New recipe - Gnocchi

When we lived in Australia, one of our favorite meals was fresh ricotta gnocchi. I traveled on the tram to the Prahran Market, to the fresh pasta shop. They had all sorts of delightful things there - noodles, filled pastas, and then this gnocchi. I think I bought some ravioli a few times, but my main love was their gnocchi. All you had to do after purchasing it was throw it in a skillet with some olive oil and panfry it til golden brown on the sides, dump on a little marinara sauce, and that's dinner!

Upon leaving Australia, I haven't had a gnocchi that could match the Prahran Market's. Until now. I had been wanting some for a while, and then finally this week I decided to try to make some on my own. I chose a recipe that looked fairly easy and didn't require any weird ingredients (a major deal-breaker for me because if it doesn't turn out well, who wants to be stuck with a million-dollar-per-ounce jar of urchin powder?). I skimmed the recipe, and the directions seemed fairly simple.


Sure, it did take about 45 minutes, but man, this stuff was good! CO begged me immediately to make more again soon, and did we have some left over so that he could take it to work? This recipe could easily be prepared a bit in advance, stored in an airtight container, and then sauteed hours (maybe days?) later.



Here's the recipe.

Ricotta Gnocchi - by Lillian Chou, as seen on Epicurious.com

 originally published in Gourmet  | April 2008 

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active Time: 40 min
Total Time: 40 min

Ingredients:

2 cups whole-milk ricotta (1 pound)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 ounces), divided
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 (2-inch) rosemary sprig (optional)

Preparation:

Stir together ricotta, eggs, 1 cup cheese, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add flour, stirring to form a soft, wet dough.

Shape dough on a well-floured surface with lightly floured hands into 2 (1-inch-thick) ropes (I would do 1/2 inch thick ropes next time). Cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces with a lightly floured knife. Put in 1 layer on a lightly floured parchment-lined baking sheet.

Cook gnocchi in 2 batches in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water), adding a few at a time to pot and stirring occasionally, until cooked through (cut one in half to check), 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain in colander.

Meanwhile, cook butter with rosemary in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Toss gnocchi with brown butter in skillet and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Ricotta-Gnocchi-242001#ixzz1C4SdZC7G

Julie's notes: I skipped the butter with rosemary step, instead I just tossed the gnocchi with plain butter (olive oil would work too) until it was brown on both sides (think the color of grilled cheese).

I served with Newman's Own Organic Marinara Sauce and hubby couldn't say enough good things about it. Apparently it makes good leftovers, but he snatched them away before I could eat them!

Goals for 2011

I don't do resolutions. There's something about them that makes me horribly inconsistent and lose faith/motivation/resolve. So, in calling them goals, I hope that they will be more attainable and achievable.

1. Find a church we like.
2. Visit Europe (hopefully we can make this happen!).
3. Make at least one new recipe per month and document it. (Make at least two recipes from the book Erinn gave me (Ready for Dessert).)
4. Continue taking one picture a day and posting it on a blog.
5. Attend at least one photography workshop or class.
6. Finish Lu'au's quilt.
7. Visit Ashley and David in Atlanta.
8. Memorize the entire chant - Nā 'Ōiwi 'Ōlino
9. Eat at Restaurant Eve (probably not the 9-course pre fixe, lunch or restaurant week is more like it)
10. Craft more, internet/facebook less.  
11.  Drink more liquids. Eat more fruit and vegetables, preferably raw.

Thanks for nothing

I'm on email lists for several airlines. They send out "weekly" messages with their top "deals." Each email is divided into two parts - deals from our city and deals from other cities. Great. I'm glad I can fly to Akron for "cheap" (it doesn't look like a deal to me), but really, do you have to rub it in as to which cities have actual good deals on airline tickets? DC only has good deals to ONE city? Why is the "deals from other cities" section 10 times larger than my city?

Miami to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic probably is a bargain at $74 each way. I'd like to go there. But wait, I don't live in Miami. Why in the world do you have to rub it in that people in an already warm climate with good, cheap, food (ie Cuban sandwiches - so yummy) readily available can "get away" for so cheaply while I am stuck in not warm DC with only a deal to Ohio?

(I love you, Jen, and someday will go visit you - apparently there are lots of good deals to be had.)

Stealth

Dear person/people who drive around our neighborhood in two black, domestic-made SUVs, one closely tailing the other,

We realize that you are Important. You must be Important with not one SUV, but TWO SUVs providing you a ride to and from where ever it is that you are going.

I would like to note that I assume you're a politician, due to the fact you have government plates and need two vehicles to "provide security and create jobs" read:" waste gas/create more emissions/whatevs". And I would also like to note that just because you may have some part in the law-making process, it does not mean you can break the laws. Laws like each vehicle stopping at stop signs. I realize our neighborhood has lots of stop signs, and it is annoying for each car to stop, but, as you recall when making the laws, IT'S FOR A REASON. Even the people from Maryland who cut through the neighborhood during rush hour slow down from 40 mph and at least tap their brakes for stop signs (speed limit is 25).

Oh, and FYI, I hope you're not trying to operate any covert business, as having TWO SUVs totally blows your cover.

We will be watching to see if you continue to ride around with your TWO SUVs, the second car ignoring stop signs, and judge how you fared in midterm elections.

Sincerely,

me

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in

Q. A different twist on last week’s question. This week, the first question is: what’s the nicest thing a MILSPOUSE has ever done for you? (brought to you from navy_smurfette)

I'm the membership chair/slave for the area spouses' club, and I think the nicest thing a MILSPOUSE has done for me is to write a little note along with their membership information saying how much they appreciate what I do. It really makes me happy.

Q. How often do you drive faster than the speed limit?I really try not to drive over the speed limit. It's kind of hard to do here in DC, when everyone seems to be flying by, but I try to keep it at the speed limit.

Q. Did you have a nickname in school? If so, what was it?

I didn't really have one, but occasionally people would call me "(my last name) cookie" because my mom always made chocolate chip cookies for events.

Q. If your life was a book, what would the title be and how would it end?

Today, I think the book would be titled "despite her best efforts..." Otherwise it should be "Counting my blessing and recounting my tales". It would end with a Hawaiian sunset.

Q. Look back (in your planner if you have one) to September 14th… what did you do that day?

Sept 14 was the first MOPS meeting I attended. I really value these meetings - it helps me feel like an adult again and I love talking to other moms. This day, the speaker talked about being marshmallows and toothpicks. It was a really good lesson!


See the whole list at Wife of A Sailor.

Mmmm Dinner

So, technically I'm posting this a day later, but I fully intended to actually post it on Nov. 3, so that's what we're going with!

We had chicken for dinner. I had spent a delightful afternoon at Borders with a friend, and came home a bit later than I had originally anticipated. CO wanted chicken for dinner and suggested that I marinate it. That's cool, I thought, until I realized I had no marinade in the house. I quick looked up a recipe on my go-to website, allrecipes.com, and found this recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand (I substituted white vinegar for red wine vinegar and dried parsley for fresh). I cut down the recipe from 32 servings to 4 (allrecipes makes it easy with their nifty calculator), and that was perfect for one package of chicken tenders that I had. I would suggest using chicken breasts though! I marinated the chicken tenders for about 30 minutes, then baked them for about 30 minutes at 350.

Nervously, I served it to CO for dinner last night. He LOVED it. He said I could make it anytime again. The flavors were great, and we will definitely be making it sometime soon.

Chicken Marinade - from allrecipes.com, posted by user jillypooh

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1/3 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, mix together oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir in mustard powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Use to marinate chicken before cooking as desired. The longer you marinate, the more flavor it will have.

November 2

Here it is, the second day of November, and I have nothing exciting to write. I thought I'd try to participate in NaBloPoMo... but alas, little inspires me this moment.

I guess one thing I've been thinking about lately is how busy I am or am not. It seems that in the past several months or so, one thing a month outside the house is about my maximum. And even then, I'm behind on housework, behind on Spouses' Club stuff (I do NOT plan on being on the board again next year!), and slacking on life. I know a good part of that is time management. How do I motivate myself to do what I need to do?