Gnocchi are Italian dumplings. There are many variations of Gnocchi out there. Potato, semolina, flour, ricotta, with or without spinach and other vegetables or prunes, bread crumbs and cornmeal. My husband strongly prefers the fresh made ricotta gnocchi that I make so much so that he has said on more than one occasion that my ricotta gnocchi would be his last meal if he could choose. These ricotta gnocchi are light in texture and very flavorful. They are done in the lump style, extruded from a pastry bag and are not rolled out. Less handling of the dough does produce a more tender gnocchi. Mine come out almost like gnudi. This recipe is harder to explain than most recipes I publish. I feel it’s essential to prepare your own ricotta cheese since it’s FAR SUPERIOR and far more flavorful than store bought ricotta cheese. Maybe the most difficult part of the recipe is that I can’t give you an exact measurement of flour since the amount with differ depending on how dry you got your ricotta cheese. You might want to prepare the ricotta the day before and let drain slowly overnight wrapped in cheese cloth in a colander to drain. If you use a mesh strainer to drain cheese I find you can get the same results very quick. I do recommend doing one tester gnocchi so you can figure the amount of flour out. It’s better to start with too soft a dough and add 1/4 cup more flour at a time till it’s correct. This time instead of my usual light coating of tomato sauce I used pesto. Other sauces that would be delicious with these gnocchi would be  browned butter with sage or a light cream gorgonzola sauce or a home made red sauce. You will have extra ricotta cheese and extra pesto from this recipe that you either use in another dish or freeze. The pesto recipe is just a guild and it does come out too thick because I try to use as little extra oil as possible. FEEL FREE to add all the oil you want or some water to thin it down to desired consistency. Read all the directions first and the recipe will be much easier to understand.

 

Ingredient for about 6 servings

1 gallon whole milk

1 pint heavy cream

3 lemons (just the fresh squeezed juice)

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups ricotta cheese (fresh made from above recipe)

1 L – XL egg beaten

1 cup parmigiana reggiano – shredded

1 1/2 cup flour *****NOTE this is approximate  ******(…If your ricotta is nice and extra dry you only need one cup of flour. This would be ideal. Do tester gnocchi and add 1/4 cup flour more and repeat if necessary……you shouldn’t need more than 1 3/4 cups flour…if you do your cheese was way too wet)

few grates fresh nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

pinch white pepper

1 tablespoon kosher salt (to boil gnocchi)

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (to coat gnocchi with so they don’t stick) ((YOU CAN SKIP THIS INGREDIENT if you have your pesto made)

3 cups basil leaves

2 garlic cloves – grated or ground

2 oz pine nuts – toasted – 225 degrees F 10-15 minutes

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil ****** ( you will need to thin this down by adding at least 1/2 cup more oil or water)

1/2 cup Italian hard cheese shredded preferably Sardinian Fiore Sardo or pecorino or parmesan

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

pinch or two of sugar

Directions

Make Ricotta.

In a large pot on medium low heat add milk, cream and salt. The contents need to go to a slow boil. This will take at least an hour. Once it’s at a slow boil….VERY SLOWLY….SLOWLY drizzle in the lemon juice into the parts where it’s boiling. The contents will curd. Let it slowly boil a few minutes. Use a wire strainer or a colander lined with paper towels and slowly drain contents. Put cheese in a container in the refrigerator. Leftovers can be frozen.

Make the pesto.

Blend together basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, Italian hard cheese, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, black pepper and sugar. Thin as needed with either more oil or water and  adjust seasoning if desired. Set to the side.

Make Gnocchi.

In a medium bowl mix together 2 cups of your fresh made ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1 cup parmigiana, 1 cup flour, few grates nutmeg, 1/2 t. sea salt and a pinch of white pepper. Mix well.

Put a pot of salted water on to a medium boil. You might want to add kitchen twine to one side of the pot because the string can slice off the gnocchi you push threw the pastry bag.

To fill the pastry bag fold it half way down, add dough and twist the end shut.

Do one tester gnocchi.

It should float within a minute. Test for flavor and texture but it should be right. If you want them firmer you can add slightly more flour but a gnocchi is suppose to be a very light tender pillow. The best ones are made with as little flour as possible. Once you have the gnocchi the way you like them squeeze out the gnocchi one bag at a time and use twine wrapped on the pot handle to slice off each gnocchi.

let the gnocchi boil till after they float. Take them out with a slotted spoon and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil or pesto on them so they don’t stick together.

Serve. Should you happen to have leftovers they freeze well.

“All Beagles are Italian.” “There will not be any FORKING leftovers.”

“Hey Runt, you are only 50% Beagle so that means you are only 50% Italian”. “You are a runt and you come from a long line of runts…..according to your DNA your Mom was a runt, your dad was a runt and 6 generations back you all were runts!” “I’m a BIG Aussie Shepard and I’m getting Gnocchi first!”

“I still love you no matter what you say you really big beautiful Aussie Shepard.” “We can gnocchi together.”

Enjoy!

Cabbage is almost free this time of year. I saw cabbage for 33 cents a pound this week so I picked one up. I was thinking about that amazing sandwich I had at Ocotillo in Phoenix. It was a brisket sandwich topped with Asian Slaw and maybe a gochujang mixed with kewpie mayo on the bread….It was so FORKING delicious! Brisket was also recently on sale for only $1.99 a lb. so I have brisket. This slaw is very close to the taste of the slaw I had at Ocotillo so I’m set. WooHoo  this brisket sandwich with this slaw and gochujang mixed with kewpie mayo spread on the bread does taste just like the delicious sandwich I had at Ocotillo.

Ingredients for 10 servings

1 head cabbage (sliced very thin…use fresh do not use bagged)

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 carrot – shredded very thin

8 oz radish – shredded very thin

2 .. .14oz-.18oz pack roasted seaweed – sliced very thin and cut across in half

1 Tablespoon garlic (around 7 cloves) ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger – grated

1/2 teaspoon ginger (dry spice)

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (scant)

2 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 Tablespoon ponzu

1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds

1 Tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

Directions

In a large bowl add cabbage salt and sugar. Mix well. Let sit one hour on counter. After one hour there will be a lot of liquid from the cabbage. Drain the cabbage water.

Mix in all the remaining ingredients.

I’d serve the next day because the flavors do mellow and marry.

I suggest to make a spread of Kewpie brand Mayo (it taste different than regular mayonnaise) mixed with a little sriracha and enough gochujang to look like the color of Russian Dressing. It’s FORKING delicious you will love it. The spread combined with this Asian Slaw on a sandwich is epic!

 

 

 

 

Felt like whipping up some sort of fish cake today since I have a bunch of potatoes and came across some cod today. These fish cakes are NOT the east coast style kind as mine are made from regular cod and potato and are not fried. The mixture is soft so I lightly coated the fish and potato patties with just a light coating of whole wheat panko. I think a secret here is using whole wheat panko. I don’t think regular panko will work out as well. The coating comes out very crispy!

Ingredients for 8 generous servings

2 lbs baking potato peeled – cut in halves – and placed in a pot of water

2 Tablespoons kosher salt – to boil with potatoes

1/2 onion (to boil with potatoes – discard after potatoes are boiled)

2 garlic cloves  (to boil with potatoes – discard after potatoes are boiled)

1 celery rib (to boil with potatoes – discard after potatoes are boiled)

1 carrot ( to boil with potatoes – discard after potatoes are boiled)

1 hot pepper (to boil with potatoes – discard after potatoes are boiled) ((I used a banana pepper)

1/3 cup grated onions

1 celery rib – chopped very fine

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 lb cod

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup (scant) extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle under and over the fish)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

1 Tablespoon heavy cream

1/4 cup scallions – chopped

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 L egg – slightly beaten

1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs

non – stick spray – either canola or vegetable

Directions

Turn oven on to 425 degrees F

In a pot add potatoes, 2 Tablespoons salt, 1/2 onion, 1 celery rib, carrot and hot pepper on to a medium boil. Boil the potatoes till fork tender.

Sprinkle a baking sheet with extra virgin olive oil and Fresh ground sea salt and black pepper. Place the fish on top of the olive oil and seasoning. Now drizzle the top of the fish(s) with olive oil and lightly sprinkle the fish with fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Place the fish in the oven and pull out when done. (about 15 minutes)

While the potatoes are boiling get a small fry pan on medium heat, melt the butter and then cook up the grated onion, finely chopped celery, ground garlic and thyme till everything smells good and everything is soft. It should get done very quickly because everything should be very fine. Set to the side.

When the potatoes are fork tender. Discard the onion, garlic, carrot celery and hot pepper. Drain the potatoes and hand mash. (after draining I put the potatoes back in the pot to mash) Add the onion and celery mixture from the fry pan and mash into the potatoes.

Now mash the fish into the potatoes. Add the ground black pepper, sea salt, heavy cream, scallions, white pepper and egg and mix till incorporated.

Score the mixture in quarters. Half a quarter will make a nice size patty. Make eight patties.

In a small bowl add the panko. Lightly coat each patty all over with the crumbs.

Spray the baking sheet(s) and tops of patties with Non stick spray and place the patties leaving some room around them.

After 30 minutes in the oven they should be golden brown all over.

I let them cool and then refrigerate. Latter I reheated two patties for dinner uncovered for 30 minutes (with covered vegetable sides) at 350 degrees F.

The outside is very thin and VERY CRISPY. I think they are flavored just right. My husband didn’t think he’d like them but when he tried it he couldn’t believe how yummy they were! I don’t think the Baked Cod Cakes really need a sauce but feel free to use whatever sauce you like. Back east we just use ketchup on fish cake sandwiches. I think a tarter sauce would be good, a lemon aioli or my secret sauce Asian Style shhhhh (Kewpie, a squirt of sriracha and gochujang. My husband requested cocktail sauce. I didn’t measure but this quick style cocktail sauce came out really amazing. It was Ketchup, horseradish, worcestershire, hot sauce, black pepper and bomba calabrese. My husband kept asking how did you make this? (fish cake and cocktail sauce) This is really delicious….really really very good!

Enjoy!

 

Socca Bread is a popular street food in Nice France. In Italy this bread is known as Farinata. The recipe is basically the same on any website you pick. For the most part it’s half chickpea flour and 1/2 warm water with a little salt, pepper and olive oil. The batter needs at the very least one half hour to sit out. But some people make the batter a day in advance but pull out the batter to warm at room temperature. Most people bake the batter in a preheated cast iron pan and then broil the top to brown. I don’t have a cast iron so I just used a 10 inch pot and sprayed it with non-stick spray because I almost never use anything nonstick. You can make your Socca Bread plain or add tomatoes or peppers and onions like I did. I know that chickpeas are delicious with these spices so I topped my Socca bread with a pinch of sumac, pinch of za’tar, 3 pinches of urfa pepper (it’s really delicious you need to buy some) and Persian blue salt (maybe the most delicious salt I’ve ever tasted). This is really very easy for anyone to prepare and can be done without a cast iron pan. Use any pan and if you happen to have a pizza stone place your pan on the pizza stone for extra heating. The only thing I would have done different was to cook my peppers less so I could brown the top some.

Ingredients

1 cup chickpea flour

1 cup warm water

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus a little extra to drizzle on the top

non stick spray (if you don’t have cast iron pan or two tablespoons more olive oil if you are using cast iron.

Directions

Set oven to 450 degrees F and put pizza stone in oven if you are using a pan that isn’t cast iron.

In a medium bowl mix together the chickpea flour,  water, salt, pepper, and two Tablespoons olive oil. Let sit at least one half hour.

Put your 10 inch pot or fry pan sprayed with non-stick spray on a pizza stone in your 450 degree F oven for about ten minutes to heat up. Then carefully remove from oven. Add chickpea batter. Put back in oven about 15 minutes. Broil if desired. You really want a little brown on the top.

Top and season as desired.

Lighter and healthier than a pizza…you might want to give it a try!

 

I saw a big bag of really ripe bananas and thought I haven’t made a banana bread in a while so here it is. Banana Bread might have been the first thing I ever baked that I free styled. I used to bake a few loaves every week and shared the bread with my co-workers. It’s pretty basic and easy and you can make the banana bread in one bowl. This recipe makes two loaves or about 24 servings. You must use really ripe bananas like as ripe as photo for the banana flavor. The bread comes out sweet (but not too sweet), moist and almost caramelized. It’s a tasty treat that seems almost healthy.

Ingredients for about 24 servings

4 oz sweet butter – melted

2 cups sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

3 XL eggs – slightly beaten

12 bananas

4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

pinch sea salt

non stick canola spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl add butter, then sugars, mix well, add eggs, mix well.

Add bananas and mash with potato masher till pretty smooth.

Add rest of dry ingredients and hand mix till combined.

Spray two bread loaf pans with non stick spray.

Divide the batter between the two pans.

In my oven the loaves were done in 45 and 50 minutes. remove from oven when the top of loaf in the crack feels cooked.

Let the loaves rest on a counter and pop them out when they cool to just warm.

Slice and serve.

Came out great I just winged it. You might go ape over it.

 

 

 

This cauliflower is wildly flavorful and also is spicy. I’ve been told a number of times that I cook cauliflower really well. People always ask me how I make cauliflower. My secret to delicious tasting cauliflower is to cook it at 350 degrees F and drizzle the cauliflower with extra virgin olive oil. I leave the cauliflower in till it looks browned. When you cook cauliflower this way it turns sweet. This dish is easy to prepare. Feel free to substitute a different hot pepper of your liking if you don’t keep hatch peppers in your freezer.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 med-large head cauliflower – broke down to florets

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons caraway

2 teaspoons coriander

2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large garlic clove – ground to paste

1 fire roasted hatch pepper (not canned…never use the canned hatch peppers) – seeds and stem removed and chopped well

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup pistachios (I went a little heavy with pistachios you can go down to a half cup)

1 cup seedless grapes – cut in half

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – chopped

Directions

Turn oven on the 350 degrees F.

Spread out the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet(s) and drizzle the cauliflower with the olive oil and place in oven for about 45 minutes or until the cauliflower is golden brown on the edges.

While the cauliflower is roasting get out a small fry pan and add turmeric, cumin, caraway, coriander, salt and butter. Turn the pan on medium high heat and use a spoon and move the spices around on the heat to wake them up a little.

After the butter melts into the spices lower the heat to low and add the garlic and the hot pepper.

Add vinegar and pistachios. You can shut the heat off and leave on burner to keep warm.

Pull out the cauliflower when it is done and add fresh ground sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Put the cauliflower in a large bowl with the grapes. Pour the fry pan contents over the cauliflower and mix gently. Lastly add the cilantro and serve.

If you enjoy spicy flavorful food you should love this cauliflower.

 

 

 

Kobocha squash is very low in calories and high in nutrition and fiber. It is also naturally very creamy and sweet with a rich almost chestnutty taste. I thought it might be a perfect ingredient to add to ice cream. I also used fat free sweetened condensed milk instead of full fat to help lower the fat content some. Feel free to use either fat free or full fat…I picked up the fat free but had trouble finding it again so you might have that trouble too….I think the full fat will turn out even creamier and better…This ice cream came out delicate tasting.  It tasted just like the squash…..It’s slightly chestnutty. It would be yummy to candy some chestnuts with this flavor ice-cream or add yummy toasted coconut or a white chocolate drizzle. I think the flavoring and sweetness is just right if you want it to taste like Kobocha Squash…. But feel free to adjust to your preference….If you want sweeter add 10x sugar…..If you want more spice…add more spice…I wanted to taste the squash…so here it is….

Ingredients for about 8 servings

1 1/2 cup kobocha squash (cooked till soft and mashed)

2 cups whipping cream

14 oz can of sweetened condensed fat free milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I used a good quality Vietnamese)

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

pinch sea salt

Directions

In a large bowl whip the whipping cream till whipped and then put to the side.

In a medium bowl whip the remaining ingredients.

Add medium bowl contents to large bowl and whip till incorporated.

Place in a plastic tub with a top and place in the freezer for over night freezing.

Got some Happy Yappy ones that are fascinated with the Kobochca Squash Ice-Cream.

This flavor strongly attracts my dogs….(I note not all dogs can digest milk…only some can)

If you like Kobocha Squash then you should enjoy this Ice-Cream……While it’s not my top favorite flavor of ice cream I do think it’s much better than many of the lighter or healthier ones I tried from the store…….It’s far better than the popular packaged…something like 350 calories a pint ice cream that’s very popular…….My husband is waiting for me to do a chocolate flavor.

 

I saw a few beautiful green tomatoes at the supermarket so I got the idea to prepare oven fried tomatoes and I thought they’d be special if I topped them with a pimento cheese flavored potato so here it is. The potato topping is extremely tasty, fluffy, flavorful and a little spicy. The coating comes out crispy and delicious. The mustard in the eggs adds flavor and helps the crumbs stay on the tomato. Also the whole wheat panko is so much crispier than regular panko so it’s super great for oven fried things.

Ingredients for about 9 servings

2 lb potatoes (peeled cut in half in a pot of water)

1/2 sweet onion (just for boiling with the potatoes, then toss out)

1 hot pepper (just for boiling with the potatoes, then toss out)

1 garlic clove (just for boiling with the potatoes, then toss out)

2 Tablespoons kosher salt (for boiling the potatoes)

2 oz sweet butter – room temperature (for potatoes)

1/8 cup heavy cream (for potatoes)

2 1/2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese – shredded – (for potatoes)

3 oz cream cheese (for potatoes)

6 hot and sweet jarred cherry peppers – chopped fine – (for potatoes)

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika (for potatoes)

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard  (for potatoes)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper (for potatoes)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (for potatoes)

1/4 teaspoon course sea salt (for potatoes)

2 large eggs beaten (for potatoes)

3 medium sized green tomatoes – cored and sliced in thirds across

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 large eggs – beaten

1 Tablespoon (heaping) dijon mustard

1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs

non stick spray – canola or vegetable

Directions

Put the potatoes, onion, hot pepper, garlic and salt in a pot to bring to a boil (medium high so it doesn’t boil over) Let it go till potatoes are fork tender. (about 15 minutes) Then drain and discard the onion, hot pepper and garlic clove.

If you have a good masher mash the potatoes and go on. If your masher isn’t so great you need to rice the potatoes and then do next step.

In the bowl with the potatoes add butter, cheddar, cream cheese, cherry peppers, sweet paprika, dry mustard, black pepper, cayenne pepper, course sea salt, beaten eggs and mix. Set to the side.

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees F. Spray baking sheet(s) with non stick spray and set to the side.

Core the tomatoes. Trip bottom if needed.

If they are medium sized tomatoes cut in thirds across.

Make a dipping station of three pans.

First pan is flour, sweet paprika, cayenne pepper, kosher salt, black pepper.

Second pan is eggs and dijon mixed well.

3rd pan is panko.

Take a tomato slice dip well in the flour mixture. Then dip in the egg mixture. Lastly coat with panko and placed on baking sheet(s) sprayed with non stick spray. (some people do prefer a rack instead of a baking sheet but I find everything turned out great on a pan for me.) Repeat till the tomatoes are done.

After 45 minutes flip the tomatoes and let them go 15 minutes more. The coating should look nice like it was fried.

Let the tomatoes cool for at least 15 minutes. Place on a fresh non-stick sprayed sheet pan(s) and then either pipe or spoon on the pimento potato topping. I do note the piping can be a little tricky with a star tip on a pastry bag and got slightly clogged a few times. If I were doing this again…..Instead of a star tip I would just use no tip on my pastry bag to avoid any clogging.

Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees F till they have crisp brown edges. (I forgot to time this…SORRY) It was 15 – 30 minutes….

Leftovers heat up very easy in a covered pan.

These came out really delicious. When I made the potato filling my husband just kept eating it (before I added the raw eggs) saying this is really tasty….and I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough for the recipe. This came out Forking Delicious just about everyone will love it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got a bunch of yellow squash that I have to use so I’m pickling. The yellow squash isn’t crunchy like a pickling pickle but it comes out pretty good and you can certainly pickle yellow squash when you have too many. I don’t do the formal canning because I expect to use what I made with-in a few months. This will stay fresh in the refrigerator for at least three months.

Ingredients for about 8 large servings

8 small/medium yellow squash – ends removed and cut in halves

1/2 onion sliced

3 oz fresh dill

3 cups water

3 cups white vinegar

3 cups rice wine vinegar

4 Tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon celery seeds

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon mustard seed

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

4 Bayleaves

34 garlic cloves – chopped

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 Tablespoon sugar

Directions

Start with sterilized containers or bottles and fill them with the dill, squash and onions and set to the side.

In a sauce pot add the rest of the ingredients and put on medium high heat and slowly bring to a slow boil. Let it boil a few minutes.

Pour the hot liquid over the containers of squash and let it sit on the counter to it cools some.

After it’s cool cover and place in the refrigerator and enjoy in about a week.

These Yellow Squash Garlic Dill Pickles are Crazy Good paired with Carla Hall Inspired Hot Fried Cauliflower.