Gnocchi Parisienne

As for the gnocchi, which I made on the same night as the Chocolate Cookies with Grapefruit and Star Anise, I would recommend them to anyone, with a couple notes. The gnocchi turned out surprisingly well and the recipe was very easy to follow releasing us with hundreds of pillowy gnocchi which we sprinkled with parmesan cheese. But, as Micah pointed out, it was missing something. Meat. Usually, I eat pasta by itself, but for some reason I felt as though this dish did need some meat and the duck confit they suggested as one of the alternative ways to make it, sounded pretty amazing. Unfortunately, I don't think duck confit will be appearing to me any time soon so the next time I make these gnocchi I think I'll make them either as a side dish or with some chicken or pork. That being said, though not traditional gnocchi since we didn't make them with potatoes, these gnocchi were delicious and not too hard to make.

Gnocchi Parisienne
(recipe found in Robert Sinskey Vineyards Book) apparently goes well with Pinot Noir (oh the perks of working for a winery)
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup water
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter; pluss additonal for serving
2 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan plus additional for serving
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions
1) Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan.
2) Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour
3) Return the pan to medium high heat and stir until batter pulls away from the side of the pan. Scrape into the bowl of a standing mixer. Turn the mixer on and allow the paddle to cool the dough slightly for about a minute
4) On low speed, add the eggs one by one. After each egg is added increase the speed to medium and beat until the egg is incorporated. The eggs may also be beaten in by hand. Beat well after all eggs have been added. (We, or Dan rather, beat it by hand and it worked fine)
5) Add the grated cheese and herbs. Beat until well incorporated.
6) Spoon the batter into a large piping bag fitted with a ½ inch wide tip. Place a rubber band tightly around the open end of the bag to prevent the batter from squishing out the back end. (This part is critical for squeezing the gnocchi out quickly and evenly)
7) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Squeeze the bag 6-inches from the top until about ½ inch length of batter is exposed. Dip the tip of a small knife into the boiling water and using the flat edge of the piping tip as a guide, cut the small nub of batter off the tip. Repeat rapidly until the pot is filled with gnocchi. The dough will rise quickly to the top of the pan. Let them cook for 30 seconds then scoop them out with a slotted spoon and move them to a large plate. Continue until all of the batter is used up.
8) Serve gnocchi with a generous amount of butter and finely grated Parmesan.

Variations
Brown Butter Gnocchi Parisienne:
Heat a large non-stick sauté pan over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and brown lightly. Add the gnocchi and sauté until golden and crisp. Serve as a side for roasted meats and chicken

Gnocchi Parisienne with Wild Mushroom and Duck Confit
Saute gnocchi as for the brown butter gnocchi. Add 1 cup sauteed wild mushrooms and 1 cup shredded duck confit at the end and heat throughly

Gnocchi Parisienne with Fried Sage and Sausage
Heat 16 large sage leaves with the butter until the butter starts to brown. Add the gnocchi and sauté until golden. Add 1 cup of crumbled cooked sweet sausage and heat throughly.

Chocolate cookies with grapefruit and star anise

It was fate. I went home for my mom's birthday and she just happened to have star anise which I had been looking for since I saw this recipe back in February and then when I came back to California, I walked into my aunt's house to be greeted by a large grapefruit. I first thought it was a pomelo because of its size but it was grapefruit colored and then my aunt confirmed that indeed it was a massive grapefruit. The two main ingredients I had been looking for to make these cookies had simply fallen into my lap. So with my aunt out of town I asked my friends if they wanted to make dinner of Gnocchi parsisienne and then decided I would make these cookies from The Bitten Word.

While I (predictably) overcooked these cookies at first, I would suggest undercooking them because it keeps them moist and bursting with flavor. I recommend, if your friends are of the picky type, not telling them what's in these cookies. If they're picky the ingredients (namely star anise with it's licorice flavor) might turn them off. However, without knowing the ingredients, one of my friends asked if there was some raspberry in there. Yum. That being said, I don't think these cookies are for everyone since the flavor is quite unique but if you stumble on some star anise and already have a spice grinder, (which I didn't and had to make a run to the store to buy one) then I would try making these these cookies.

Chocolate cookies with grapefruit and star anise

Ingredients
8oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, diced
1 teaspoon plus ¼ cup sugar
3 whole star anise (this produces a pretty intense flavor I might use 2 instead)
¼ cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2-4 teaspoons finely grated grapefruit peel

Directions
1) Combine chocolate and butter in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 10-second intervals until chocolate is almost melted; remove and stir until melted and smooth. Finely grind 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 star anise in spice mill or small coffee grinder. Transfer to small bowl; whisk in flour, cocoa, coarse salt, and baking powder.

2) Beat remaining 1/4 cup sugar, eggs, honey, and grapefruit peel in large bowl until thick and smooth. Fold in chocolate, then dry ingredients. Cover bowl; chill batter until cold and firm, at least 45 minutes and up to 1 day.

3) Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 2 inches apart.

4) Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until dry-looking and tester comes out with moist crumbs still attached, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheet 3 minutes, then transfer to racks and cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper

I actually think these cookies would be better with a regular cookie dough instead of chocolate. That would be an interesting thing to try...

Savory Peaches

So my mom wanted us to do something with peaches for her birthday that was neither a cobber, a pie or a tart. At a loss for what to make I eventually stumbled upon this recipe, from the guys at The Bitten Word, when searching for appetizers. It's supposed to be made with pancetta but Giant Eagle just didn't have it (shocker) so I decided to use prosciutto instead and I think it worked just as well. We got rave reviews on these and I think the sweet and salty combination along with the juiciness of the peaches was just right.

Pancetta (or Prosciutto) Wrapped Peaches with Basil and Balsamic Vinegar

Total time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

16 thin slices of pancetta (or prosciutto in its absence)

2 medium freestone peaches—halved, pitted and cut into 8 wedges each

Salt and freshly ground pepper

16 basil leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil


Aged balsamic vinegar, for drizzling (I don't think ours was aged balsamic and it was fine)

Directions

1. Lay the pancetta slices out on a work surface. Set a peach wedge at the edge of each slice, season with salt and pepper and top with a basil leaf. Roll up the pancetta to enclose the peaches.

2. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. Add half of the wrapped peaches and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until the pancetta is browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a platter and repeat with the remaining peaches.

3. Lightly drizzle the peaches with aged balsamic vinegar and serve.

Crème brulee for my mother's birthday

This past weekend it was my mom's birthday. So my dad, sister, and I knew we had to make something good. Dinner consisted of Appetizers: Guacamole, Peaches wrapped in prosciutto and basil, Two sides: Jicama, Spinach, Orange Salad and yellow rice and The main dish: Chiles Rellenos. Finally we had dessert.  I was scrambling to find something and finally stumbled upon this recipe for Blackberry crème brulee by The Cooking Photographer.  It was surprisingly simple but I managed to botch it somewhat. Don't worry it still tasted good. Just be sure to follow the recipe closely and add enough water to the pan(s) and maybe turn the heat up a bit since 300ºF is barely cooking.  Be sure it's just a teaspoon of sugar on the top too. This dessert doesn't need more sugar than it already (has because of the brown sugar at the bottom) so the sugar on the top is really just for looks. Also, use fewer than 7 ramekins or have small ones because this recipe does not make much. We only had 7 (who knows why) and it was barely enough. Now, with all those instructions, I'm sure you can make it better than I did!

Blackberry Crème Brûlée with Brown Sugar Sauce
Like magic, brown sugar makes it’s own sauce on the bottom of each ramekin.

Special tools you’ll need are 8 four-ounce ramekins and a fine mesh sieve (strainer). Also, own a blow torch or set the crème brulee directly under the broiler for just a minute or two to caramelize the sugar on top (or else the crème brulee inside will melt and the four hours you chilled them for will have gone to waste). 

 
Ingredients
2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 1 cup or so fresh or frozen blackberries
8 teaspoons dark brown sugar, divided
Sugar for brûlée

Directions
1. Place 8 four-ounce ramekins in a metal 9x13-inch pan. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and set a kettle of water to boil. (300º is barely cooking so I bumped the temperature up to 350º)

2. Place the heavy cream in a 3 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring often until just the point of boiling. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl whisk together egg yolks, 2/3 cup sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Whisking the entire time, slowly pour about 1 cup of the hot heavy cream into the egg mixture. Then pour the egg mixture into the heavy cream while whisking.

4. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large clean bowl. Place 1 teaspoon brown sugar into each ramekin. Place blackberries over brown sugar so they are nearly touching, but not packed. Slowly ladle cream mixture evenly into the ramekins, scraping all of it out of the bowl with a spatula.

5. Pull the oven rack out about half way and place the pan on it. Pour the hot water into the pan until it’s about half way up the ramekins. Bake for 35 minutes. Custards should be mainly set around the edges, but the center will still be jiggly.

6. Carefully move the custards to a cooling rack. Once cool, move to the refrigerator and chill for at least four hours.

7. To Brûlée: Sprinkle custard tops with about a teaspoon of granulated sugar and torch with fire until deeply golden brown pulling back the torch as needed so the sugar doesn’t char.

Picnic Morsels

So these tiny picnic morsels which I found on Cakespy have been on my list to make since last summer and they didn't disappoint once I finally got together all the ingredients to make them. I thought they would be rather ordinary cookies just piled with different ingredients but they were pretty good to me because of the brown sugar. This recipe uses only brown sugar and maybe it's our terrible pans but I found the brown sugar somewhat caramelized on the bottoms of these cookies adding yet another dimension of flavor to these simple little things. I also liked that they were small and bite sized but, that could be a dangerous thing too...

Picnic Morsels

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups regular flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup melted butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

2/3 cup milk chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped almonds

3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, stir in the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients until well blended, then add the chips, almonds, and apricots.
3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should be golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

4. Enjoy, preferably at a picnic.

 

Build me up, Buttercup

Why do you build me up (Build me up) Buttercup baby just to let me down (Let me down) and mess me around. And then worst of all (Worst of all) you never call baby when you say you will (Say you will) But I love you still....

Okay so that was the first thing that ran through my head when I saw the name of these adorable and delicious breakfast buttercups and let me say, they didn't let me down, not one bit. They actually turned out even better than I expected.

I was so excited the other day when I saw Micah making the beginnings of a ham and cheese sandwich on white squishy bread and I realized that we had muffin tins. Finally! Which meant I could take those couple of simple ingredients and turn them into the adorable buttercups you see in the pictures. They're super simple to make and let me just say this, if you don't believe they were good, just ask Ross (in the picture). We only had enough ingredients to make four of these delicious little things and Ross was one of the lucky chosen ones to get one. Being the nice guy he is he decided to share with Alex. A decision that he immediately regretted. Poor Ross. I guess we'll just have to make more of these next time.  

Breakfast Buttercups

Ingredients

10 medium eggs (I think we used large eggs and it still worked)

10 slices of squishy white sandwich bread, crusts removed.

4 tablespoons butter, melted

10 thin slices deli Swiss or cheddar cheese (about 5 oz)

5 thin slices of ham (about 5 oz), halved crosswise

Salt and pepper

Cooking spray

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place eggs in large bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let sit 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, roll bread as thin as possible with rolling pin.  Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray, so any egg white that leaks out doesn't bake onto the pan, and press into 10 perimeter cups of the muffin tin, leaving 2 center cups empty.  Brush bread cups with melted butter and bake until light golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. (or if you're ghetto like us and don't have a pastry brush, drizzle the butter on, it works just as well)

3. Top each cheese slice with ham slice. Make cut from center to 1 side of each stack. Fold each ham and cheese stack into cone and press into toasted cup. Crack 1 egg into each cup and season with salt and pepper. 

4. Return muffin tin to oven and bake until egg whites are barely set and still appear slightly moist, 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Let sit 5 minutes then serve.

One note though, they're rather large so you won't be wanting a side of pancakes with these guys (unless you're my friends who could still eat these plus an entire house). You'll probably want just a side of fruit salad or something else small.   

Red Velvet Cookies and Banana Muffins!

After many months of debate and being unable to decide whether or not to make a food blog, I’ve finally taken the plunge.  So behold, my first post.

Today my friend Micah and I decided to bake something.  Something with chocolate is what he said but then texted me at 2am and asked for a muffin tin (with associated paper cup things) to make banana cupcakes.  I conceded but then decided I still wanted something with chocolate (what else is new?).  So, looking through my recipe catch (aka an email saved with links to delicious cookies I want to try) I found these red velvet cookies and we made them along with Spiced Banana Crumb Muffins.  Our friends approved them as delicious and I hope you find them delicious too.

So I got this recipe from one of my favorite/funniest food bloggers and made a couple of changes to it, my notes are in bold.  Also, since red food coloring is enhanced by vinegar in red velvet cookies I decided to add it.  Only my friends had every type of vinegar in their house except regular vinegar.  Micah, who’s a chemist, suggested I use vodka and said it would work the same. So we tried it and maybe it worked because despite complaints by other bakers that their cookies were brown, mine were a nice reddish color.  Also, I baked these cookies for about 9-10 minutes instead of 10-12 because they were smaller than hers.  I would also suggest a good baking sheet because ours burnt on the bottom and I think it was because of the sheet we used.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from How Sweet Eats)

Yield: 12-15 cookies (if you make them about an inch they make about 25)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and combine until smooth. Beat in red food coloring.
3) Stir in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4) Using an ice cream scoop (or any other spoon), scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of dough and set on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
5) Let cool on sheets for two minutes and transfer from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.  Which we don’t have but instead used paper towels, which seemed to work too.

Now the muffins.  I’ve listed the recipe here but you might try the recipe itself because it has some great step by step pictures. 


Delicious Spiced Banana Crumb Muffins (adapted from Wiseblueberry)

Muffin Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 ripe bananas
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter

Crumb topping ingredients:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of cloves
1 tablespoon of room temperature butter

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375º F. Line the muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
2) In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
3) In another bowl, mash the bananas with a fork.
4) Stir the granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla into the mashed banana until uniform. Slowly add the melted butter, and stir thoroughly into the banana mixture.
5) Once the wet ingredients are thoroughly mixed and the bananas are mashed well (some pieces may still be visible), stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until uniform.
6) Allow the batter to rest for a few minutes as you prepare the crumb topping. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and 1 tablespoon of room temperature butter
7) Using a fork, cut into the butter and mix into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
8) Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each cup approximately 2/3 full.  Top each muffin with crumb topping.
9) Bake the muffins at 375 degrees F for 17-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. (I don't know if our oven runs hot, but we baked them for just 13 minutes and found them to be adequately baked)
10. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Well that’s it folks, I hope you’ve enjoyed my first post and knowing myself (I can barely manage to answer emails in a reasonable amount of time) there won’t be another for a while but I’m sure I’ll be making lots of recipes in the meantime.

Happy cooking!