Today, I completely broke all the rules of my "diet", so to speak. I've been really good about it for the past 3ish months, but today, I went all-out on comfort and junkie foods. Breakfast was A&W's Sausage 'n Egger, lunch was a hotdog from the BBQ at my volunteer event, and dinner... Well...I'll just go back to being good tomorrow~
Some friends and I had a nice potluck dinner tonight. It all started last last summer when we all worked for the Government of Alberta and had something called Office Communicator. It's like an internal MSN you can use to talk to anyone else who is a government employee. From there, we created a small group of 5 including myself and would chat every day at work during our downtime. We had a potluck that summer, and vowed to do it again, which was tonight.
I decided to try something new...gnocchi. Gnocchi is like a potato pasta dumpling. It's very soft and doughy, but rich, and rather filling. I had never eaten gnocchi, storebought nor from a restaurant, and after browsing through some food blogs in my daily routine, I decided to give it a shot from scratch! I originally wanted to make a nice buttery mushroom sauce to accompany the gnocchi, but we didn't have mushrooms, and I decided that since I was going with a rich pasta, I should go with a lighter sauce. So...I chose pesto.
Things I have learned today about gnocchi:
- Gnocchi is pronounced, "Nyo-kee".
- There is a reason why the pieces are so small. They are reaally filling. My friend, Joshie even commented that he only had 5 pieces and it was so filling. Thankfully, I only made a half-batch.
- It is also commonly made with sweet potato, squash, or pumpkin, as well as cheese, and other mixtures of vegetables.
- They cook very quickly! Pretty ideal for a quick put-together-dish for a potluck or party!
- While many recipes for other dishes require only egg whites, this one only needs the yolk, so it's a great way to make use of your egg yolks :)
- Pastry cutters make for amazing potato mashers.
Things I have learned today about pesto:
- While pesto is often made from basil, you can use cilantro instead, and probably any other kind of leafy herb.
- Pesto can easily be thrown together in a blender! Like many sauces and dips, actually, now that I think about it...sweet.
- Parmesan cheese is the most expensive ingredient in pesto, second to pine nuts.
I warned my friends of my new food blogging habits beforehand...
Potato Gnocchi (adapted from Food Nouveau)
(I only made approximately half of the batch from what was in the recipe, and it was already a lot.)
2 medium-sized white potatoes
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (plus 1/3 cup for dusting and shaping)
1 tsp table salt
1 tbsp corn oil (plus more for cooking)
1. Wash and peel the potatoes. Starting with cold water in a pot, boil the potatoes until fork tender. As suggested by my friend, Joshie, it's probably a good idea to chop the potatoes so that they cook faster.
2. Mash your potatoes with a potato ricer, potato masher, fork, or...pastry cutter in a wide baking dish. A wider dish means a bigger surface area allowing the potatoes to cool faster. Allow the potatoes to cool to room temperature.
2. Separate your egg yolk, and be careful not to break it! You can put the egg white in a bowl covered tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge.
3. Once your potatoes are cool, incorporate the egg yolk and oil until just combined.
4. In a bowl, sift together flour and salt. Add the flour mixture into the potatoes 1/4 cup at a time and mix until just combined.
5. Dust some flour over the potatoes just to coat the top, and add some on your hands. Separate the dough into 4 or 5 sections and work with one section at a time. Roll a section of dough into a finger-width log, and cut into 3/4" pieces. I rounded the edges of my gnocchi because the asymmetry of my cutting bothered me. Continue doing this until all of your dough has been formed into little gnocchi.
6. If you aren't cooking the gnocchi right away, you can store them in the fridge or freezer. I rushed over to Joshie's place, so I just stuck them all in a ziploc bag, and coated them with flour beforehand to keep them from sticking to each other, which didn't really work.
7. To cook gnocchi, bring a medium-sized pot half-full of water to a boil on high. Place 10-15 gnocchi into the pot. When the gnocchi float to the top, they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl.
8. You can serve the gnocchi as they are, or to make them crispy, you can quickly fry them in a pan or the same pot with a bit more cooking oil until golden brown.
9. Enjoy your homemade gnocchi with your choice of sauce. Some people just like melted butter and sprinkles of parmesan, others like tomato sauce, and others like pesto. It's completely up to you!
Cilantro Pesto (adapted from Little House in the Suburbs)
(makes 2 cups)
2 handfuls of cilantro
2/3 cup corn oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (no shells)
4 cloves of garlic
$3.19 worth of grated parmesan from Sobey's (I just picked the smallest package - it looked like about 2/3 cup?)
1. Wash the cilantro, and chop each handful into thirds.
2. Peel and chop each clove of garlic into thirds.
3. Throw the cilantro, oil, nuts and seeds, and garlic into a blender, and pulse until almost smooth, but small, green leafy bits are still visible.
4. Stir in the parmesan cheese until combined. I felt that the parmesan cheese was strong enough of a flavour, but you can definitely add salt and/or pepper if you'd like!
Pesto can be a bit rich. As a guideline, I would say about 1/2 cup of pasta will be well-coated in 2 tbsp of pesto.
Buon Appetito~
-M
P.S. You may notice that the second half of this post is different from what it was before...somehow, my blogger mobile app deleted parts, and I had to re-type the recipes. Hopefully, they are just as clear for you!
Some friends and I had a nice potluck dinner tonight. It all started last last summer when we all worked for the Government of Alberta and had something called Office Communicator. It's like an internal MSN you can use to talk to anyone else who is a government employee. From there, we created a small group of 5 including myself and would chat every day at work during our downtime. We had a potluck that summer, and vowed to do it again, which was tonight.
I decided to try something new...gnocchi. Gnocchi is like a potato pasta dumpling. It's very soft and doughy, but rich, and rather filling. I had never eaten gnocchi, storebought nor from a restaurant, and after browsing through some food blogs in my daily routine, I decided to give it a shot from scratch! I originally wanted to make a nice buttery mushroom sauce to accompany the gnocchi, but we didn't have mushrooms, and I decided that since I was going with a rich pasta, I should go with a lighter sauce. So...I chose pesto.
Things I have learned today about gnocchi:
- Gnocchi is pronounced, "Nyo-kee".
- There is a reason why the pieces are so small. They are reaally filling. My friend, Joshie even commented that he only had 5 pieces and it was so filling. Thankfully, I only made a half-batch.
- It is also commonly made with sweet potato, squash, or pumpkin, as well as cheese, and other mixtures of vegetables.
- They cook very quickly! Pretty ideal for a quick put-together-dish for a potluck or party!
- While many recipes for other dishes require only egg whites, this one only needs the yolk, so it's a great way to make use of your egg yolks :)
- Pastry cutters make for amazing potato mashers.
Things I have learned today about pesto:
- While pesto is often made from basil, you can use cilantro instead, and probably any other kind of leafy herb.
- Pesto can easily be thrown together in a blender! Like many sauces and dips, actually, now that I think about it...sweet.
- Parmesan cheese is the most expensive ingredient in pesto, second to pine nuts.
I warned my friends of my new food blogging habits beforehand...
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| I love potlucks! |
 |
| Matthew's Thai Peanut Chicken Thighs totally won me over...I would really like to get the recipe off of him. I remember him saying that there was peanut butter, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. The sauce was so delicious. It went well with everything... |
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| Charlotte's Taco Rice. We made a pot of steamed rice but it stayed in the kitchen because the table was so full that we almost didn't have space for our bowls and glasses. It was so delicious and hearty! Ground beef, onions, red bell peppers, and corn. Mmm...there is something so good about corn... |
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| Janice brought two dishes. One was whole wheat texas toast smothered with aioli sauce. Aioli sauce is like that "chipotle dip" you typically get in restaurants with your sweet potato fries. I can't quite remember the brand that she used. This one had a little bit of a kick from the chilis. So simple, but so good. What a luxurious lunch idea ;P |
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| Janice also made punch from fruit punch, 7-Up, and some frozen berries. Again, something very simple, but it was very delicious and refreshing! I don't remember the last time I helped myself to 3-4 glasses of a carbonated beverage... |
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| Joshie made bowtie pasta with a cream of mushroom soup sauce base, cauliflower, shrimp, and peas. Like peanut butter, you can't go wrong with a good creamy mushroom sauce! |
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| Here are my homemade pesto sauce and gnocchi! The pesto had a little kick in it, I think from the garlic. I think it was a bit lighter than the prepared pesto sauces I've had...I think I will add a bit of salt and pepper the next time. The gnocchi was nice and doughy, but some of the pasta's shapes were slightly obscure. Partly due to my rushing while cooking them, and because I was smart enough to not bring a non-stick pot/pan to fry them in. Not bad for a first attempt, but I think I could make them a lot better than I did. |
(I only made approximately half of the batch from what was in the recipe, and it was already a lot.)
2 medium-sized white potatoes
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (plus 1/3 cup for dusting and shaping)
1 tsp table salt
1 tbsp corn oil (plus more for cooking)
1. Wash and peel the potatoes. Starting with cold water in a pot, boil the potatoes until fork tender. As suggested by my friend, Joshie, it's probably a good idea to chop the potatoes so that they cook faster.
2. Mash your potatoes with a potato ricer, potato masher, fork, or...pastry cutter in a wide baking dish. A wider dish means a bigger surface area allowing the potatoes to cool faster. Allow the potatoes to cool to room temperature.
2. Separate your egg yolk, and be careful not to break it! You can put the egg white in a bowl covered tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge.
3. Once your potatoes are cool, incorporate the egg yolk and oil until just combined.
4. In a bowl, sift together flour and salt. Add the flour mixture into the potatoes 1/4 cup at a time and mix until just combined.
5. Dust some flour over the potatoes just to coat the top, and add some on your hands. Separate the dough into 4 or 5 sections and work with one section at a time. Roll a section of dough into a finger-width log, and cut into 3/4" pieces. I rounded the edges of my gnocchi because the asymmetry of my cutting bothered me. Continue doing this until all of your dough has been formed into little gnocchi.
6. If you aren't cooking the gnocchi right away, you can store them in the fridge or freezer. I rushed over to Joshie's place, so I just stuck them all in a ziploc bag, and coated them with flour beforehand to keep them from sticking to each other, which didn't really work.
7. To cook gnocchi, bring a medium-sized pot half-full of water to a boil on high. Place 10-15 gnocchi into the pot. When the gnocchi float to the top, they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl.
8. You can serve the gnocchi as they are, or to make them crispy, you can quickly fry them in a pan or the same pot with a bit more cooking oil until golden brown.
9. Enjoy your homemade gnocchi with your choice of sauce. Some people just like melted butter and sprinkles of parmesan, others like tomato sauce, and others like pesto. It's completely up to you!
Cilantro Pesto (adapted from Little House in the Suburbs)
(makes 2 cups)
2 handfuls of cilantro
2/3 cup corn oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (no shells)
4 cloves of garlic
$3.19 worth of grated parmesan from Sobey's (I just picked the smallest package - it looked like about 2/3 cup?)
1. Wash the cilantro, and chop each handful into thirds.
2. Peel and chop each clove of garlic into thirds.
3. Throw the cilantro, oil, nuts and seeds, and garlic into a blender, and pulse until almost smooth, but small, green leafy bits are still visible.
4. Stir in the parmesan cheese until combined. I felt that the parmesan cheese was strong enough of a flavour, but you can definitely add salt and/or pepper if you'd like!
Pesto can be a bit rich. As a guideline, I would say about 1/2 cup of pasta will be well-coated in 2 tbsp of pesto.
Buon Appetito~
-M
P.S. You may notice that the second half of this post is different from what it was before...somehow, my blogger mobile app deleted parts, and I had to re-type the recipes. Hopefully, they are just as clear for you!
Did you actually end up skipping breakfast?? After you sleep, I'm pretty sure the stomach is done its course and ready for another meal :D The pictures look amazing btw!!!
ReplyDeleteTotally did not skip breakfast. I'd like to think that getting up to run further justified it all? ;P Since we had a black table, the colours in everyone's food popped out which was great!
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