Roasted Garlic Gnocchi

...in cilantro lime cream sauce with assorted mushrooms and yes, Fiddlehead ferns are still available. Gnocchi can take on so many flavors when you feel like going to all the trouble.

Many times they are served alone in a dish with a sauce, but adding some greens to compliment (broccoli Rabe, spinach, or greens) will help make it a more complete meal.

In Verona every year is a Gnocchi festival called, “Venerdì Gnocolar” (Gnocchi's Friday), and it takes place during the carnival season. This information and recipe were found on 'Cooking with Patty', and she has such a cute site!

2 lbs – 2 oz. whole baking potatoes
2 heads roasted garlic, mashed with 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 beaten egg
2-1/4 cups flour
pinch of salt

Boil the potatoes whole with the skin in salted water until cooked.

Drain the potatoes and then peel them while hot (careful not to burn hands). Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer and into a bowl. At this point add the roasted garlic mixture, and then add Add the flour, egg and a good pinch of salt. Mix until you have a nice pliable ball of dough.

Prepare a work area and dust it with flour. Take the dough, a piece at a time, and roll it out with your hands until you have rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter. Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about one inch long. With a fork, holding the tines against the work surface, use your finger to press a piece of dough gently against the fork and roll it slightly then letting it fall to the table.

Handle the gnocchi carefully so they don’t loose their shape. Place them on a lightly flour plates. Keep them apart so they don’t touch one another or they’ll stick together. Bring a big pot of water to a boil and then add the gnocchi carefully a plate or two at a time. When they float to the surface they are ready just remove them with a slotted spoon and set them in a strainer to drain off the excess water.

Make double batches and freeze them. After they begin to dry add more flour in the container around gnocchi, so they do not touch.
Sauce- saute some roasted garlic and mushrooms in olive oil- add chicken stock to cover ingredients, cook the gnocchi till tender, then add a splash of heavy cream and garnish with cilantro and lime. I boiled the fiddlehead ferns separately for 15 minutes, rinsed them, and added at the end. They gave this dish an added crunch.

This year it seems a bit odd to see Fiddlehead fern fronds so late in the year, but Whole Foods has said they are coming out of Oregon, and with the weather still being chilly this late in the year, maybe they have not unfurled in their neck of the woods. - Check out Mark's Daily Apple recipe for Primal Bacon Fiddleheads

I am happy to say that I have been excepted into the Foodierama family. Go check out their website for new and updated food posts daily!

Saute Kimchi Butter Fiddle Head Ferns & Shrimp

I wanted to understand how Chef David Chang created some of his wonderful specialties like Kimchi Butter, so I decided to look deeper into the tasty treat purchased. As well as the wonderful kimchi consommé (refers to usually a clear broth, but I am assuming it refers to a lighter version of kimchi) topping on our Oyster appetizer recently at Momofuku in New York City last weekend to see if I could duplicate it at home.

The kimchi butter was purchased at Milkbar behind Momofuku: Noodle House (standing room only).

To understand a fusion like his recipes you have to understand the core of both ingredients- Kimchi and Butter.

Deconstruction of 'Kimchi Butter' from Momofuku-

Kimchi is a Korean pickled vegetable dish which is usually made by fermenting cabbage. Any kind of cabbage like bok choi or Chinese cabbage can be used although traditionally kimchi is made with napa cabbage.

The recipe for kimchi is a very versatile dish and it can be incorporated in soups, salads and stews. Although it can be purchase at any local Asian market, it can easily be prepared at home. I plan to make kimchi in my quest in learning more about Asian cuisines that I have not tried before.

2 Napa cabbages
2 tablespoon fish sauce
3 cups salt
2 tablespoon shrimp paste
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 ripe apple,pureed
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1/4 cup red chili powder
1/4 cup spring onions sliced

The ingredients tell me that the chili powder and fish sauce give the kimchi its rich dark red coloring, which transfers to the butter in a lighter orange coloring.

If we look at how simple making Butter is, we might even begin making our own, as it taste better than any store bought brand. My grandmother made her own, and I remember how she kept it in a mason jar in the refrigerator.

First you start with 1 quart pasteurized good tasting organic heavy cream (check the label—you want just cream, no stabilizers, certainly not ultra-pasteurized, nor fillers)

1. Put the cream in a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer or use a hand held mixer. Put the mixer whisk in the bowl and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap to keep the buttermilk from splashing.

2. Beat the cream at medium to high speed until splashes of liquid start hitting the plastic and you can see solid pieces of butter.

3. Set a sieve over a bowl and pour the contents of the bowl into it. Gently knead the butter to release all of its liquid (about 3 minutes). Save the buttermilk for drinking, baking, smoothies, soups, stews, etc. Work salt into the butter if you like. Wrap the butter well in plastic because it loves to absorb orders. You can freeze the butter, or refrigerate it up to a week.

The blending of the two created a wonderful spread for toast, and was great when I stirred some into a bowl of risotto we had for dinner. I how ever decided to try using it for sauteing fresh fiddle heads which are in season in my area the beginning of April. I also sauteed some shrimp to see if it influenced the flavor.

After heating my pan to medium and placing a tablespoon full of oil, I added the Fiddlehead ferns, and the shrimp in another pan with tomato and garlic. My first attempt at adding the kimchi butter in the hot pan showed that it quickly, almost too fast, dissolved and spattered as if water were present. This made me realize I could only add it in the final process of removing ferns and shrimp to a bowl and stirring in a tablespoon of kimchi butter.

The flavor was good. However I do believe if it is house made butter then it is infused with water from the kimchi as a result from a use of their consommé, or the fact most vegetables contain more than half of their make up through water. Ever wonder why your lettuce and cabbage slowly dries out even in the crisper? Forced air still draws out water from vegetables exterior. Fresh butter will also contain small amounts of butter, as processed butter water is removed by machine mixing and removal.

Mixing in the kimchi before the butter solidifies would result in the kimchi butter blend you find in Momofuku's product. I would only recommend using it as a spread or final butter topping for vegetables. I am still excited about trying to make my own kimchi and kimchi butter, because it was worth waiting in what seems like an always busy line at Momofuku- Milkbar.

References:

Vegetables Contain Water
Kimchi Recipe- The Joy of Pickling, by Linda Ziedrich
Lynn's Homemade Butter
Momofuku- Milkbar
Great step by step for making homemade butter (photo above)

Fiddle-sticks, no...

Fiddlehead Ferns~ Last year I missed these little babies when they hit the market, and we did not have them dining out either. Hubby remembered a restaurant named 'Fiddleheads' a few towns east of us always has special menus during the month of May to June that include them, but we missed it for some reason. Seeing them at a smaller market that does not carry such specialty items I was surprised. I starting scooping up as many as I could.

My friend Gen who was with me when, wanted to split these, some dill and other ingredients for a recipe; then I explained to her how to prepare them. This is what I came up with... Fiddlehead Fern Pasta Salad. She told me they enjoyed them, and it was her first time to eat them.

EVO for sauté
1/4 to 1/2 pound cleaned Fiddlehead Ferns
1 sliced pear, soak in lemon water to keep from turning
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, small chop
1 teaspoon paprika
salt/pepper to taste

2 cups pasta, cooked
4 small red bliss, small chop, cooked
2-3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Soak in hot water first and then sauté in a EVO/butter mixture, along with onions, pear, garlic, paprika, salt/pepper to taste, and after about 20 minutes. I removed from heat and placed the lid to seal in steam for another five minutes. Once fully cooked, I tossed them in some chopped dill and Dijon mustard. I boiled some small pieces of red bliss potatoes, and added macaroni to the water, and when potatoes are done remove from heat and let sit to finish the cooking process; then drain well after you see the pasta has increased in size. Toss both together and serve.
















HISTORY: Fiddleheads are a world wide spring delicacy now, and run about six dollars a pound at the market. They appear on menus and in markets about three weeks in May. What exactly are these deep green, coiled vegetables, though? Fiddleheads are actually young fern fronds that have not yet opened up. They must be picked during a two-week window before the fern unfurls. You can find many recipes for preparing them. Like many things out there; there are no law or rules in the culinary world that say we can not make something our own, as I did with my 'Spaetzle' post. Only creative license, and that is one thing in life that is definitely free!
















Fiddleheads (mine were confirmed 'Fiddleheads' brought in from Maine) are named for their appearance, which resembles the scroll at the head or top of a fiddle. The ostrich fern is the species that produces these edible shoots; which have a unique texture. I have read that they taste like asparagus or okra. To me they have their own unique flavor.

I have read that Fiddleheads can be consumed raw or cooked, but they also say remember to keep them refrigerated until you are ready to cook them. Try steaming them for ten minutes until they become soft, as others say giving them a twenty minute hot soak, and then cooking them once again to remove any toxins.

There have been no tests that I found online or in books proving them to be poisonous, but they must be picked before they unfurl. Some cases of food poisoning have been associated with eating under cooked Fiddleheads, so be cautious when preparing them. Because process times have not been established for home-preserved Fiddleheads; it is not recommended to pressure canning as a method to preserve Fiddleheads. These are popular in Asia,
















The container of Fiddlehead Fern Sauté was even better the next day as lunch!

Turns out these babies are hand harvested, pesticide free, and all natural greens...so, go look for your self @ Norcliff Farms, who provided my grocer with them this year... Whole Foods here in Princeton gets there in from Oregon...