Go Go Gnocchi!

I've actually only recently come to enjoy gnocchi, and that's to say it's only been about 6-8 months. Not sure if I didn't get enough exposure, or it was a texture thing, but I wasn't a fan. I figured I would take a stab at actually making this at home, thought it was more complicated than it actually, time consuming on the other hand.

For this month's rolled challenge, I decided to make spinach potato gnocchi, with fresh mozzarella and garlic basil red sauce (instead of a white sauce). I've had for the most part plain potato gnocchi, it's usually spinach ravioli's, so I thought to add in finely chopped spinach into the dough.

(4) russet potatoes
(1) teaspoon salt
(1/2) teasppon baking powder
(2) egg yolks
(1 1/2 cup flour)
half package of spinach
fresh mozzarella
(1) large sweet onion
(2) small cans tomato paste
(8) cloves of garlic
bunch of basil
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Slice onion and saute slightly, adding in salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic cloves. Add in tomato paste and 2 cups of water, let simmer until paste dissolves. Add in a large bunch of the basil leaves, let simmer on low.

Bake potatoes in a 400 degree oven for 1.5 hours, uncovered. Very finely chop spinach, saute with some olive oil until wilted. Remove potatoes and peel while hot. Take peeled potatoes and run through a potato ricer, or if you don't have a ricer, use a finer grater (that's what I used). Add in salt, baking powder, egg yolks, and spinach. Using your hands, slowly mix in flour a bit at a time to incorporate, until you have a dough. You may need a bit more than 1 1/2 cup of flour.



Take a bit of dough, place onto a flat floured surface and roll out into 1/2 inch thick rope. Cut into 1-inch pieces and then roll down a gnocchi board (and if you don't have a gnocchi board, roll with fingers and use a fork) to create indentations.



Bring water to boil with a bit of salt, drop in gnocchi about a dozen at a time and when they rise to the top of the water, they're done, should be 2-3 mins max.

Plate with fresh mozzarella, sauce and a bit of extra basil

asianized enchiladas

remember when i said i wasn't that hot for mexican or latin american food some time ago? the stuff's grown on me. i like it a lot now. i think the combination of rice and beans is almost genius. my long weekend in PR last week solidified that cheese melted over meat topped with salsa is damn good.

be con's challenge of something rolled made me wrack my brain for something latin amercan. enchiladas seemed easy enough and definitely good enough that i could have it for leftover during the week. my spin was to use japanese eggplant for the filling. weird combo, i know but when i was at the asian market they looked so appetizing, i couldn't resist buying them.

i was quite happy with the end result. it was different. i didn't pay much attention to what i used and how much so. sorry! i chopped up the eggplant into bite size pieces. sauteed with chopped onions until soft. i used taco mix and dumped a can of green chili peppers for the added spice. alright, filling done. i had flour tortilla hanging out so i wrapped up the eggplant filling and lined them in a casserole dish, poured enchilada sauce over it and topped with cheese. baked in the oven at 350 til cheese is melted. done. i paired my asian enchilada with avocado. yuuuuuuum.

til next time,
Angry Asian

Let's get ready to roll ...

It's almost spring knobbers and this month's challenge has nothing to do with anything or spring!

I was going to offer up a suggestion to do all three courses (appetizer, main, dessert), but I leave it to you to select which course you'd like to prepare (or multiple courses to prepare).

This month's theme is, 'things that are rolled'. Perhaps some eggrolls, perhaps manicotti, or perhaps a canoli. Get crazy and wrap a hotdog inside of a pancake that's rolled in a deep dish pizza and then battered in cornmeal and deepfried, mmm mmm tasty.

Things that are rolled. Deadline is April 5th. Party on folks.

Organic and what not

This is my first lasagna. I love the dish, but it makes so much and is usually so fattening which I think is why I've avoided it. I really did not follow a recipe. I had a few things at home, picked up a few more things at a health food store (while forgetting even more) and called it a day.

Lately I've been leaning towards going vegetarian (Just cause. That's a whole different post) so I made my lasagna sans meat.

It turned out....well....not so great looking, but the taste made up for it. It looks like a rainbow of a mess really. I ended up dropping my noodles so they were all broken. nice. oh, gluten free noodles by the way. Normally I wouldn't go to that extreme, but we were in the health food store at the time and it's all they had....

My list of items:

ricotta cheese

2 zucchini

parmesan cheese

cheddar cheese

orange pepper

onion

noodles

petite diced tomatoes

garlic

I started out by mixing the ricotta in the food processor with one of the zukes, garlic, and salt. it made a nice light green color. Oh, and I added rosemary to that as well. Second, I sauteed the remainder of my vegs just until a bit soft. The diced tomatoes were pureed with garlic, salt, and tomato paste. I layered the dish starting with the noodles, then the ricotta, vegs, tomato sauce, cheese, and repeat. Honestly I do think I messed up on the order of my layers during the middle of the production.

It cooked for one hour and voila! It looks like more of a veg casserole in the pics, but the effort was there! I topped with parmesan (my fave cheese ever), and had some fresh rye bread from the bakery on the side. Mattie was in for seconds and said he didn't miss the meat at all. I can dig that!

I can honestly say that I did enjoy this meal and I don't feel like I just ate a brick. Next time I hope that I don't break my noodles into little pieces before they reach the pan though. Matt couldn't say why, but he felt that he liked the noodles that you have to cook before assembly better than the oven ready guys. Noted.

I'm off to have hot chocolate with baileys, but until then fellow doorknobs, keep those buns and ovens hot!

individual moussaka

greek food is hit or miss for me. i am particularly partial to moussaka because it reminds me of lasagna. i kept it real simple, made it in individual ramekins and topped with a bechamele sauce.



Moussaka

thinly slice up an eggplant (i used a chinese eggplant)
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 cup of milk (i used buttermilk because that's what i had)
tomato/spaghettie sauce (i had some leftover with meat)



for the bechamele sauce, i melted the butter in a sauce pan, added the flour and stirred till incorporated. add the milk (or buttermilk) and stir till thickened. salt and pepper to taste.

assemble in layers, first with the eggplant, the tomato sauce and then another layer of eggplant. top it all off with the bechamele sauce. if i had had bread crumbs available, i would've added that to the top but i didn't, so i sprinkled some oats. bake in preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes.



watch that growing ass and stay warm!

A twist on the standard lasagna ...

I'm a big fan of the brasserie's in the Boston area, and the mac'n'cheese that's served at the retaurants. Most either are ham or lobster mac'n'cheese so for this month's challenge, it's lobster mac'n'cheese lasagna!

1 lobster, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb in size
8 oz Ricotta cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup Sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1/3 cup Gruyere cheese (shredded)
Lasagna noodles
1/2 cup Milk
1 tbsp garlic powder
pepper
1 large egg

Since I was only making a small amount, I decided to make it in a loaf pan instead of a standard lasagna pan, adjust amounts accordingly as needed for more servings.

Steam lobster, remove all meat from shell and cut into very small pieces, set aside.

In a bowl, combine well ricotta, egg, parmesan cheese, garlic powder and milk. In a second bowl combine the mozzarella, gruyere and cheddar. Prepare your lasagna starting with a thin layer of the ricotta, topped with lasagna pasta, some lobster and then finish off with a layer of the mixed cheese. Repeat. Cover and place into a 375 oven for 45 mins. Uncover and bake for another 10-15 until the top of the lasagna is perfectly brown.

Lots of Layers

For the past couple of weeks I've had a craving for something....high in calories, taste, and fat grams. Then I narrowed it down. I've been wanting lasagna. So fellow knobs, that's February's challenge....

Make a lasagna using unique ingredients. I think we're all capable of producing a basic dish, but let's show Giada that her creations aren't the only talk of the town (it's just her twins). Make a big dish, invite some friends over and share your pics.

Deadline: February 28

Good luck!