Eating local tastes good!

Today, we were busy. And tired. So tired in fact that Peter took a nap while I stared into the fridge and tried to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. Luckily, I had taken some ground pork (from the happy pig guy who delivers weekly) and it was defrosting. I then looked at the 8 Japanese eggplants we had hanging out in the fridge and the basket of tomatoes from the garden and started to throw things together.

Take some gorund meat (I used ground pork but sausage would be good too) and saute with evoo. I added S & P and some dried herbs but I'd skip that if I was using sausage. Remove it from the pan once browned, but don't drain whatever oil you have leftover. Chop a bunch of eggplant (we had at least a pound of the dark purple Japanese variety - fresh picked from our "farm") and saute in the pan for at least 10 minutes, letting them shrink and brown. Add a little S & P as the cook and toss regularly. Chop a small hot pepper or add some hot pepper flakes (I did both) and add them after the eggplant has reduced and softened. Also chop some cloves of garlin and add once the eggplant is very tender (so the garlic doesn't burn). Then chop a whole heap of tomatoes - I used mostly romas since that's what we grew, but any type would be fine, I'm sure. Add the tomatoes and stir. Reduce heat and stir back in the pork and the juice from that. Put a lid on and let those tomatoes soften and the whole mixture become tender - kinda like a ratatouille (how the heck do you spell that word?). Boil water and cook some pasta - a short shape that is curly will hold the most sauce. When the pasta is ready, chop a lot of fresh basil and mix it in. Then mix pasta and sauce and eat!

Yum yum. And all the ingredients except garlic and oil were local - or homegrown! Hooray!


Notes and Next Time

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Ingredients/Recipe

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Risotto

While in Italy, we had risotto a few times and raved about it each time. The first time was during our stay in the agriturismo in Assisi.. Later, in Milan, our cousin Guido made risotto for us. This morning, over breakfast, Peter came up with the brilliant idea to make risotto for dinner tonight.
The grocery store had nice looking asparagus and shrimp, so we decided to add those to the risotto. We started with arborio rice. We sauted shallot in some butter. Then we added in the rice and stirred it until the rice became translucent. Once the rice had turned, we added about a cup of white wine (we used a chardonnay from Australia) and let it cook until the pan dried out. Then we added about 1.5 cups of homemade chicken stock. We let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the stock had completely absorbed. After the initial stock, we added the rest in ladleful amounts, letting it absorb between each addition. Once the rice was almost done, we stirred in blanched asparagus and cooked shrimp. Then, after the rice had finished cooking and the asparagus/shrimp had heated through, we added parmesean.

Notes and Next Time

• Guido used red wine too
• peas might be nice
• saffron would be pretty
• cooked pancetta could add a nice flavor
• as could mushrooms
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• arborio rice
• broth
• shallot/garlic/onion
• butter
• asparagus
• shrimp (small bay or salad shrimp)
• white wine
  

Gnocchi, the follow up

So we had the gnocchi that Peter froze tonight, and they were the absolute best gnocchi he's made thus far! Certainly, I do refer to gnocchi in general as "little pillows of love" among other monikers.But I think the small amount of flour that he added this time really made them tender and delicate. They cooked very quickly, just a minute or two in the boiling water and they floated to the top. We tossed them with homemade sauce and topped with a little freshly grated Parmesan.


Mmmm... too bad there aren't any leftovers!

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce was the first thing I ever cooked once I moved out on my own. When I asked my mom how she makes hers, she said that you just cook the tomatoes until they were done. While this is great advice, it's not very helpful, especially when looking for ingredients, ratios, etc. Over time, I picked up some tips from my mom and Grandma, and can consistently cook a pretty good sauce.

In my opinion, the beast sauces start with pork. Sometimes I use a cheap cut, like a pork shoulder, that will be tender and soft after a long simmer (you can't really use something like this if you're trying to make a quick sauce). You can also use any other kind of meat, or veggies, or no 'meat' at all.

I started by browning the meat - in this case, hot Italian sausage - in a little evoo. I used our Les Crueset, which is heavy-bottomed and cast iron, and allows for even, consistent heat. After they browned nicely on all sides, I took them out of the pan and let them rest a little; at this point, they were not cooked all the way through.

In the same pan, I then threw in a bunch of chopped garlic with a little more evoo. I like to cook my spices a little too, so I threw in the oregano, thyme, basil and red pepper for a little bit. Before the garlic or spices got too brown/toasted, I added the tomatoes. I really like the crushed tomatoes, since they don't have many chunks and the juice isn't too thin. I also cleaned out the cans with a little water, which killed three birds (cleaning cans, getting small amount of tomato still in can out, and adding water) with one stone.

[When I was little, I always like my Aunt Nina's sauce more than my mom's or Grandmother's, because it was thicker. So when I started making my own sauce, I was intent on not adding water to thin it out. However, over time, I have come to realize that a little water is needed and the sauce will still thicken up as the water evaporates over the long cooking time.]

Once everything is in, I added the s&p and bay leaves and bring the whole pot up to a boil. Once it boils, I turned down the heat to simmer the sauce and added the sausages back in. I usually allow the sauce to simmer anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending on how much tomato is used. You will 'know when it's done' from 2 things: 1) the evoo will look cooked and will come to the top and 2) it will taste good.

I make 2 or 3 cans of sauce at a time, which is good for anywhere between 3 and 6 meals. The sauce freezes easily in ziploc bags and keeps for some time.

I used 2 cans of tomatoes for this iteration. We used the sauce for our gnocchi, but have enough for 2 bags in the freezer.

Notes and Next Time

• Taste is most important in determining if the sauce is done. You'll know if it's still raw simply by taste.
• We've been using the hand blender to blend up the sauce occassionally; that's a great technique and makes the sauce taste/feel lighter.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Canned tomatoes (I prefer the crushed tomatoes)
• Spices (thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaves, crushed red pepper)
  
• s&p
  
• evoo
  
  

Gnocchi

Yesterday, we made stuffed gnocchi, for which we needed to make a basic gnocchi. Kimberly likes to refer to gnocchi as 'little pillows of wonderful;' I agree whole-heartedly.

I usually use leftover mashed potatoes to make gnocchi, but we didn't have any this time, so I needed to start with cooking the potatoes. We used yellow potatoes, cooked whole, then peeled and mashed. I added a little evoo, but not much.

After mashing, I was worried that the potato mixture would be too dry. After consulting our America's Test Kitchen cookbook, my fears were assuaged. As it pointed out, the drier the potatoes, the less flour I would need to add, the lighter the gnocchi would be. This was great, because I've found that when I use leftover mashed potatoes, I always add a ton of flour, and the final product is pretty dense; I am always envious of the light gnocchi at restaurants.

As I added the flour, I certainly didn't add as much as usual, which I think would be good. At first, it wasn't coming together, but as I kneaded the potato-flour mixture, it became a nice and smooth, not unlike a bread dough, but with less bounce.

I then rolled out the dough in a small tube (diameter of a quarter, maybe), then used a fork to cut each little dumpling, maybe half an inch long. I then rolled each gnocchi on the gnocchi-board my aunt in Italy gave me (it's wooden, with grooves in it). It made nice little balls, with grooves, just like in a restaurant.

We didn't end up eating any plain gnocchi, I simply froze them (individually on a sheet pan, then when they froze, put them in a ziploc bag). When we want to eat them, we'll just throw them in a pot of boiling water still frozen; once they float, they'll be ready to eat.



Notes and Next Time

• Any kind of sauce is good for gnocchi: red (tomato), white (cream or butter), pesto, etc. One of the best ways is to simply drizzle nice evoo over the cooked gnocchi, then grate parmigiana over them.
• When we finally cook them, we'll put tasting notes in there.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Yellow potatoes
• Flour
• evoo

Stuffed Gnocchi

When we were in Padova over the summer, we went to a restaurant and had Stuffed Gnocchi; they were amazing. The stuffing seemed to be similar to a ravioli filling. The outside was a green potato dough. The contrast between the green and white was pretty cool. They were served in a white sauce, with arugula and cheese. They were pretty big - like the size of a meatball - so there was only 5 on the plate. We decided to try to replicate them at home.

For the outer dough, we made a standard potato gnocchi (see here). We kept it white; in the end, I wish we had colored it with spinach or tomato, to give the dish some additional color.

For the stuffing, we decided to go with a basic ricotta filling, similar to what we make for ravioli. We mixed some ricotta cheese with egg (to bind it together), some parmigiana cheese, chopped fresh parsley, grated fresh nutmeg, and s&p. We mixed it up, but we felt it was too loose to work properly as a filling, so we added some flour. It helped, but we didn't want to add too much, as it was beginning to change the flavor of the ricotta.

Once we had the two parts, we made little beds of gnocchi. We placed a small dollop of filling it he middle, then tried to close the dough around the cheese. It wasn't easy: the potato was uneven around the stuffing.

As we brought the water to a boil, we made a quick sage butter sauce: heated butter, fresh sage, and chopped spinach. It was really tasty.

We put the dumplings in the boiling water and cooked until they floated. After a test, we noticed they weren't totally cooked, so we let them float in the water for a while to ensure they were cooked through.

In the end, we had a nice facsimile of the the original stuffed gnocchi. There were some small problems, but I think they could be remedied through practice.

Notes and Next Time

• The gnocchi was uneven around the stuffing; we need to find a way to better close the pouches. The potato was a little overwhelming, hiding the flavor of the filling. I think upping the intensity of the filling would also help.
  
• The stuffing was kind of loose, but needed to be thicker. I think if we add shredded mozzarella or parm to the stuffing to help solidify it some. Also, less egg. And if all else fails, some flour or corn starch.
• I would have preferred a sauce with more sauce; the butter tasted good, but there wasn't much 'dressing' for the gnocchi. Maybe a cream sauce would work nicely. Also, I think adding some mushroom would be a nice thing.
  
• Coloring one of the components would make the dish more visually interesting would be good. Spinach, squash/pumpkin, tomato, etc, would be fun to try; depending on the season, you could definitely play with the color combo to reflect the time.
• These would be a fun dinner party food. They're kind of time consuming to make, but with a good color contrast, they are a fun food, with a fun surprise in the middle.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Standard Gnocchi recipe
• Ricotta
• Parmigiana cheese
• Egg
• Whole nutmeg
  
• Parsley
• Butter
• Sage
• Spinach
• s&p

Pizza

On Tuesday, I made pizza. We haven't been able to find any dough at the local supermarket (no TJ's or good bakeries in town here), so I've been making my own pizza dough. I enjoy making yeast doughs, and have been keeping a journal to help me improve my dough. I think I've come pretty close to mastering the pizza dough (unfortunately, the bread dough, while similar, has not yielded similarly good results yet).

I like the dough recipe from Caprial and John's Kitchen. I usually use only about 1/2 T of yeast, because I find the whole 1 T gives too fast a rise. I also use a lot of black pepper, with a coarse hnad grind in my mortar and pestle - it really gives the crust a nice taste.

I proof the yeast in a separate bowl, then use a food processor to do the initial mix of all the ingredients. I have found the the two most indispensable ingredients are the EVOO and the salt. Obviously the salt is essential for taste. I find the EVOO really gives the dough a soft, smooth texture. I usually finish the dough with about 5 minutes of hand kneading, until done.

I do the first rise in the oven. It usually takes about an hour (it was taking about 20 minutes with the full 1 T of yeast, which made for not very good dough). I then usually punch it down, cut into quarters, wrap in EVOO-covered plastic wrap, then refrigerate. The fridge retards the second rise until I'm ready for it. (I actually don't think the second rise is very important for pizza dough, but that's just me).

I take the dough out 15-20 minutes before I want to cook it, and gently flatten it. I don't push too hard at this time, because I don't want to tear the dough. After the dough has warmed some, I finish shaping it into about 10-12 inch rounds.

For our toppings we used 'crushed' canned tomatoes (uncooked), bulk Italian sausage (pre-cooked), sliced black olives, and shredded cheese (we had some pizza blend, which is mozzarella, cheddar, and some parmigiana).

We like to use our cast-iron skillet to cook our pizza, since we don't have a stone - it usually gives a nice crunchy crust. We use corn meal on the pan to keep the dough from sticking, which I think also helps with the crust development. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes in a 400+ degree oven for a good crust to develop and the cheese to become nice and bubbly. Optimally, we would have a 500+ degree oven, but our cheap-o over doesn't like such high temperatures.

We ended up with about 4 10-inch pizzas. We had one plain cheese, one cheese with oregano, one cheese and sausage, and one cheese, sausage, and olives. This is usually good for 2 meals for us.

It's really east to make your own pizza at home, especially if your supermarket or local bakery sells dough. It makes me sad that such craptastic places like Dominoes and Pizza Hut stay in business. I have to thank my mom for always making pizza at home and never subjecting us to those craptastic chains (the first time I ate Pizza Hut, I didn't eat the pizza).

Notes and Next Time

• I think freezing the dough at the 'refrigeration' point would be a good option. This way you could pull the dough whenever you want; unfortunately at this point I can't make dough without eating it right away. Some day, I will make 2 or 3 batches, and freeze it.
• I noticed that I used less flour than in previous attempts. The weather has become really dry here, and I think that affected the ratio.
• I really wish I had a stand mixer with a dough hook sometimes. The food processor is fine, but sometimes the dough is hard to get out. But I think I will never give up the final hand knead - it's really satisfying.

Ingredients/Recipe

• Caprial's Pizza Dough Recipe, with modifications:
  
• about 1/2 T yeast, to slow the rise
• greater than 1 t black pepper, for added crust flavor (I hand grind the pepper ina mortar and pestle, which makes it coarser and adds more flavor, I think)
• proof the yeast in a separate bowl
• hand knead for the last 5 minutes or so, until 'done'