It's not my fault I've been overworked lately. Blame it on the economy and the fact that we all have to wear many hats at our jobs. Rest assured, however, I am still cooking simple and good food. Here's a recipe featuring gnocchi (potato dumpling) - my favorite quick Italian food ingredient.
Ingredients:
Broccoli
Asparagus
Gnocchi (Trader Joe's has it)
Your Favorite Tomato Sauce (I use Trader Joe's Vodka Sauce, MMM)
Olive Oil
Start by pre-heating your oven at 400º. Chop bottoms of asparagus off. Then cut remainder in half. Place asparagus and pre-chopped broccoli in pan and spread olive oil evenly. Shake some salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. Bake in oven approximately 25 minutes. Meanwhile boil some water with a splash of olive oil. Once boiled place desired amount of gnocchi in water. Boil until little dumplings float to the top. Drain. Sprinkle with olive oil.
Heat sauce. Prepare plate by covering desired amount of sauce on gnocchi. Place greens next to gnocchi. The best part about gnocchi is that it's easy to make. Whenever in a time crunch you can always count on the potato dumplings.
Italian inspired mushroom medley with an olive oil/garlic based sauce.
Ingredients
Crimini mushrooms, sliced
Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
White button mushrooms, sliced
Gnocchi
5 Cloves of garlic, sliced
Olive Oil
Oregano
Red pepper flakes
Boil water in pot with 1 tsp of olive oil and a dash of salt. After water boils place gnocchi in pot until floats. When ready, drain. In the meantime, take a pan and sauté the mushrooms with 1 Tbsp of oil. Add a dash of red pepper flakes and salt. Turn down heat. Separately, for the 'sauce' you'll need to place 3 Tsp of oil with the sliced garlic. Cook until garlic turns a bit brown. Add about and additional 1/4 cup of oil. Cook until hot.
Place gnocchi on plate top with mushroom sauté pouring olive oil sauce to taste including a few garlic pieces.
Don't try this at home if you're vegan. At least not yet. This recipe is vegetarian but uses a lot of dairy. I will have to report back on the vegan version, that I haven't made yet. For now, I'm posting this recipe variation that I tried from Epicurious.com. The original recipe was too bland for me, so I decided to change it a little.
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen peas, not thawed
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp of dried red-pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves smashed
3 cups packed baby spinach (3 oz)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp of lemon juice
1 pound of dried gnocchi
1/2 cup of grated ParmesanSimmer peas with cream, red-pepper flakes, garlic, and 1/4 tsp salt in a 12-inch skillet or pan. Be sure to use smashed garlic. Peel and use the side of a large knife. Use your right hand to press down on the flat part of the knife. This will 'smash' the garlic. Simmer for about 5 minutes covered or until peas have soften.
Add spinach and cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring until spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice. I used a vegetable peeler for the zest by peeling the skin off of the lemon. I then chopped the peel into bits.
Meanwhile, cook gnocchi in a pot with 3 Tbs of salt per 6 quarts of water until the gnocchi floats to the top. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain gnocchi.
Add gnocchi to sauce with cheese and the pasta water. Stir. Add salt, pepper, and possibly more Parmesan cheese to taste. So good!
It's not my fault I've been overworked lately. Blame it on the economy and the fact that we all have to wear many hats at our jobs. Rest assured, however, I am still cooking simple and good food. Here's a recipe featuring gnocchi (potato dumpling) - my favorite quick Italian food ingredient.
