Potato Gnocchi with Bacon & Pea Cream Sauce

For Christmas, Ross and I bought each other gift certificates. I got him a massage at a spa, and he got me cooking classes at the Chopping Block, a local cooking school and gourmet store. I was ecstatic (truth be told, I felt a little outdone). The hardest part was picking out a class to begin with - a culinary tour de Argentina? Basic Knife Skills? Advanced Meat Cutlery?


Soon enough, my pasta tooth swayed me: I'd take a gnocchi class. We would learn to make gnocchi three ways, with three different sauces. I showed up on a cold February night with the attitude of the fiercest Top Chef contestant (I tend to forget that not everything is a competition). I showed up prepared to sharpen my skills (and maybe even suffer some Gordon Ramsay-style berating) and, to my surprise, it was immediately apparent that the class was supposed to be (gasp) fun.


In fact, I was surprised to see that I was the only one in the class that had come alone. It was about 90% married/engaged/dating couples and 8% other pairs - friends, coworkers, etc. And then there was me. So I did what any savvy single(ish) girl would do. I ordered a bottle of red and made friends! The class ended up being great, and the gnocchi were amazing. It only took me 2 tries to really get the hang of it at home, and I'm really, really glad I learned. Because this gnocchi is life-changingly delicious. Light, fluffy, potato-y - and with a few tips, not that hard!


A few tips that I picked up from Chow.com:

1. Don't use too much flour. It makes your gnocchi heavy and gluey.
2. Don't boil them - cook them in simmering water.
3. Treat them very gently - like little pasta babies.
4. Don't overboil the potatoes - if they absorb too much water, they'll be hard to work with.


INGREDIENTS

GNOCCHI:
2 large Russet potatoes
handful of all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
grated Parmesan cheese

SAUCE:
1/2 lb. bacon, cut into smallish chunks
olive oil
2 large shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 c. white wine
1/2 c. chicken broth
8 oz. heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
frozen peas (a good handful or two)
fresh oregano, chopped
grated Parmesan for serving

STEP ONE:

Boil the potatoes with the skin on, whole, until easily pierced with a fork, but not overly soft. Peel them while still warm and push through a potato ricer into a large bowl. Sprinkle salt, pepper, Parmesan, and a little flour over the top. Mix together until the dough just comes together, adding more flour if needed, little by little. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead until the dough forms a sturdy ball, but is still quite pliable. Don't over-add flour.

STEP TWO:

Using a little more flour on your work surface, cut off chunks of the dough and roll them into about 1" wide tubes - just like making a Play-Doh snake. Use a knife or pastry cutter to cut them into 1-inch chunks. Set aside on a platter until ready to coo. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a simmer - not a boil.

STEP THREE:

Add the gnocchi, about 10-12 at a time, to the simmering water. Cook them until they float, then remove them gently with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate, making sure they aren't crowded and sticking together. Continue this in batches until all gnocchi have been cooked. Set aside and cover lightly with parchment paper.


STEP FOUR:

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, cook the bacon until crispy, draining fat as needed. Scoop out the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon, leaving a little fat in the pan. Add a little olive oil and cook the shallots until soft and beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping all the brown bits up from the bottom.

STEP FIVE:

Add the chicken broth and raise the heat until it's simmering. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano, and cream. Simmer until it's thickened a bit. Stir in the bacon and peas and cook for a few minutes. Reduce the heat and stir in gnocchi. Transfer to plates or serving bowl, top with parmesan, serve and enjoy!



If you're nervous to try gnocchi at home, don't be! Google some how-to videos and get cooking. Since they're really just potatoes and flour, even if you screw them up, it's not like you'll have to break the bank to throw them out and start over again. And if they turn out great, they may have everyone around you (including your feline roommates) opening up and begging for a bite.


There's really nothing more satisfying than eating a tender, handcrafted gnocchi that was handcrafted by - YOU! Good luck, eat well, enjoy life, and more soon!

Copycat Risotto and a Gorgeous Disaster

Has anyone else been following Project Runway like a hawk tracking its prey through an open field?


Remember a couple episodes back where Mean-a Irina accuses Althea on the runway of copying her Aspen look, and Althea claimed her voluminous sweater was based on her own original sketch all along? This was a classic case of who-thought-of-it-first. This kind of stuff happens all the time among creatives working closely with one another (it happens to me in my job, like, every day). You see striking similarities between your work and someone else's, and no one can quite figure out whose idea was the original one.


That same phenomenon happened in my kitchen the other night. I was thinking over the ingredients I had - collard greens, arborio rice, butternut squash, bacon - and it occurred to me that a Butternut Squash, Collard Green and Bacon Risotto would be lovely. Later, I was perusing NewYorkTimes.com, one of my daily staples. I was looking through the recent recipe archives when I came across - you guessed it - Risotto with Butternut Squash, Bacon, and Collard Greens. Had I seen that recipe before, and had it lodged in my gray matter, only to resurface when the time was right? Admittedly, I made a dish very similar to this a couple weeks ago on a random night in with my friend Sarah, but this exact recipe - collard greens and all - well, I suddenly understood Mean-a Irina's irate runway reaction.

Regardless, this risotto is delish, be it hacked or not.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BACON, & COLLARD GREENS RISOTTO

INGREDIENTS

1 smallish butternut squash, cut into smallish chunks
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper
4 slices natural bacon, cut into small pieces
1 T. olive oil
2 T. butter
1/2 small onion
2 small shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 c. dry Arborio rice
1/2 c. white wine
zest of one lemon
1 container chicken broth (the box container)
2 bunches fresh collard greens, washed and sliced into ribbons
10-12 leaves fresh sage, chopped
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese for serving (freshly grated)

STEP 1:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the butternut squash chunks in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast until soft and beginning to brown at the edges, about 30-40 minutes, stirring around a few times in the baking dish.


STEP 2:

In a large, deep pot, fry the bacon pieces until lightly browned. Remove from pot with slotted spoon and set aside. In another, smaller pot, heat the chicken broth, covered, over low heat. In yet another pot, boil some water and boil the collards in it for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.


STEP 3:

Drain almost all the grease from the pot, but do not wipe out (you want the brown bits on the bottom of the pan as well as a little grease). Add the olive oil and butter to this pan over medium heat. Cook the shallots and onion, seasoning with a little salt and pepper, until beginning to soften. Add the dry Arborio rice and stir. Pour in the wine, and stir, scraping the brown bacony leftovers from the bottom of the pan (trust me on this part). Add the garlic and lemon zest. Cook until the rice begins to look translucent.

STEP 4:

Add the chicken broth, about a 1/2 cup at a time, and stir constantly until the rice grains have almost completely soaked up the broth. Do this over and over until the broth is gone. Stir in the sage somewhere in the middle of the brothing action. About 5 minutes before you want to stop cooking the risotto (when there is still some broth to be soaked up), stir in the greens, squash, and bacon. Taste and adjust seasoning.



STEP 5:

Serve in shallow bowls immediately, and grate some fresh Parmesan over the top. Enjoy!


I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I don't post everything I cook on this blog. If that were the case, you could assume I only eat about once every week or so, and we all know that's not true. Sometimes, I intend on taking photos as I cook, then forget. Sometimes, I'm so hungry that slowing down to take a photo before I eat seems completely absurd. And sometimes, I just plain screw something up and decide not to tell anyone about it.


These pancakes, however, fall somewhere in a gray area - I did sort of screw them up (but I proceeded to eat them anyway). And despite the fact that they were oozingly raw in the center, they photographed beautifully. A second batch actually turned out OK, so I decided to post the recipe with the simple warning to not make the pancakes too thick when you put them in the pan. Unlike raw cookie dough, no one wants to eat raw pancake batter.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES


INGREDIENTS (not exact recipe I used, but a good recipe from Martha Stewart Living)

1 and 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder;
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

STEP 1:

Mix together first 6 ingredients. Get a nonstick pan medium-hot.


STEP 2:

Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Melt some butter in the skillet. Pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side; serve with butter and syrup. Makes 8 to 10.



Other than the raw first batch, these pancakes were a delicious fall indulgence, and so pumpkin-y! We all know at this point how I love a hot, hearty breakfast.

Thanks for reading! More soon...

Bacon & Olive Pizza

I'd love for this to be a longer post, but as it turns out, I am leaving for sunny San Diego, California, in the morning! Yay to the maximum! I am going to visit my best friend of going on (gasp! we're old) 11 years, Alisha. We became besties when we both joined the swim team in the 10th grade...I guess that would have made it 1997...yikes!


For some reason, the night before I leave for a trip, I can never stop myself from going out and pre-celebrating, which I did by having my friends Kelly and Lindsey over for pizza, then going to Kelly's boyfriend's (and my good friends') basketball game - the playoffs! And they WON - along with the Penguins and the Braves: surely a good omen.


We followed up the game with a little more competition at Trivia Night at a nearby bar, and we came in 3rd place...which meant "winning" a free round of shots...ugh. Let's just say we took them like champions. (What did you expect?)

BACON & OLIVE PIZZA

INGREDIENTS

1 ball fresh pizza dough**
about 1/2-3/4 c. pizza sauce**
mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
green olives, sliced
kalamata olives, pitted, sliced
6 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, then chopped into bits
parmesan cheese for sprinkling
olive oil
cornmeal for the pizza stone

**Use the recipes from this post.


STEP ONE:

Preheat the oven to 425. Sprinkling a little flour on the counter and on a rolling pin, roll out the dough until desired thinness. Sprinkle cornmeal on the pizza stone. Transfer the pizza dough to the stone. Brush with a little olive oil.



STEP TWO:

Top with sauce, then the mozzarella. Spread the olives and bacon around on top of the cheese. Sprinkle some parmesan over the top of everything. Bake until the cheese in melty and getting browned, and the crust is crisp and browned on the edges. Slice, serve, and enjoy!


Thanks for reading! More soon...

100th Post - Coq Au Vin (!)

Well, obviously I'm not making a one-hundred-year-old recipe for my 100th post....I'm making a THOUSAND-year-old-recipe for my 100th post!

Did I mention it's my 100th post? Yay!


Coq au vin was made famous (?) by Julia (Child, that is), but long before that, it was loved by Julius (Caesar, that is). Legends trace its origins back to ancient Gaul, but it has no doubt been a rustic peasant meal for centuries (thanks, Wikipedia!).

This recipe will be, I think, 100% organic (as I had planned to do for my 100th post originally). I got all the ingredients for it at the new, absolutely squeal-inducing Whole Foods at North and Clybourn (seriously, that place is a Foodie Palace). I have been promising myself I'd make Coq Au Vin for...I don't know, years now. I was going to make Ross pot roast tonight, per his request, but we ended up eating so much red meat this weekend that we made a last-minute change, and I decided to try to do justice to this age-old classic that the French do so well.

I did research several recipes (Julia's in particular), but I did a little editing - I am simply not in an economic state of affairs which would allow the purchase of cognac, for Gawd's sake, for one little meal (I am positive that I would never again use cognac). Plus, Julia says you have to set it on fire - um, PHOBIA! So this coq will just have to do without the cognac. There are a few other things I'm skipping, such as boiling the bacon (have I ever mentioned that I only have one functioning burner on my 4-burner stovetop? It's true), and using pearl onions (couldn't find them - so I'm subbing in a regular old onion, chopped into pearl onion-sized pieces).

COQ AU VIN

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
thyme leaves
salt and pepper

1 large yellow onion
1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
thyme leaves
1/3 c. beef broth
salt and pepper

4 chicken breasts and 6 drumsticks, bone in and skin on, rinsed and patted very dry
5 slices bacon, cut into thirds
2 T. butter
salt and pepper
1/2 T. tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
3 c/ red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon)
1-2 c. beef broth
thyme leaves
2 T. butter, at room temperature
3 T. flour
egg noodles, cooked until al dente

STEP ONE:

Brown mushrooms in butter and olive oil with thyme and salt and pepper. Set aside.


STEP TWO:

Brown onions in butter and olive oil with thyme and salt and pepper. Add beef broth, cover, and simmer until tender and beef broth has mostly evaporated.



STEP THREE:

Fry bacon pieces in butter until crisp and browned. Remove bacon with slotted spoon. Brown the chicken in the bacon fat and butter, seasoning on both sides with salt and pepper (if you do not have a very large pan, do this in batches). Return all chicken to hot pan, and add wine, broth, tomato paste, garlic, and thyme. Reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through.

STEP FOUR:

Remove chicken with slotted spoon and set aside on platter. Boil the wine/broth until reduced to about 2 and 1/2 cups of liquid. Meanwhile, cut the meat off the bones of the chicken. Discard bones and skin. (This isn't part of the traditional recipe; I just wanted to make it easier to eat for my guests - plus, a lot of people are skeeved out by chicken bones.)

STEP FIVE:

Mash 2 T. butter and 3 T. flour until it comes to a paste. When wine/broth is reduced, reduce heat to simmer and whisk in the flour/butter paste. Simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Stir in the bacon, mushrooms, and onions. Simmer until everything is hot. Stir in chicken.






STEP SIX:

Serve coq au vin over hot buttered egg noodles. Enjoy!



JUDGES' VERDICTS:

TAYLOR: A great balance of flavors. It almost ate like a beef stroganoff - egg noodles with a buttery sauce - but with chicken and bacon instead. The mushroom and red wine teamed up nicely as usual to infuse the sauce with a nice earthy tone.

The meal performed so well that I actually refrained from ordering at the Wieners Circle later that night. A pretty good compliment in itself. As a review I'd have to give this one only four out of five stars, since the chef did admit to using a recipe this time.

SARAH: Amazing flavor and so tender and juicy. Mmmm bacon fat. Even though that sounds fattening, I felt really good afterwards. Nice hearty meal.

ROSS: I would say this dish grabbed hold of my taste buds and shook them like they owed money. It was extremely flavorful and I wish I had some in my mouth right now. This was my first French fricassee, so my judging skills may not be apropos, but I like tons of flavor and hearty homecooked meals, and this is one of the best. It’s probably way too hard for you to make.

MY VOTE ON MY DISH: 9 stars! Even with all the step-skipping and lame substitutions, this dish was delicious (I can only imagine how incredible it would be if I had followed Julia's instructions to the letter). It reminded me a lot of a chicken-y version of beef stroganoff. I think that it's more commonly served over mashed potatoes, not egg noodles, and that would also be delicious (believe me, I'm going to try it out with the leftovers).

I'm really glad I cooked the chicken on the bone, but I'm also glad I cut it off the bone to serve it - I'd recommend that for any situation except for a dinner party, where you may want the aesthetic element of having whole chicken pieces spread out on a serving platter (this meal would be a great meal for "company" - it's complex enough to be impressive, but not so overwhelming that it would be stressful. Some creamy whipped potatoes and a salad and you'd have your guests raving. It also makes a lot of food).


This wonderful meal topped off a fantastic Memorial Day weekend with my better half in town, filled with food, baseball games, food, and more food!

Thus begins the amazing phenomenon that is Summer in Chicago!


Thanks for reading! More soon...