Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts, dried Tomatoes and Sage

I saw this recipe on a friend's blog and fell in love with it. Actually, I've discovered my love for Brussels Sprouts recently.....
The "original" recipe is here! As always, I did not stuck to the amounts, but did it by rule of thumb.


For 2:
* one package of Gnocchi (500 gr.)
* 300 gr. Brussels Sprouts
* 50 gr. Pine Nuts (I didn't have any)
* 80 gr. dried tomatoes (drained well from excessive oil)
* fresh sage
* Olive Oil, salt, pepper, nutmeg


Prepare Sprouts (I cut off the "stem" and peel off the dark leaves or the dirty ones). Cut into quarters. Put into boiling salted water and boil for about 5-7 minutes. Take out of water with a slotted spoon so you can use the water to cook the gnocchi. Heat oil in a pan and fry the pine-nuts, then add sprouts, diced tomatoes and sage (leave some leaves for decoration). Salt, pepper and if you like, add nutmeg as well. Cook gnocchi according to package instructions, drain well and add to the pan.  Let "fry" for a couple minutes, serve.

These were the veggies in the pan

Together with the gnocchi it looks a bit chaotic - if you want nice pictures, please go to my friend's blog.

Or do as I did: Cover the mess with a lot of parmesan cheese!!!

Risotto with Chestnuts

Risotto with Chestnuts

For the Risotto-part, please view my other post!

Chestnuts (about 25-30 pieces)

Sugar

With a sharp knife cut two lines on the flat side of the chestnuts, one vertically and one horizontally.

Bring water to the boil and add chestnuts, let boil for 10-15 minutes. Take out one by one and peel off the hard outer shell and the soft dark skin (it leaves a bitter taste). Leave some chestnuts as a whole, cut the others into small pieces.

In a small pan melt 2 tablespoons of sugar until liquid, then add water (the sugar might become one solid piece  upon contact with water, but be patient, it'll dissolve again). Stir until you have a nice syrupy liquid, then add the whole chestnuts and let boil a few minutes until nicely caramelized from all sides.

 Add broken chestnuts to the rice about halfway through the cooking-process, continue with ladle / broth / simmering as described above. When the risotto is done, use the caramelized chestnuts to decorate. Here we go:

Three Types of Risotto

My In-laws were coming (again) for dinner and so were two of hubby's nephews. So we were 6 + Baby, and I decided to make different types of risotto. I still had left-over ragù, I had bought mushrooms and had not planned to use them in my weekly menu, and I had the brilliant idea to make chestnut-risotto. So here it goes. Again, unfortunately, I did all of this without sticking to closely to a recipe, so there won't be any indications to grams or Milliliters.

As you might have guessed, the base of all of the risottos is, well, risotto. Who would have thought that???

Risotto
Risotto-Rice (Arborio)
Onion
Olive Oil
Hot Broth (I made it with beef stock-cubes, but of course you can make it from scratch or with vegetarian cubes)

Just so you know, I had about 2,5 liters of broth and 800gr of uncooked rice and there were 5 strong eaters + one picky one and I still have some in the freezer....

Prepare broth and keep hot. Dice onion and fry in olive oil until light golden. Add rice and turn with wooden spoon until glazed with hot oil from all sides. Add a couple of ladles of broth and stir until rice has absorbed all liquid. Continue until rice is done (not too mushy though, the center still has to be "al dente"). You might not have to use all liquid or maybe you need to prepare some more broth. Of course you could add some white wine with one of the broth-ladles.

Risotto ai Funghi
'Shrooms :-))) (champignon or porcini)
Parsley
White Wine
Olive oil

Cut mushrooms in thin slices and fry in oil. Add white wine and let simmer and evaporate most of it. Add parsley and if it's too dry some of the broth.

Mix well with the cooked risotto, and here's the result

Risotto with Chestnuts
Chestnuts (about 25-30 pieces)
Sugar

With a sharp knife cut two lines on the flat side of the chestnuts, one vertically and one horizontally.

Bring water to the boil and add chestnuts, let boil for 10-15 minutes. Take out one by one and peel off the hard outer shell and the soft dark skin (it leaves a bitter taste). Leave some chestnuts as a whole, cut the others into small pieces.

In a small pan melt 2 tablespoons of sugar until liquid, then add water (the sugar might become one solid piece  upon contact with water, but be patient, it'll dissolve again). Stir until you have a nice syrupy liquid, then add the whole chestnuts and let boil a few minutes until nicely caramelized from all sides.

 Add broken chestnuts to the rice about halfway through the cooking-process, continue with ladle / broth / simmering as described above. When the risotto is done, use the caramelized chestnuts to decorate. Here we go:

Risotto al Ragù
Left-Over Ragù (recipe is here or here)
Risotto


Mix. Done. Picture is bad. Sorry.

Foodwaste 22/10/10

Again, I do not have a picture as my man had the camera and I throw the stuff out as I go along, but there were:

3/4 Mango
the rest of the cheese-sauce I used for the Tortilla-Lasagne (I wouldn't have know what to use it for and it had kinda expired already...)
some cottage-cheese
1/3 glass of baby-apple-mash I found in the depths of my fridge.

Home-Made Pasta with Beef Stew (Strozzapreti al Ragù di Manzo)

The recipe is this one, I just used beef instead of lamb. It turned out quite nice and I have a mega-portion ready fir the freezer.

And look who wandered into the kitchen to help? Well, maybe I had to shout a little bit to make him come.... I cannot remember :-)))

Spaghetti alle Vongole, Fried Calamari-Rings

Ingredients:
Calamari-Rings
Flour
Clams
Tomatoes
Garlic
White Wine
Parsley
Chilis
Spaghetti
Oil (Sunflower and Olive)

Preparation:
The Calamari-Rings, must be covered well with flour, and will then be fried in hot oil. Put on a paper towel to drain off excessive oil and salt.
The Vongole (clams), prior to cooking, must be put in cold salted water where they purge themselves from sand. Throw out crushed clams or clams that are open. Heat olive oil in a pan and throw in clams. They will open and salted water will spill out, so you do not need to add water or salt. Instead, add garlic, parsley, diced tomatoes, white wine and, if you like it hot, finely cut red chili. Let simmer for some time, throw out clams which do not open up. Cook spaghetti and mix with clams. DO NOT, repeat, NOT add cheese. You will be banned for life from entering Italy.

These are the Calamari-Rings

Floured Calamari-Rings

Fried and Salted (I don't know why, but part of the flour-crust always falls off)

Vongole in a sauce of white wine, tomatoes, garlic and Chili

I forgot the parsley, here it is

 Close-Up of Parsley, if you didn't really believe me :-)))

Well, and then the most embarrassing thing happened. We were so hungry that there's no picture of the finished Spaghetti plate. So please use your imagination!!!

Mealplan 23 - 29 October

Saturday: Spaghetti alle Vongole, Fried Calamari-Rings

Sunday: Home-Made Pasta with Beef Stew (Strozzapreti al Ragù di Manzo)

Monday: Three Types of Risotto

Tuesday: CBC - Strozzapreti with Salmon-Cream-Sauce

Wednesday: My Mom is coming to visit, and she wants Chili con Carne. So Chili it is!!! And I have no picture, she was ravenous and did not leave me time :-))

Thursday: Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts, dried Tomatoes and Sage

Friday: My Mom is here in Rom and so are the parents of my best friend, so I'll be taking all of them to some fantastic little Restaurant. 

Lazy Post: Pollo al Forno with Patate al Forno

Beginning of Post:
Pollo al Forno with Patate al Forno. 
End of Post. Picture.

Tortilla-"Lasagne"

I was in the mood for something Mexican (or what we misleadingly call Mexican). I bought tortillas and hot-tomato-sauce Mexican Style, chicken-breasts and Edamer cheese and some red and yellow bell peppers and an avocado. I still had some Nacho-cheese-sauce in the pantry.

Note: The following recipe wasn't bad, but neither was it extremely good. The taste was fine for something I came up with this same afternoon, but consistency and fillings/toppings have yet to be improved! I'll definitely make this again but then I'll put more effort into it!

1. Marinate chicken-breasts with part of the Hot tomatosauce, some olive-oil and some garlic.
2. Fry in pan and cut into little chunks, add the rest of the tomatosauce and the diced bell peppers

3. Mash avocado, add some lemon-juice and Nacho-cheese-sauce.
4. Cut the tortillas into rectangular pieces so they fit into your casserole-dish. I used the cut-off pieces to do the last layer - no food-waste :-))
5. Start with a layer of tortilla, then Avocado-mash, then chicken-peppers. Continue until toppings are finished. Top with grated Edamer cheese or any other cheese you might prefer.

Here's the first layer of Tortilla.

The second layer with avocado-mash

The third layer with chicken-peppers

Layers in Casserole-Dish

Topped off with grated cheese

Out of the oven

Piece of Tortilla-Lasagne

Side-view ;-))

 

Mealplan 16 - 22 october 2010

Saturday: Lamb-Cutlets, Oven-baked potatoes

Sunday: Oven-baked potatoes and Chicken

Monday: Pork-Ragout with Mushrooms and Fresh pasta

Tuesday: Risotto Salmone e Mozzarella

Wednesday: CBC - Fusilli ai peperoni

Thursday: Cabbage-Hamburger-Mix

Friday: Tortilla-Lasagne 

Foodwaste 15/10/10

Well, thanks to last week's disaster, I can proudly say that this Friday all there was was two pieces of stale white bread. And I can live with that!

Cauliflower-Spinach-Beef-Curry

Ingredients:
Beef
Frozen Spinach Cubes
Cauliflower
Green Curry Paste
Coconut-milk
Garlic

Preparations: Dice beef and fry in oil. Add garlic, washed cauliflower, divided and cut into the "single flowers" (or whatever you would call them) and a couple of spinach cubes and the curry-paste. Add some hot water and stir well, when the cauliflower is almost cooked and the spinach defrozen, add coconutmilk and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve with rice or rice-noodles.

Lentil-Soup with Wieners

Ingredients:
Lentils
(Spring-) Onion
stock-cubes
carrots
potatoes
pancetta
Wieners
Parsley
other veggies as you like (I had none, but leek would go well I think)


Preparation: Soak lentils overnight in cold water. The next day, drain and rinse. Fry diced onion and pancetta in a big pot in a bit of oil, add lentils and cover with boiling water. Add some stock-cubes and let simmer - you might check on package instructions for the lentils. I added the dices potatoes and carrots about 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking time of the lentils and the wieners about 5 minutes before the end. Throw in some parsley and/or other spices. Serve hot with bread (or add more potatoes to make it a complete meal). A dash of vinegar goes really well with this soup!

Pasta with pancetta-zucchini-creamcheese-sauce

Ingredients:
Pasta
Zucchini
Pancetta
Creamcheese

Preparation: Cook pasta according to package instructions. Meanwhile, cut zucchini in thin slices. Fry pancetta in olive-oil and add zucchini. When zucchini are almost cooked add a bit of the salted pasta-water and the cream-cheese, stir well. Season according to individual likes - I might add some black pepper and a bit of salt, but that's it. Drain pasta and mix with sauce, add parmesan cheese if you like.

Mealplan 9 - 15 october 2010

Saturday: We had a dinner-invitation to some friends' place. It was really good: Antipasti, Fusilli with mushroom-sauce and roast.
Sunday: I went out to a small Trattoria with a friend who's visiting from Germany. I had Filetto di baccalà (deep-fried cod) and Spaghetti Carbonara (Spaghetti with pancetta-egg-sauce).
Monday: Pasta with pancetta-zucchini-creamcheese-sauce
Tuesday: Lentil-Soup with Wieners
Wednesday: My friend comes over and she's cooking (well, she's using my place to invite some other people as well, so I'll leave it to her to cook. Lazy lazy Miriam)
Thursday: Cauliflower-Spinach-Beef-Curry
Friday: Tortellini al forno

Foodwaste 08/10/10

I haven't forgotten food-waste this week, although it is sooo embarassing that I might as well have... It's been a bad bad week :-(((
The only little little excuse to my advantage is that I actually took the picture on Monday 11th, so there's 3 days more to it and 3 days less for next weeks' food-waste. Also I have a mother-in-law who brought over food although I explicitly told her not to. I mean, what am I doing with 2kg of chicken and peppers when I a) don't like chicken and peppers and b) am going to eat out for 3 nights?

Here we go. We have 4 pieces of plum, 1/3 joghurt, an almost full box of disgusting inedible chick-pea-lentil-soup, a rest o cream-cheese, some pancetta, margarine which hid somewhere in the fridge, 1/2 feta which hid together with the margarine, some defrosted applesauce.

Not in the picture (well, I really am ashamed!): 3/4 bag of salad, most of the meatballs I made last week, a rest of the in-law-peppers (the chicken was eaten by the dog, thank God). And I think that somewhere along the line there was a rotten apple.

Insalata di fagioli con "Speckpflaumen" (Bean Salad with Bacon-Plums)

A friend reading my blog asked if I could cook something with beans. She told me about a cold bean-dish from Naples - so far I haven't been able to find a satisfying recipe for this soup, but when browsing my cook-books I came across this recipe and couldn't resist. And I have to say: Yeah me for not resisting, it was delicious!!! 

This is the cook-book: Antipasti, Zabert Sandmann, 2000

Ingredients (serves 4):
600gr white thick beans (dried)
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leave (nope, not for me)
12 dried plums
1 red onion
1/2 bunch of parsley
200gr bacon slices
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons Aceto Balsamico (I used Crema di Balsamico, it's sweeter and not so "vinegary")
Salt and Pepper


Preparations:
1. Let the beans soak overnight in cold water, drain and rinse with water. Peel garlic cloves and cut into small pieces. Bring beans, garlic and bay leaf with water to the boil and let cook for about 1,5 hours. Drain and let cool.

Here's a pic of my overnight beans and one for comparison dried bean - soaked bean.

2. Let plums soak in water for 1 hour and dry well - I used soft plums so I skipped this step.

3. Peel onion and cut into thick pieces. Wash parsley, shake dry and pluck leaves from stems.

4. Wrap each plum with a slice of bacon, eventually use a toothpick to fix. Heat sunflower oil in a pan and fry at medium heat.

5. Mix olive oil, Balsamico, 2 tablespoons of water, salt and pepper. Pour over beans and mix well, let marinate for minimum 30 min. Eventually salt and pepper again.

6. Spoon beans on plate and garnish with onion and parsley. Serve with bacon-plums and bread.

And here is the masterpiece!!!

Chinese Chicken with Cashew Nuts

Since last week I was lacking a few ingredients of this dish, I made sure that today I was well-prepared. This dish is easy to make (perfect for beginners) and quick (well, there's a 30min. of marinating, but I guess that in cases of sudden starvation you can easily skip this part). Of course I did make the odd variation (I always do, don't I?), I'll tell you while going along with the preparations. Oh, and the baby liked it as well!

The cookbook is: Linda Fraser "The essential chicken cookbook - exciting new ways with a classic ingredient", Lorenz Books, 1998 (recipe on page 88)

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 chicken breasts, about 175gr each, boned, skinned and sliced into stripes (I diced it)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

60ml soy sauce

30ml cornflour (didn't have any, thus no cornflour went into it)

225gr egg noodles (I used rice-noodles)

45ml sunflower oil

15ml sesame oil

115gr roasted cashew nuts (used plain ones, they roast by themselves in the pan)

6 spring onions cut into pieces and halved lengthways (I only used one big one)

spring onion curls and chopped red chili to garnish (nope, baby was eating with me, so no garnish)

I added carrot, thinly sliced with a potato-peeler, cause I like a bit of veggies in my food

Preparations:

1. Mix the chicken, garlic, soy sauce and cornflour (and in my case carrot)  in a bowl. Cover and chill for 30min.

2. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the noodles. Cook according to package directions, drain well.

3. Heat the oils in a large frying pan and add the chicken-mix and marinade (I added another bit of soy sauce). Stir-fry for about 3-4 min., or until golden brown. 

4. Add the cashew nuts and spring onions to the pan and stir-fry for 2-3 min.

5. Add the drained noodles and stir-fry for a further 2 min. Serve immediately, garnished with spring onion curls and chopped red chili. 

Here's the food!