Gnocchi

I don't know about you, but I love starches. I love pasta, bread, potatoes. I'll have a pasta dish with french fries or some other form of potato on the side. I don't care, I love it. 

So when I had a bag of potatoes sitting in my cabinet the other day I couldn't think of a better way to combine two of the things that I love best: pasta and potatoes.

For those of you who don't know, gnocchi is essentially pasta dumplings made out of potato. The word gnocchi most likely came from the Italian word "nocchio" which means a knot of wood or from "nocca" which means knuckle. If you look at them this makes a lot of sense, since to me at least, the look almost like the joint of a thumb with ridges in it.  

See? Kind of like knuckles of wood.

Apparently though, originally they weren't made with potato at all, but instead they were made with semolina dough mixed with eggs.  I like them with potato though and that's really the most common way you see it today so I decided to go that route.

For my version I actually used a loose interpretation of Mario Batali's recipe.  I think I ended up using a little more flour than he did and I probably should have used more than I did cause my dough was still sticky, but more on that in a minute.  I also don't have pictures of the first few steps but they're pretty self explanatory so I think you'll be okay.

First you'll want to boil a few potatoes. I didn't happen to have russet potatoes so I used white potatoes (which hardly cost anything at Wegmans). I used about seven smallish ones, about the size of my fist.  After boiling them until relatively soft, I let them cool a little bit until they wouldn't burn my fingers and took the skins off. 

Now, as per my usual college ways, I of course didn't have a vegetable mill or a ricer. I didn't even have any sort of strainer because I lost it in a move at some point. So I used forks. Yeah, I know, it doesn't get much lamer than that. But it worked pretty well.  I did end up mushing some of the smaller pieces with my fingers because the forks weren't helping.  Once you're done you should get a pile that looks more or less like this:

Now that you've essentially got mashed potatoes, you can create a well in the middle of the pile:

And then you sprinkle (re: dump) the flour over the whole pile:

Create a new well in the center and add your egg!

Now use your hands to mix it all together!  I decided at this point to put it in a mixing bowl because I was making a royal mess trying to keep it on the cutting board.  Alternatively you could just do it on a clean, floured counter, but I didn't feel like cleaning it afterwards so I used the bowl:

Then take a fist-sized chunk and roll it into a log, about an inch wide:

You might have to add more flour as you roll it out, mine was pretty sticky. Or you could mix more flour into the main dough until it's tacky, but not impossible to work with.  Then take a sharp knife and cut the log into about 1/2 in wide pieces.  You might want to shape them a little more with your hands at this point or add the signature lines with a fork. I'm a lazy college student and I realized that this made a ton of dough and there was no way I was fussing with all of that so I just made them into little "torpedoes" as my dad calls them, and called it a day:

To cook them, bring a pot of water to a boil then put 12-15 gnocchi in at a time, allowing them to float to the surface and then cook for about another minute more before removing from the pot with a slotted spoon. At that point you can add more. Don't add too many at a time or it will take longer because the gnocchi will lower the temperature of the water too much.  

Here's what they look like while cooking, before they float:

And after you take them out:

At this point you can treat them like regular pasta: toss them in sauce, put some olive oil and salt on them etc.

I like mine a little more crisp than they come out of the pot so I sautéed them in a hot pan with some olive oil and rosemary until they were slightly browned:

Yum!

Here's the recipe:

3 pounds russet potatoes

2 c. flour

1 egg

1 pinch of salt (or more)

Boil the whole potatoes until they are soft (about 45 minutes). While still warm, peel and pass through vegetable mill onto clean pasta board.

Set 6 quarts of water to boil in a large spaghetti pot. 

Make well in center of potatoes and sprinkle all over with flour, using all the flour. Place egg and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes, just like making normal pasta. Once egg is mixed in, bring dough together, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently another 4 minutes until ball is dry to touch.

Roll baseball-sized ball of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels and cut dowels into 1/2-inch long pieces. Flick pieces off of fork or concave side of cheese grater until dowel is finished. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute). Meanwhile, continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and flicking off of fork. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to dry paper towel or plate. Prepare as desired.

Also, these make approximately a zillion so I highly recommend either cutting the recipe in half or freezing a lot of them.  This is less than half:

You've been warned!

Peanut Butter Bread

I admit it, I have a problem. Everyone I know is aware of it, some of them disagree strongly with it. It's an addiction that can't be stopped.

My name's Isabel and I'm addicted to peanut butter.

Peanut butter, peanuts, peanut butter flavored things, Reese's, all of it.

And I don't care.

So when I found a recipe for peanut butter bread you bet your butt I was scribbling it down and running to the kitchen immediately.  I think I had it in the oven less than half an hour after stumbling upon the recipe.

I don't even care that I told my dad I wouldn't make anymore recipes that I found online. It's peanut butter bread! He will understand.

Other than my peanut butter addiction, there's another thing you might not know about me.

This girl bakes in a cardigan.

A black one at that.

I dare flour to try to touch me:

I do wear my personally altered apron though. Aprons never ever fit me right. The neck strap is always huge and the strings are always way to long, and with cats in the kitchen , that's not an option.  So I went to my trusty sewing machine ages ago and shortened the neck strap and added some ribbon accents.  This is my clean apron, I have another one with brown ribbon with polka dots that's my chocolate apron and pretty much never gets washed.

Anyway, back to this magical recipe.

It was super simple, I'm really glad that I had everything I needed in the apartment or there would have been an emergency Wegmans run.  This recipe is basically a peanut butter cookie recipe by the looks of it, just way wetter, which is alright by me.  

According to the recipe, before you add the milk, the batter will be super dry. It was, but don't worry, it improved with the addition of the milk.  Before the milk it sort of looked like my dough for dog biscuits looks like, that's how dry it was:

Once I added the milk it pretty much instantly became more liquid. It was actually squelching in the mixer, which was kind of gross but it smelled like peanut butter so who cares.  The most promising part of making this recipe was that the dough/ batter looked and smelled almost exactly like peanut butter. I guess that's what happens when almost a third of the mix is made up of peanut butter.

The recipe also had a tip to use wax paper in the pan to help get the bread out easier when its done. I've never done this before but I figured why not, might as well try it right? Well, I was a little obsessive compulsive about my folds but this is what I came up with:

The batter was surprisingly thick when I went to pour it in. It may have looked liquid, but it was way less viscous than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise.  Overly liquid doughs always make me paranoid that I've done something wrong.

I got it in the pan, smoothed it out, and popped it in the oven: 

I waited impatiently for it to be done.  I may or may not have snacked on straight peanut butter while I was waiting:

When it finally came out....

Yep, that's burnt on the sides. Damn you college oven.  I would have taken it out earlier but the center was no where near ready.

Not. Pleased.
Although I will say that the parchment paper was a godsend. I will definitely be doing this from now on.
Now, me being me, I didn't let this burnt crap bother me.
I just grabbed my bread knife (thanks dad!) once it had cooled and cut/ scraped off the burnt edges.  The rest of the bread was fine. And my apartment smelled amazing.

Problem solved!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars.

Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix well.

Slowly add in the flour mixture.

Slowly pour in the milk and mix well. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as the thicker, drier dough will stick and not be incorporated if you don't.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Recipe from: A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

French Onion Soup

 This recipe is one of the many reasons that I always trust Julia.  Whenever I'm looking for a recipe, if I see one by Julia, I know it will be good.  It might not always be the easiest version of what I want to make, but it will definitely turn out fabulous.  Luckily, this recipe couldn't be any easier.

Ever since going to France, I've been craving Onion Soup.  Going to France really opened my eyes up to why French cooking is the heart of so many techniques and recipes.  They really know what they're doing when it comes to food.  I never used to think that Onion Soup was anything to jump up and down about, but for such a simple soup, its fantastic. 

This soup is so easy that I was able to make enchiladas to freeze for the week at the same time.  And it makes enough for multiple meals.  Being a poor college student, I didn't make it with white wine, vermouth, or cognac.  I also used mozzarella for my cheese on top as well as an Italian bread from Wegmans. 

Gorgeous Onion Soup that I had at the Angelina restaurant in Versailles:

First just melt your butter and oil together. Add all your onions and sweat them out while covered.

At this point they should look translucent and smell delicious:

  

I uncovered it at this point and cranked up the heat to get some color on my onions.  There was a lot of liquid from sweating the onions out, don't worry though, you'll cook it off.

Don't get wimpy with your coloring. My first instinct when I start to see color on something is to either yank it off the stove in a panic or turn the heat down a ton.  Don't do this.  You want brown, caramelized onions for this soup, trust me, it will taste delicious.  So you want to pass this point:

  

And get to at least this:

I actually browned mine a little bit more to get some more color. I had to stop it before I really wanted to because I was afraid of setting off the fire alarm (the joys of living in a college dorm).

After you get them nicely caramelized and brown (can't stress it enough), add some flour to get some roux action going.  Cook for a few minutes then add the stock and simmer for a bit longer.

My bowl was way too big so I didn't get the classic "French Onion Soup" look that I loved in France:   

I saw this Corningware Soup Mug at Wegmans that would have been the perfect size but didn't want to waste the money on it:

One day I'll have a set of these:

Onion Soup [Soupe à l’Oignon]

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 1/2 pounds (680 grams or 24 ounces or about 5 cups) thinly sliced yellow onions

3 tablespoons (42 grams or 1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt, plus additional to taste

1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) granulated sugar (helps the onions to brown)

3 tablespoons (24 grams or 7/8 ounce) all-purpose flour

2 quarts (8 cups or 1.9 liters) beef or other brown stock*

1/2 cup (118 ml) dry white wine or dry white vermouth

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons (45 ml) cognac or brandy (optional)

To finish [Gratinée] (Optional)

1 tablespoon grated raw onion

1 to 2 cups (to taste) grated Swiss (I often use Gruyere) or a mixture of Swiss and Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon butter, melted

12 to 16 1-inch thick rounds French bread, toasted until hard

Melt the butter and oil together in the bottom of a 4- to 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over moderately low heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to real low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes. They don’t need your attention; you can even go check your email.

After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, raise the heat slightly and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook onions, stirring frequently, for 30 to 40 minutes until they have turned an even, deep golden brown. Don’t skimp on this step, as it will build the complex and intense flavor base that will carry the rest of the soup. Plus, from here on out, it will be a cinch.

After the onions are fully caramelized, sprinkle them with flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the wine in full, then stock, a little at a time, stirring between additions. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 more minutes, skimming if needed. Correct seasonings if needed but go easy on the salt as the cheese will add a bit more saltiness and I often accidentally overdo it. Stir in the cognac, if using. I think you should.

Set aside until needed. I find that homemade onion soup is so deeply fragrant and flavor-rich that it can stand alone, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the graitinéed top once in a while. Here’s how to pull it off:

Preheat oven to 325. Arrange six ovenproof soup bowls or crocks on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Bring the soup back to a boil and divide among six bowls. To each bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon grated raw onion and a tablespoon of grated cheese. Stir to combine. Dab your croutons with a tiny bit of butter and float a few on top of your soup bowls, attempting to cover it. Mound grated cheese on top of it; how much you use will be up to you. 

Bake soups on tray for 20 minutes, then preheat broiler. Finish for a minute or two under the broiler to brown the top lightly. Grab pot holders, and serve immediately.

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Corn Chowder

Last weekend I made corn Chowder for the first time! Not as good as my dad's, mostly because he puts fancy sausage in his, but it was decent.  There are definitely somethings that I would do differently next time, like use a bigger pot or just start off in two pots, you'll see why soon.  Also I wouldn't be a cheap college student and just use the fat free milk that we already had. Trust me, cream is the way to go.  The fat free milk turned out to be too thin for my liking and didn't give it the healthy chowder color that I'm used to.

And speaking about being a cheap college student, my friend went to Wegmans with me to pick up the ingredients for this recipe.  Looking at my cart, he commented on how expensive it was to make soup, why don't I just by it canned?  Well this recipe more than proved that point of view incorrect.  Even though I made a double batch of it, I only ended up paying $10 at Wegmans.  Granted, I shopped cheaply by purchasing off brand products and didn't have to buy cream, but I think this is more than reasonable to spend on soup.  I even had an extra onion and most of a garlic clove left over.  Making a single batch would cost about $5 and made at least seven or eight servings.  This means that each serving only costs about 70 cents.  Plus you get the added bonus of your chowder not having a ton of preservatives and sodium in it!

Anyway, here's the recipe, let me know if you try it out.

Dice your celery into corn sized pieces. A little bit bigger than kernel sized isn't the end of the world but definitely make sure that they're all the same size compared to one another so they will cook at the same rate:

Do the same to your onions (try not to cry, Hint: refrigerate them first) and potatoes:

Heat your oil. Not too hot though, you don't want it popping and burning you:

Add celery, onions, and garlic and cook until slightly tender and translucent. Then add flour to soak up the oil (see recipe below):

Add stock.  Bring to a boil.  It is essential that this chowder boils because that is most of what thickens it to the desired texture.  Boiling helps the flour/ oil mixture to thicken the chowder:

I realized at this point that there's not a way in hell that I was fitting all this corn into one pot:

I very carefully split into two pots, trying not to burn myself:

Add in the corn and cook for another ten minutes or so:

Allow to cool a bit, at least so it's not boiling, then add the milk gradually: 

Recipe from The Complete Book of Soups and Stews 

by Bernard Clayton Jr.

Ingredients:

3 cups corn kernels

2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons flour (dad and my addition)

1 cup finely sliced celery (about 2 stalks)

2 cups thinly sliced onions (2 medium)

1 clove garlic, minced

3 medium potatoes, pared, in 1/2 inch dice

1 16-oz can tomatoes, chopped (I didn't use this)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda (counteracts acid in tomatoes, again, didn't use)

2 cups milk or light cream

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Note: be sure to dice everything approximately the same size, about the size of a corn kernel.

Puree 2 of the 3 cups of corn in a food processor or blender, and set aside for later use. (I skipped this part, I just put all of them in whole because all I had was a mini smoothie maker)

In a medium saucepan heat the vegetable oil then add the celery, onions, and garlic and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are somewhat tender and translucent, about 12 minutes.

Our addition: Add two tablespoons flour and mix until it soaks up all of the oil and coats the vegetables.  If you don't do this, all the oil will float to the top of your soup when you're done cooking it and you'll have to either deal with it or skim it off.  Making a roux (flour and oil) suspends the oil within the soup instead of letting it float to the top.  It also helps thicken the soup which is very important.  Remember that the roux will only thicken the soup if the broth that it's in boils, so make sure to let your soup boil for a bit if you want thick soup.

Pour the stock into the saucepan and add diced potatoes, tomatoes and baking soda.  If you don't use the tomatoes like I did, there's no need for the baking soda.  Cook until the potatoes are almost tender, about twelve minutes.

Add the corn, pureed (if you did it) and whole to the pot and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Potatoes and corn should be tender.

Turn down heat, until it's no longer boiling.  Add the milk or cream and Worcestershire sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Eat!

Note: I made a double batch and froze half of it for later, it seems to be holding up fine.  Just remember that your chowder has milk products in it, so make sure you don't keep it in your fridge too long or it will spoil.