Gnocchi with Leonida's Sauce

Cara gave me a Biba Caggiano cookbook for my 25th birthday.  So many years later, it is filled with dog-eared, sauce stained pages.  We tried another Biba recipe tonight, and it was great.  Simple and great.  Here it is (I modified it very, very slightly, as noted below)

Gnocchi with Leonida's Sauce
1 lb Gnocchi
1 T Olive Oil and 1 T unsalted butter (original called for 4 T unsalted butter)
1 small onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 pound pancetta, cut into 4 thick slices, diced (I used 4 oz. pre-diced from Heinens)
1 cup dry white wine (Mark opened Toasted Head chardonnay)
3 T tomato paste mixed with 2 cups chicken broth, homemade or canned (I used boxed stock; next time, I may substitute with a can of whole tomatoes, pureed)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 T heavy cream (I used 3 T fat-free half-and-half)
1/2 t freshley grated nutmeg
1 C freshly grated parmigiano

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook 3 to 4 minutes stirring a few times.  Add the garlic and pancetta and cook, stirring, untill the pancetta is lightly golden, 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir in the wine and cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 1 minute.  Add the tomato paste and broth and season with the salt and a pinch of pepper.  Cook, uncovered, 7 to 8 minutes, stirring a few times.  During the last minute or so of cooking, add the cream and nutmeg and stir once or twice. 

While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add 1 T of salt and the gnocchi.  Cook uncovered, over high heat, until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water against the side of the pot.  Place the gnocchi in the skillet with the sauce and mix briefly over low heat.  Serve at once with a generous sprinkling of freshly grated parmigiano.

(NOTES:  1.  Next time, we will eat this with good bread to mop up the sauce.  2.  This tastes best after the sauce has cooled just slightly.  3.  This was great with our House Salad:  Romaine, cranberry, toasted walnuts, blue cheese and oil and balsamic vinegar.)

The Accidental Christmas Cookie

We blame this entirely on Betty Crocker.  Mark and I are no fools.  We've learned much of ourselves and each other in the midst of past baking disasters.  Like when Mark calmly and kindly brought me back from the ledge during the mini-christmas-eve-cupcake frosting disaster of 2006.  So, we started this cookie baking effort with help:  a pouch of no-fuss Betty Crocker sugar cookie baking mix.  Just add egg, water and butter.  Easy.  I turned on the carols and Mark started mixing the batter.  We would roll out the dough and use just one cutter -- a christmas tree -- and one decoration -- green sprinkles.


"@$#*^%*!!!" 


The expletive came from Mark, at the helm of the cookie batter bowl.  It is the precise type of expletive you usually hear when he's assembling TV trays or light fixtures with "poorly written" directions from some clever product engineer.


Apparently, Betty Crocker had two types of mixing directions on the back of the pouch:  one for drop cookies, one for cut-outs.  And, I have to agree with Mark, it was not very clear. 


It was too late for cut-out cookies for us.  Mark had added the butter for the drop cookie instructions, and you can't take extra butter out of batter.


So we improvised.  I was secretly delighted, as I'm not a huge cutout fan.  Mark added about a half-cup each of chopped dried cranberries and almonds (which we always have in the pantry for our favorite house salad).  We dropped about a half teaspoon of batter for each cookie, baked about 8 minutes in a 350 oven, and drizzled an icing we made from about a cup of powdered sugar, a little bit of milk and some almond extract.

Success!

Luxe: Cheese, Wine, Bourbon

Sometimes it's just better to go out.  We celebrated Jerry's birthday on Saturday night a Luxe in the Detroit-Shoreway area.  This place is just plain cool.  I had forgotten.  I don't know if they'd describe themselves as a gastropub, but I would.   Casual and cool bar atmosphere with fantastic food.  It was a fantastic birthday celebration.  The highlights:

1.  The Cheese Plate.  You'd have thought we never ate cheese before.  You'd have thought we never ate before.  We devoured the cheese plate for four.  Local honey, tapenade, roasted garlic, grapes, pears, apples, blue cheese, olives, walnuts, brie, white cheddar and a few other cheeses, all sitting together cozily on a medium wooden platter.  We fought over the very last blue cheese crumble.

2.  The Wine.  After a decent enough but unmemorable bottle of chardonnay, we went Russian River Valley for bottle #2.  We were so struck by how good it was (and it's gotta be a $10 grocery store bottle), that I actually wrote the name of the bottle down.  I never do this.  Always wanted to, but never do.  I'll keep a running list on this blog under wines. (It was Contrada chardonnay, Russian River Valley).  It tasted like carmel-covered buttered popcorn. 

3.  The Bourbon.  The expresso machine was broken.  (This is code for the wait staff is to busy to make you a cappucino, so leave us alone).  Therefore, we were forced to peruse that apertif menu.  I tried the house-made lavendar-basil infused bourbon.  Are you kidding me?  This stuff was incredible.  Perfect for after dinner; probably too sweet for before.  The herbs brought out all of the sweetness in the bourbon.  The fragrance in the snifter just before each sip was amazing.  According to the waiter, it was his idea.  He steeps Jim Beam with ground up lavendar seeds and basil in a coffee filter for a few days.  I'm not sure what he meant by lavendar seeds, but I'm going to look it up.  I've got to try thus (or just return to Luxe for more).  Mom and Beth would love this stuff!

Chicken Marsala Meatballs and Penne

I feel like one of those choosy moms that remains awake at night thinking of sneaky ways to add veggies to their kids’ diets.  I finally did it.  I have Mark eating mushrooms and he doesn’t even know it!

This week-worth-of-lunches:  Chicken Marsala Meatballs and penne.  I love chicken marsala.  It is one of my favorite dishes and I order it wherever it is served, pretty much.  I also love making it at home.  Probably because I made it once as a kid and the people didn't gag.  Everyone has a different version.  I like the slightly thickened version that retains wine characteristics in the sauce.  Problem #1:  Mark hates mushrooms.  He’s kind enough to pick them off the plate and still eat the dish, but that seems like such a shame.  You cannot, cannot, cannot have chicken marsala without mushrooms.  What's the point?  Problem #2:  I'm slowly learny that chicken breasts taste pretty crappy reheated 5 days later. 

Accordingly, here’s what I did:

Ingredients

1 lb ground chicken breast

1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

¼ cup pecorino romano, grated

½ cup chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley (or dried, I guess)

1 egg

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 shallots, chopped

1 lb fresh button mushrooms, stemmed and chopped

2 cups fine sweet marsala wine (buy this in the actual wine section, spend the dough.  It’s a must).

1 carrot, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chicken stock (possibly more)

2 tablespoons corn starch

Garnish:  parsley and pecorino.

Make duxelles with the mushrooms and shallots.  (I learned that term last year and have always wanted to use it publicly.  Done!)  Saute the shallots in oil on medium to medium low (watch; don’t burn).  Add the mushrooms, and cook to soften.  When the mushrooms start to brown, add salt and pepper to taste.  Then, add about ¼ to ½ cup of the marsala to deglaze.  Cook it down until the marsala is almost gone, leaving a syrup consistency.  Let cool.  Pulse the mixture in a food processor.

In a large bowl, combine the duxelles, egg, ground chicken,  bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, basil, salt and pepper.  Add more breadcrumbs if needed for a good meatball consistency.

Cook the pasta.

In a large non-stick skillet, sauté the onion, carrot and celery in a bit of oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Form meatballs.  Add them to the skillet to brown.  Once browned, add about a cup or so of the marsala, deglazing the pan.  Then add a cup or so of the stock.  If you want more sauce, add more wine, stock and salt and pepper.  Once it all comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover.  Simmer 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.  If you like the sauce thicker, make a slurry in a separate bowl with the cornstarch and some more chicken stock.  Add the slurry to the pan and stir.  Add the cooked pasta.  Divide in 8 containers for lunch.  This is about 5 points (who knows how many "Points Plus".  Aargh.)  You're Done.

Tender Beef Tapas

Mark and I concocted this with a bunch of leftovers in the fridge, but now we will make it for real.  It’s like a street café tapas meal.  Awesome.

Sirloin Beef Roast

Salt and pepper

3 Small Onions

Sweet Marsala (the good stuff, again)

Water

English Muffins

Crumbled Gorgonzola

Fresh chopped parsley

Horseradish sauce (Honeybaked store, leftover from Easter)

Maple Chipotle Sauce (Stonewall Kitchen)

A-1 sauce (or any other sauce that’s been hanging around in the condiment bin)

Peel and halve onions.  Let beef rest at room temp for a bit, like 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Toss the onions in a crock pot, add the seasoned beef on top, then add enough marsala and water to reach the beef, but not cover it.  Slow cook for 8 hours.  It will be tender enough to shred.

Toast the English muffins.  We used the weight watchers 1 point muffins.  On a small plate, place toasted muffins halves open-faced.  Top with hot shredded beef, gorgonzola, and a sprinkle or two of parsley.

The sauces make this.  Either drizzle them on top or pool them on the side as dippers.  The combo of the maple chipotle, horseradish sauce and A-1 with this is incredible.  The Stonewall stuff is pricey, around 8 bucks a bottle, but it’s darn good.