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!

Asian Soup with Orange Meatballs

In a quest for trying Asian recipes, an idea sparked- a new and unique meat ball and noodle combination. A few ingredients were available when my search began, but one of the most unusual ingredients I had bought were three Meniolla oranges at the market. These were nice to peel and were sweet like clementines, but I hate seeds. I adore eating them, but hate wasting the zest, so I decided to make use of the fragrant exterior.

• Meniolla Oranges

- Mineola is a cross between tangerines and grapefruit, and also called tangelo honeybells, and have that funny bump on the top (see photo).

• ground pork and beef
• mushroom stock
• red onion
• fish sauce

 Along with these ingredients I made the most divine bowl of soup I have yet to create...

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
5 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 quarts water
1 cup baby portaello mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar


I took the oranges and grated one Meniolla's zest into- 1/2 pound of the pork and 1/4 pound of the beef; along with 1/2 teaspoon ginger root, 1/2 teaspoon fresh garlic. reduced soy sauce, and paprika and combined well. Then forming 1 inch balls I heated a soup pot on medium high with 2 tablespoons oil, and browned half of the meatballs with the mushrooms and 1/2 cut thinly sliced red onions.

Once you have browned the ingredients, then add the rest of the garlic, ginger, 3 tablespoons fish sauce, water, and 1 cup mushroom stock. Begin boiling these ingredients and slowly add in the remaining meatballs and rice wine vinegar, cooking for about thirty minutes (or until meat is cooked through), and then simmer another fifteen minutes or so.

The flavors are reminiscent of a light hot and sour soup, but with a touch of orange when biting into the meatballs. This dish can be Filling with Somen noodles (often used for cold noodle salads, and cook quickly)- adding a small broken hand full of Somen noodles to the bowl, then pour over a cup of the hot liquid; let sit until noodles are soft, which take about three minutes or so.

Back when I had made the Tuna Tartare and had quail eggs, a few were left over, so I used up the last three for an extra touch! I am making this soup again!

Many people find soup taste better the next day when flavors meld. Only add noodles when soup is made, otherwise they become too mushy.

Asian Skirt Steak & Udon Noodles

Marc @ No Recipes comment about how he was reminded it was time to re-visit the Latin food realm, and he reminded me it was time to pull out the chop sticks. I did have a number of palates to entertain...
















Lets paint the canvas with some lemongrass, cilantro, chili paste, and soy...





















Steak has been on my mind lately, and No Recipes Asian thought provoking influence swayed me to begin contemplating my company's menu. Sometimes just throwing a little oil on a good hunk of marbled meat (which is great), cooking it to our liking, and devouring it with out much thought was going to be enough. No, they would want more.

Asian Skirt Steak would do the trick...

Yeah I thought...just go for it. What about a two course meal eaten with chop sticks? I needed another side dish. Noodles of some sort came to mind. Udon noodles perhaps? Would a green curry would help fool the brain into believing they were eating healthy vitamin enriched vegetable broth, or I could create amuse bouche of greens and other ingredients. The noodles and broth would fill you up. Both dishes would tantalize their palates...
















Karē udon– "Curry udon." Udon in a soup made of Japanese curry. May also include meat or vegetables. I used tofu as my added component to this dish. Take your tofu and drain it on paper towels while you are putting this together; then cube them, and add to the Karē udon.

Green curry paste is made by pounding in a mortar green chillies, shallots, garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric, fish sauce and salt. Usually the paste is briefly fried in split coconut cream, then coconut milk, meat or fish, and vegetables added along with a pinch of brown sugar. I only added some chili oil, coconut milk, basil, and lime juice; then letting it simmer for a few minutes to meld the flavors. I took the mixture and pureed it in my little food processor, adding more coconut milk to thin it out a bit more.

Disclaimer: Also, I wanted to mention that shrimp paste, kaffir lime leaves, and basil are traditionally added at the end of this curry recipe. I take liberties with my recipes that some might consider not authentic, but hey its my kitchen and as long as the food taste good...




















Oh, you want to know what is in the dumplings? Portobello mushrooms and goat cheese simply pureed in small food processor, and placed into small wonton wrappers. A great flavor combination for the skirt steak and broth...
















Many times I have certain ingredients in mind, or things I have sitting around that need to be used before they go bad, and at first it might seem like a blur; until a the perfect thought provoking moment occurs...
















HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!