I hope turns out deliciously. 

To make the gnocchi you will need:

2 or 3 potatoes (Russets) washed well

1 egg

1 cup flour (plus more for dusting)

1 cup pumpkin flour

Fill a stockpot with salted water. Cook the potatoes whole and unpeeled until tender, approximately 20 minutes. Peel potatoes while hot and scrape/mash with a fork (or use a ricer if you have it) onto sheet pan. Spread out and allow to cool.

Combine the two flours in a bowl. 

In a large bowl measure out one cup of the mashed potato. Stir in the egg and flour until thoroughly combined.

If dough is too sticky, add flour a little bit at a time until no longer sticky. Roll the dough into long ropes, cut ropes into half inch pieces. Shape your gnocchi as you like. I made small disks and semi folded them. Spread out onto a towel that's LIGHTLY dusted with flour. Let them dry for a bit, as long as a few hours.

I'm not so sure I'm happy with the pumpkin flour. There were
quite a few bits that were like cornmeal and didn't blend well.

When ready to cook, bring pot of salted water to boil. Add gnocchi, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove to serving bowl and toss with sauce. 

If I were making regular potato gnocchi I might choose pesto or olive oil and Parmesan cheese with herbs to dress them. Since this is pumpkin and a little "autumn" flavored I decided to go with browned butter and herbs- sage is my favorite to use with butter and I think it melds well with the pumkpin. Easy to do, all you need is a stick, or half a stick of BUTTER. Yes, you get the NO MARGARINE lecture again. For obvious reasons- you cannot "brown" margarine, so save your money and leave that chemical and water nonsense on the store shelf and go with butter. Melt the butter in a skillet, let it heat and foam and stir very often until it has reached a nice golden color- medium heat is best, if you cook it too quickly you will burn the butter. I tossed in a clove of minced garlic with the butter too- I wanted to bring something a little more savory into the pumpkin flavor. Remove from heat, toss in a good palmful of minced sage and toss with your gnocchi.

So, I suppose you are wondering how the gnocchi turned out? Paired with oven roasted chicken breasts seasoned with fines herbs and sage and Brussels sprouts, they were not too bad. The buttery sauce with garlic and sage were the perfect combination. Like many people say, when making gnocchi for the first time, it was a little dense and chewy, but they were cooked well and the pumpkin brought in some sweetness but not really a pumpkin flavor. I will definitely try my hand at making gnocchi again. I want to nail that light and airy dumpling texture.

Stay tuned, because I still have pumpkin flour, and I promise, there will be a Pumpkin Flour Project Part 3, and it's gonna be HOT.