Homemade Gnocchi with Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Cream Sauce

The rain was endless yesterday so I decided to make a recluse of myself and spend the afternoon inside with Billie Holiday, wine, a huge bath and a night of making gnocchi. All that is missing from this picture is at least 10 cats, and then I would be a spinster Paddington woman. (I did have a friend come for dinner; it wasn’t a completely lonely affair)

Continuing on my path of destruction with my weekend affair with carbs, I’ve made a homemade gnocchi, with a roasted garlic and pumpkin cream sauce, finished with blue vein and pine nuts.

Ingredients

Serves 2

700g gnocchi (recipe here)

300g pumpkin

1 garlic bulb

¾ cup thickened cream

½ small onion, chopped

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Cayenne pepper

Pine nuts, to garnish

Blue vein cheese, to garnish

Olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

For gnocchi, follow recipe in link above. Allow 1 hour to bake potatoes and 1 hour preparation and cooking.

For cream sauce, skin pumpkin and coat in olive oil, a dash of cinnamon, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Bake pumpkin with whole garlic for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius, or until well roasted.

In a pan, heat olive oil and add diced onions. Cook until opaque. Add cream, pumpkin and garlic. With a hand held blender, pulse cream sauce until a smooth consistency.

To serve, combine gnocchi and cream sauce, topping with blue vein and pine nuts.  

Grilled Eggplant and Chilli Lemon Pasta, topped with Gorgonzola, Cranberries and Hazelnuts

First of all, apologies for being completely negligent of my food. The last few months have been a time of so much change - the closing of chapters and opening of beautiful French doors into a world of new highs and lows. Ha.

When life gives you lemons, to hell with the lemonade, you put on a spread with those lemons so lavished even the lemons’ eyes will water with bitter sweetness.

I’m in my new home this weekend alone and completely impoverished, so I decided to spend the last of my pay check on an amazing dinner, for one.

This recipe echoes the breath of an antipasto plate in your mouth, with all the benefits (and happiness) of pasta. Starting with a simple olive oil, lemon, chilli and garlic pasta, I add grilled eggplant and Gorgonzola cheese with the sweetness of dried cranberries and the crunch of toasted hazelnuts.

Ingredients

Serves 2

250g pasta

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

½ tsp chilli flakes

½ lemon, juiced

3 Lebanese eggplants

70g Gorgonzola cheese

50g dried cranberries

100g hazelnuts, toasted and crushed

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Slice eggplants, length ways and cover in salt to sweat bitterness out. Set aside.

Bring water, salt and olive oil to the boil. Add pasta and cook until al-dente. In a hot pan, toast hazelnuts lightly and crush. Set aside.

Wipe off moisture from eggplants, salt and pepper and char in hot pan with olive oil until well browned on both sides.  Add crushed garlic and remove pan from heat. Allow garlic to heat and infuse.

Drain pasta, add to pan with lemon juice, olive oil and chilli. Combine with eggplant and top with Gorgonzola cheese, cranberries and hazelnuts. 

Gnocchi with Buttered Crab and Brussel Sprout Leaves

In an ode to one of my favourite restaurants in New York, Tartin, I have braved homemade gnocchi, served with buttered crab and brussel leaves. Tartin remains a West Village institution serving homemade pastries and a masterpiece menu by Chef Thierry Rochard,

My favourite dish on the menu (apart from the classic French onion soup), is the home made potato gnocchi with brussel leaves and smoked mozzarella. While I wanted to honour the dish, I also wanted to add crab, a delicate meat that would pair beautifully with a delicate homemade gnocchi.

I have spent the last week researching the best way to approach gnocchi, which has the potential to be too firm, starchy or even rubbery – a lot could go wrong! So I have found a beautiful compromise between a traditional gnocchi and something a little more Michelin in quality.

So as I started my research, I immediately thought Italian. I have since discovered that gnocchi is of Middle Eastern Origin and made its way through Europe during the Roman Empire expansion. Many European countries have since appropriated their own versions. My recipe is based on a recipe by talented food writer Felicity Cloake, for The Guardian. She offers a fantastic compromise in integrity and ingredients.

Based on my finding and my middle way approach, I have discovered a few tips to making a melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi:

·                Use Désirée potatoes – it is a firm middle ground potato that isn’t too starchy or waxy. They will help your gnocchi keep its shape. If unavailable, look for a creamy potato. Instead of boiling your potatoes, bake them in the oven on a bed of rock salt. As little moisture as possible in your potatoes will make for better gnocchi. The rock salt will dry out potatoes.

·                Use 1 small egg – It is still debated and purists believe that a good gnocchi does not need a binding agent. But let’s face it; a little egg can go a long way in taste, and also stretching an untrained cook’s (me!) seeming dexterity!

·                Flour – The less flour the better! Again, it is an art of less is more to make the perfect gnocchi. A ratio I have found to work is 1 part potato to .30 - .35 flour.

·                Good butter – Butter is the finishing touch on this dish and it has to be GOOD. 

I made a bucket load of gnocchi, and ate A LOT. Traditionally gnocchi is served as a starter, so keep this in mind when cooking. It’s rich and filling, so like its ingredients, less is more.

Ingredients

Serves 4 -5 (as starters)

500g Désirée potatoes

175g flour

Pinch sea salt, finely ground

Pinch nutmeg

1 small egg

Rock Salt (to bake potatoes)

75g good butter

5 – 6 large brussel sprouts, broken up

Crab meat, as desired

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Start by piercing potatoes all over so they do not burst in the oven when cooking and to extract as much moisture as possible. Bake for 1 hour or so, baking for longer if potatoes are larger.

After cooked, peel and push through a ricer or sieve onto a clean, floured surface. Add about a quarter of the flour, salt and nutmeg. Making a well in the middle, add beaten egg.

Dust your hands in flour and knead dough, adding flour as needed only. Do not over do dough, as this will develop the gluten and will make the gnocchi firm and rubbery.

Set aside dough then re-flour surface. Flatten to about 1.5cm. Cut each row about 1.5cm in width. Roll each strip and cut into 1cm pieces. Each piece should be pressed with a fork and dusted in flour.

In a saucepan, bring salted water to boil and then turn to a gentle simmer. Add half the gnocchi and wait until all pieces rise, then count slowly to ten to remove from saucepan. Set aside and keep warm.

With a little of the butter, add brussel leaves, and salt lightly. Toss only a few times in pan, as they need to brown a little. Add remaining butter and add crab meat. I had bought a fresh crab and cooked it earlier, removing meat painstakingly!

Add gnocchi and serve hot, adding salt, pepper and a little cheese to taste. 

Creole Herb Battered Flathead with Parsnip and Wilted Spinach Puree, served with Charred Corn.

Part of growing with my blog and keeping myself interested and not overwhelmed by endless culinary technique is to keep learning myself. Today I learnt the art of the Parsnip Puree.

Parsnip is a root vegetable, closely related to the carrot. It’s creamy, rich and woody in flavour. It’s really complementary with meat and seafood and a perfect way to welcome winter eating.

The key to a perfect parsnip puree is to remove the woody core, which I had overlooked for a very long time. I didn’t even notice there was a core in parsnip, but it came out quite easy. By removing, you stop the puree from being grainy.

The hero of this dish is the Creole style battered flathead. Flathead is a firm, meaty fish without an overly fishy flavour, perfect for battering. Some people would argue that a battered flathead should be flathead in flour and lightly cooked in olive oil, and this is perfectly fine also. The idea of my heav(ier) batter was to pair this with the Creole seasoning, an ode to the warmth and opulence of the Deep South. Finishing the dish with fresh lemon really lightens the meal, however.

Ingredients

Yields 2 servings

Parsnip Puree

2 large parsnips

1 cup chicken stock

¼ brown onion

4 tbsp butter

1 garlic love

2 – 3 tbsp thick cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Creole Battered Flathead

4 flathead fillets

2 tbsp Creole spice mix

¾ cup plain flour

¾ cup ice cold water

½ tsp baking soda (as recommended by Rick Stein)

¾ cup olive oil

Fresh corn, char grilled

Directions

Start by cutting each parsnip in 2 halves. Starting from the bottom, with your hands and a knife, remove the core. Finish by cutting into quarters.

Sauté onions and garlic in half the butter, until just softened. Add the chicken stock and parsnips, cooking for 10-15 minutes, or until soft. In a pulsar or blender, add the parsnip and reduced stock with the remaining butter and cream.

In the hot pan, wilt spinach until a dark, emerald green. Add to pulsar and blend until soft and creamy.

In a separate pan, or on a grill, cook corn rubbed in olive oil. Do not turn often, as the corn needs to char. Once evenly cooked and charred, using a knife, shave downwards, taking off corn kernels.

Coat each flathead fillet lightly in flour. Combine flour, water, Creole spice mix and baking soda, mixing well. Coat fillets in batter and cook in heated olive oil on medium to high heat. Depending on the fillets, they do not need to be cooked for too long.

Rest for a minute on paper towels and serve immediately to keep the crunch.

To plate, smear puree on plate, topping with corn kernels. Serve with battered flat head and finish with a generous squeeze of lemon juice. 

Roti Pizza with Kale, Anchovies and Bocconcini

I have just returned home from a trip to New York and am withdrawing from NY pizza. There is a beautiful difference in taste between NY pizza and pizza we have here in Australia. Not to mention you can find slices at Papa John’s for $1.00. That’s right, $1.00.

I’m going to share a food story with you that may be akin to food porn, without the violent slapping of salami onto chests and the sort. I had a horrible habit of having ‘pizza parties’ with my other half, the day after a big night, hung over and regretting my choices from the night before. ‘Pizza party’ was really euphuism for this, as the party had well and truly ended. I recall demolishing an 18 inch pepperoni pizza, with a couple of hot wings thrown in for good measure, all in the space of 24 hours.

So, I’ve decided, moving forward there needs to be an alternative solution lined up that’s a little cleaner, leaner and healthier for such times and to keep my addiction at bay. The answer – Roti Pizza.

They are incredibly easy to make, you know the quality of ingredients you’re ingesting and it will cost you a small fraction of the price. You can really chuck anything you have at home spare, onto the pizza.

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Enjoy!!

Ingredients

Yields 7 – 8 pizzas

Roti Dough (recipe from Taste.com.au)                                              

2 cups plain flour

1 cup water

½ tsp salt

30g butter

Vegetable oil (for cooking roti)

Ground Tomato Topping

2 – 3 roma tomatoes

¼ small onion

¼ red chilli

Coarse sea salt

1 garlic clove

3 - 4 basil leaves

Toppings

4 – 6 kale leaves, without stalk, massaged in olive oil

Anchovies to taste

6 – 8 bocconcini balls

Basil leaves to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Start by preheating the oven at 180 degrees C.

Roti Dough

Start by combining flour and salt in a bowl, making a well in the middle and adding water.  Knead dough for 5 – 10 minutes, adding flour as needed. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Melt butter and divide dough into 7 – 8 even pieces. Flatten each piece out with your hands and brush one side with butter. Role into a scroll shape and complete all rolls.

Heat a flat fry pan to high. Take the first ball, knead again, ensuring butter is worked through the dough. With a rolling pin and extra flour, roll out the dough and drop into frypan with a little oil. Try to keep the oil to a minimum as you want the roti to be charred and cooked without too much help from oil and butter.

Ground Tomato Topping

Finely chop all ingredients and combine with a pulsar or mortar and pestle, adding coarse salt to help break everything down.

Final Toppings

After each piece of roti has been cooked, place the ground tomato topping over each piece, dressing with the additional toppings listed.

Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, or until bocconcini is melted.

Lemon and Tarragon Grilled Chicken with Roasted Prosciutto

Pairing simple flavours in summer.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 chicken breast

2 -3 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped

½ lemon, juiced

1/4 extra virgin olive oil          

100g prosciutto

Salt and pepper. To taste

For the salad

½ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

150g cherry tomatoes, halved

50g walnuts

150g  mango, fresh and sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

In a bowl combine lemon, olive oil, tarragon, salt and pepper. Slice chicken breast in two, place in marinade and set in the fridge.

Pre-heat oven at 200 degrees Celsius. Place prosciutto on tray and bake for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine salad ingredients, but be sure to add walnuts and olive oil at the last minute, to keep salad fresh.

Take marinated chicken and grill for 10 – 15 minutes, depending on thickness. Be sure to watch the chicken does not dry out.

To plate, serve salad in a bowl and serve chicken sliced, topped with chopped parsley, prosciutto and olive oil. 

Cinnamon Caramelised Fig with Salted Pistachios

'Tis the season for figs! They are becoming more accessible and used in everyday dishes at home, but they have been cultivated for thousands of years, dating back to the ancient Middle East.

I’ve had a lot of amazing fig salads over summer and I wanted to match the savoury with a sweet dessert that exploded and enhanced the richness of figs.

I actually found out quite recently that figs are the product of pollination by a special fig wasp. Figs have grown and evolved with these wasps and start out as a flower, pollinated and turned into a fruit that bares a beautiful rich fruit.

I have paired a sweet cinnamon caramelised fig with salted pistachio, served with a bourbon, macadamia, honey and vanilla bean ice cream. The dessert is simple, delicious and takes less than ten minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

Serves 2

3 figs

4 tbsp white sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon, ground

1 small handful of salted and shelled pistachios

4 – 6 tbsp Ice cream

Directions

Slice figs in half, length ways and set aside. Place sugar and cinnamon in a non stick pan on medium heat and spread through the middle. Turn heat to medium and after 30 seconds place figs over sugar.

The figs should start to brown and bubble in the sugar turned caramel. Cook the figs face down for no longer than 2 minutes, then turn over and cook for 30 seconds, coating in caramel.

Take figs out of pan and let sit for a few minutes. Lay figs on plate, top with crushed pistachios and serve with ice cream. 

Risoni Pasta with Charred Cauliflower, Peas and Pancetta

This is a simple warm pasta salad flavoured with fresh flat leafed parsley, thyme and good thickened cream.

I love easy weeknight dinners that have all the benefits of a labour intensive meal. This pasta is perfect for spring afternoons with a bottle of wine.

Ingredients

Serves 2

2/3 cup risoni pasta

½ cup peas

¼ small cauliflower

 150g pancetta

¼ small red onion, finely chopped

3 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

½ tsp fresh thyme

3 tbsp thickened cream

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

Bring water to boil and cook risoni pasta as directed on the packaging. Usually 5 – 7 minutes.

Chop cauliflower into small pieces and coat in olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook in a frypan on high heat, turning only once the bottom is charred. Continue to do so until all sides have a nice dark brown charring. Add peas and reduce heat to medium. Add 1/3 cup of water and let reduce.

Once the water has reduced and the peas are a bright green, add cream and mix well. Set aside.

In a separate pan, lightly fry pancetta and add to cauliflower. To finish, combine risoni, cauliflower mix, red onion, parsley and thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chorizo Tapas Four Ways

A spiced chickpea and chorizo salad with cumin and cardamom

Hot sauce baked potatoes rubbed in chorizo oil and roasted garlic

Sticky and sweet vinaigrette glazed chorizo on salted avocado mash

Baked field mushroom stuffed with panko breadcrumbs, chorizo and topped with anchovy oil

Tapas is derived from the word tapa - ‘to cover’. Today it is used to encourage conversation while dining. If everyone else is anything like me, eating can be over in 5 minutes. Yum Cha is very similar in tradition. It is translated to ‘drink tea’. Originally it was a time to sit with friends, socialise and drink tea. The food was eventually the focus, much like in Spain.

Originally tapas started as a piece of bread or cured meat used to cover sherry at a bar, to prevent fruit flies from getting into the sherry. It eventually grew to cheese and a plethora small eats. People also believe it was a plate placed on top of the glass to deter people from noticing the terrible wine.

Either way, it takes its form of modern day tapas.

 Maybe there is something to be said about moderation, enjoyment, pleasure and a removal of guilt?  

Ingredients

Serves 2

A spiced chickpea and chorizo salad

½ cup chickpeas

½ chorizo

¼ tsp cumin

¼ tsp cardamom

¼ tsp nutmeg

 Flat leafed parsley, finely chopped.

½ lemon, juiced

Hot sauce baked potatoes

2 cream delight potatoes

\2 tbsp hot sauce

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp chorizo oil (from frying)

Glazed chorizo on salted avocado mash

1 avocado

1 chorizo

¼ cup water

¼ cup white vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp course sea salt

Baked and stuffed field mushrooms

¼ cup panko breadcrumbs

¼ chorizo

1 medium field mushroom

1 tbsp anchovy oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Start by cutting then boiling potatoes for 7 minutes. Dice 2 chorizo and fry on medium heat until browned and oil is released. Finely chop garlic and add to a baking dish with potatoes, hot sauce and chorizo oil. Coat well and bake in oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes, or until crisp and browned.

With remaining oil from chorizo, fry panko breadcrumbs and add chopped chorizo. Remove the stalk from field mushroom and add fill with panko mix. Cook in oven for 10 minutes.

In a pot bring water, vinegar and sugar to the boil. Reduce heat and let the vinaigrette reduce to half. Mash avocado and salt and plate. Reheat chorizo and coat in vinaigrette. Serve on avocado mash.

 Mix chickpeas, finely chopped flat leafed parsley, herbs and add lemon juice. Add chorizo and mixed well.

Serve with a good bottle of sherry.