Mac+Cheese #4: The Fondue Approach

Last week, Phineas suggested that I shift my planned mac+cheese experiment to Super Bowl Sunday. And I did. As I mentioned in my last mac+cheese post, I've found every recipe so far to be too rich, yet not cheesy enough. So, for this attempt, I decided to set aside conventional mac+cheese recipes and take my queues from the cheesiest substance known to man: fondue.


The plan: My basic fondue recipe is a50/50 mix of Gruyere and Emmentaler, white wine, paprika, nutmeg and cornstarch as a thickener. By removing the butter and flour roux from the equation, I figured that the dish would already be less rich. Also, I decided to use a 1:1 ratio of cheese to pasta (8 oz each) and halve the amount of liquid (so, 1 cup) so that it would be a cheesier sauce. Since fondue uses very little wine to cheese (1/3 c for the amount of cheese I was using), I decided to make up the difference with milk.

The execution: I started by heating my wine and milk over a medium heat. Within seconds, I learned that white wine will curdle milk. Drat. Start over. So, I heated my milk in the microwave and the wine on the stove. When the wine was hot, I added the cheese little by little while stirring. When it was looking pretty well mixed, I added the milk and cornstarch (made into a paste with some of the milk). I kept stirring until it became a nice thick homogeneous cheesy sauce. I tossed it with the pasta (cooked al dente, rinsed and tossed with a blob of butter), gave a grating of Parmesan over the top and popped it in the oven.

The Results: Hmmm. In some ways, this was probably the least successful mac+cheese to date, since it came out like pasta held together with strands of cheese. It was totally cheesy rather than creamy. And yet, it was definitely the best so far because the flavor and cheesiness was closer to what I was hoping for than previous attempts. I'm not sure it needed the wine and Phin definitely missed there being cheddar.

Um, yes. That is fried chicken. What can I say, it was the Super Bowl.

Final thoughts: The fact that I used less cheese, but ended up with a cheesier end result makes me feel like we are getting closer. This also confirms that the richness of past attempts was due to the large amounts of butter and milk. However, this time I swung too far away from the butter an milk and had a much drier mac+cheese. I didn't love the wine in it, so next time I will just use milk, gradually increasing from one cup until I get the creamy/cheesy balance right. Finally, neither of us were sure of what the cornstarch brought to the party. So, I may go back to using roux, although in smaller quantities.

Next experiment will be in two weeks.

M+C Experiment: Crack-n-Cheese

Now that the holidays are behind us, I got back down to my mac + cheese experimentation last night.


Recap: We've tried 2 different kinds of mac + cheese recipes: my mom's recipe, which is not as unique as I thought (see this recipe from the NY Times). And the wildly over-the-top custard-based recipe from Cooks Illustrated.

From the first recipe, we liked the gooey-ness, but not the Velveeta. From the second, we loved the breadcrumb topping, but found the sauce overpowering.

The Plan: So, it was time to try a bechamel/white-sauce variety of mac + cheese. There are endless examples of this version, but I narrowed down to 3 recipes: Martha Stewart's so-called Crack-n-Cheese, Ina Garten's variation, and an LA Times "House" recipe. Phineas and I decided to start with Ina Garten's recipe, which called for the lowest cheese-to-pasta ratio (20 oz cheese:1lb pasta), figuring that we can increase from there. One thing we borrowed from Martha was cooking the pasta al dente and then rinsing it so that the additional starch would not make the sauce grainy. That step worked very well.

This is all that Phineas and I could manage to eat.

The results: Rich. Leaden. There was entirely too much sauce. When I dumped it into our casserole dish, there was more sauce than pasta, and it was more cream sauce-like than cheesy. It was just as overpoweringly decadent as our previous attempt. We could not eat very much of it, and were both left feeling bloated and yet not satisfied.

Epiphany: That is when it occurred to me that this is why American's are fat. Perhaps to sell cookbooks - or bowls of mac + cheese - you have to produce a recipe that stresses "bigger-better-more" over "balance". And that is not what I am looking for. Don't get me wrong, I am not counting calories here. But what I want is a dish like the one I had in Montreal. It was just right; I cleaned my plate and yet didn't feel gross or bloated or like I had eaten a lead bar. It was cheesy and creamy in just the right proportion.

The Verdict: Back to the drawing board. This recipe was too rich, without being cheesy enough. I don't think that increasing the amount of cheese would help since this mac + cheese is just too rich to begin with. I have a plan to move forward, but here is where we are going to take a big leap away from mac+cheese recipes and into guesswork and tinkering. It could get ugly.

How ugly? Well, I promised Phineas that I wouldn't subject him to mac+ cheese every week, so I will be back in 2 weeks with a next version.

M+C Experiment 2: Death by Mac + Cheese

Last night, at 9pm, Phineas and I left the house to take a walk. We were driven out into the cold, desperate to mitigate some of the damage inflicted on our waistlines and arteries by mac+cheese experiment #2. Oy!

Let me start at the beginning. I decided that I would try a custard-type mac+cheese recipe, since I am less familiar them. After reading a few different versions, I settled on the Cook's Illustrated recipe, based on John Thorne's original. Essentially, you do most of the work on the stove and then just crisp in the broiler. Perfect for a weeknight!

Yesterday, I arrived home ready to cook. But there was a package of bacon thawing on the counter. Apparently, Phineas did not get the memo re: my embargo on bacon. When I pointed out that the recipe called for 12 oz of cheddar, 6 tbsp of butter, a can of evaporated milk and 2 eggs - all for 1/2 a pound of pasta (cavatappi) - he relented and we compromised on adding 5 oz of cooked ham instead.

Basic preparations are: Brown 1c breadcrumbs in 2 tbsp butter while pasta cooks. Drain pasta and stir in 4tbsp butter until melted. Add mixture of evap milk, eggs, a dash of hot sauce, pepper, and most of the cheese to pasta and stir over a low heat until hot and thick (that is when I stirred in the ham).


Dump the pasta mixture into a casserole dish and top with bread crumbs and 1 oz reserved cheese. Pop under the broiler until toasted. Look how good it looks!

Changes to the recipe: Well, there was the ham. In addition, it called for more salt than I was willing to add to the cheese sauce since the ham would be salty enough. Also, I used 10 instead of 8 oz of pasta because I worried that it would be too rich otherwise.

The good: The breadcrumb topping was perfect. I had just used a hunk of italian bread sauteed in butter. It was crunchy and buttery - exactly what you would want. I also liked that the recipe was indeed easy for a weeknight (no long baking).

The bad: The mac+cheese was so super-rich and heavy... it was too rich and heavy, even with the extra pasta added in. I'm not being demure here. You really couldn't eat a lot of it. I was done in a few fork-fulls. And, the cheddar flavor was near over-powering. It is the kind of extreme recipe that you use to show company how over-the-top rich you can make something, but it isn't the kind of mac+cheese that you could tuck into a big bowl of on a rainy night and feel a sense of comfort and calm. No. Definitely not. Cause then, you would be driven out into the rain for a walk.

The ugly: I took a small portion for lunch to work today. It doesn't reheat very well.

Final verdict: This also will not be my go-to recipe for the simple reason that I want some versatility - an ability to add what I have on hand and have a good reliable mac+cheese. I'm fairly certain I will never make this version again. And my arteries thank me. Oh well. Upward and onward!

Chinese BBQ

One of my pantry staples is a chinese barbecue sauce that is made almost entirely from other pantry ingredients. This sauce is sweet, spicy and garlicky, and goes equally well on ribs as it does on chicken. I've made it so many times, that I don't actually measure ingredients anymore, but over the weekend, I took the time to measure amounts so that I could tell them to you. Here goes:

Chinese BBQ Sauce
6 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbs rice wine vinegar (cider, sherry or other is ok)
1 bottle hoisin sauce (20oz or so)
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use some dark and some light)
2 tsps honey
1 tbsp sesame oil

Saute the garlic and pepper in canola until fragrant and starting to brown. Add vinegar and bring to a boil. Add next 3 ingredients and simmer until sauce thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and wisk in the sesame oil.

Last night, Phineas and I made a bunch of chicken wings to go with Monday night football. Just cook the wings either on a grill or under the broiler until nearly done. Slather on sauce for the last few minutes of cooking, and you are ready to dig in!



And then today, leftovers became part of a bento lunch with fried rice, bok choi (hidden under wings) and cucumber.

Blue Plate: A Tale of Two Dishes

For the Blue Plate, I like to feature "weeknight" dishes: meals you can cook with pantry items or with leftover ingredients from weekend cooking. This week's Blue Plate is a little of both.

On Sunday, I spent the earlier part of the day in the kitchen cooking for Polyhymnia, who will most likely not have time once my future nephew finally arrives. For health reasons, Poly eschews carbs, but her husband grew up with and loves Italian food. So, to satisfy both of their needs, I made a batch of "lasagna" using eggplant instead of sheets of pasta. I dipped each slice of eggplant in an eggwash before browning in a pan. Then I layered them in loaf pans (a generous 2 person casserole size) the way you would a lasagna - alternating eggplant, sauce, cooked ground beef and sausage, ricotta cheese and a mix of mozzarella and fontina. While I was at this project, Phineas was busy laying in our annual winter store of wontons and dumplings.

Winter bounty: dumplings, wontons and lasagna.

Now there are several mini eggplant lasagnas in the freezer, waiting to be delivered. I used up all the eggplant and meat, but had leftover ricotta. So, for today's Blue Plate, the ricotta and my endless appetite for nuts were the primary catalysts.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a recipe for pasta with walnut sauce featured in the NY Times which called for items I had on hand, plus ricotta. Perfect! All I needed was broccoli raab, which I eat regularly anyway.

Corkscrew pasta with walnut sauce and broccoli raab.
Phin added a 'healthy' amount of black pepper to his bowl.

The sauce requires no cooking and can be made in the time it takes to boil water for the pasta. I used hazelnut oil instead of walnut oil, but using all olive oil would be fine, too. And to make this dish even easier, the broccoli raab is blanched right in the pasta water. I didn't bother shocking it in ice water.

The verdict: this is a keeper. It was creamy and flavorful and not overly heavy. It will definitely be a regular this winter.

Obento!

I generally bring my breakfast and a snack to work and buy my lunch. But lately I've been bored of the lunchtime offerings near my office. Then the NY Times ran an article on the growing popularity of bento boxes, and I knew I had my answer to boring lunches.


A very simple explaination of bento, or obento, is that it is the Japanese word for a meal served in a box. However, a bento can be very simply rice, veggies and meat or fish packed in a plastic container, or it can be a "cute bento" - a child's school lunch full of fun accessories and fanciful presentation meant to trick them into eating good-for-you food, or it can be elevated to an artform with carved fruits and veggies and the like. Anything goes. But the whole point is to create a balanced meal that is easy to transport and pleasing to the eye.

So, I was thrilled to get a bento box for my birthday. Mine is a slick 2 tiered one in blue and white. Each lid doubles as a cooling/gel pack once you freeze it, so no worries about keeping my lunch fresh. It also came with dividers, so you can partition your food. In general, you are supposed to pack your box pretty tightly, with 3 parts rice or other carb, 1 part protein and 2 parts vegetable. Including two different veggies/sides is traditional.

Here is my very first 2-tiered bento box creation.

Top tier: Breakfast and snack

This tier has cut up strawberries topped with yogurt, granola and honey on the right, and a pile of baby carrots on the left.

Bottom Tier: Lunch

Tier two has a bed of couscous topped with a few slices of sausage, asparagus and poached sliced shrimp on the right, and cut up red pepper and broccoli on the left. I have to say that this bento was pretty easy to put together thanks to the leftovers from my birthday. All the veggies are leftover crudites that were already cut and blanched. The slivers of sausage were also from my bday. The couscous and shrimp were last night's dinner.

I'm getting hungry just writing this post. Anyway, my goal is to try to bring in my lunch twice a week, depending on leftovers. Whenever I make a good looking box, I'll post it.

Cloudy (London) with a side of Chili!

Since Clio is off to the land of pies, chips, bangers and mash, it was left to me to complete her Latest Test Kitchen homework. Chili, that thoroughly Americanized mix of meat, w or w/o beans, peppers and spices. Without starting a civil war amongst Texans, Cincinnatians, tailgaters and most importantly Hormel ( I know y'all have a longing for that spicy can of mystery meat!), the homework entailed an updated and zippier version of a Chili found in SoCal. So here we go!

Basics: Can you make out all the ingredients? Pssst. That's a couple of chipotles in adobe sauce located in the zippy bag.


Brown the meat (mix of 2lbs. Blade pork chops and a lb of ole reliable GB, take out and then brown the veg and spices (2 parts (Tbls) chili power/1 part (Tbls) cumin), salt and pepper.







Pictures: Brown this, add that + spices = Above!

When you smell the spices, throw in the red stuff (your favorite brand in a 1 big can of crushed + 2 little cans of sauce) and then toss the meat back into the pool!



Simmer for an hour or so, until you can easily tear the pork away from the bone.Take out chop/shred and back into the pool for a quick half hour dip and voila -its time to eat


Picture: We used 2 cans of beans, but use as much or as little as you like (too lazy this time to make my own batch of beans!)

We garnished with cheddar cheese and toast points (aren't we chi-chi!), slopped it into a bowl, grabbed a couple of spoons and turned on MNF- and if you're really hungry (me), loosen up the belt!



The addition of chipotle and some of the adobe sauce lent some nice heat and a little extra depth to this version of chili. Not a bad batch, certainly a starting point that you can use to concoct your own home brewed version (for vegaholics a blend of tempeh and extra firm tofu might work well). Active time = 20 minutes, Waiting time, smelling something tasty = 1.5 hours. Moral of the story = Start at 10:30/11:00 on Sunday and you'll be ready to watch football with a bowl of red hot and chips at 1!

Happy eating and if you're in the Northeast, go pick some apples and make some pie (yummmmmie!), save some for bobbing for apples and maybe grab a pumpkin for carving-Halloween just around the corner!

P.S. Now since it was a Test Kitchen "secret" recipe, I am obligated to not give out the actual recipe until it comes out in print. Not sure when it will appear, but if you would like to subscribe-here is the link http://www.cookscountry.com/

Showers of Love: Dr Kiang Edition: Part Deux

My other project for Dr Kiang's shower was cupcakes. Sadly, they were devoured before I got a picture.

Here's a beater from Wikipedia, just in case you were wondering...

Magenta had wanted to keep things simple, and so we made a very good compromise on baking: Duncan Hines for the cake paired with my incredibly easy buttercream frosting recipe. I think of the frosting recipe as paired down almost to the point of cheating, but it got rave reviews and I was scolded more than once when I tried to move the bowl containing the last few licks of icing into the sink. So, in honor of Dr Kiang and the Tuesday Blue Plate, here is your recipe of the week:

"Bridal" Buttercream

1 lb of unsalted butter, softened to room temp
5 cups of confectioners sugar
3 tsp vanilla (any other flavor would work as well)

Whip the butter with a hand held beater or stand mixer for about 30 seconds on med to get it softened up. Add the sugar and turn beater on low so you don't create a dust storm. Gradually increase speed to get the sugar incorporated. It will begin to look like you are making pie crust (pea size pieces). You will be convinced that something is wrong, but just keep beating and all of a sudden it will become creamy and look like frosting. Beat in the vanilla. Makes enough to very generously ice a cake or 24 cupcakes.

Most recipes call for more sugar to butter than I use, but then instruct you to add milk or cream to thin the buttercream out to a spreadable consistency. Ridiculous! By adding less sugar, I've found that I end up with a more buttery and less cloyingly sweet icing that is spreadable without any milk added.

You can make this icing in advance and refrigerate it, but then you need to allow time for it to soften before using. Beating it for a minute or two also helps get it back to a spreadable consistency.

The key to successfully icing your cake or cupcakes is, when you are ready to frost, take a huge glob of frosting and plop it in the center of your cake. Then use your knife or spatula to slowly and systemically spread it around the top, over the edge and down, without picking the knife up from the cake. Just keep going at it until you are evenly iced. When you are done, slide the knife off the edge of the cake. If you pick the knife up, you will rip up crumbs from the cake and then they get mixed in with the frosting and it is a big old mess. A tasty mess! But a mess nonetheless.

Since this got such good reviews, I think I am going to have to test a chocolate version substituting cocoa for some of the sugar.

Cooking on Vacation

This article, about what to bring with you on vacation when you know you will be cooking, could not have come at a better time.

Right now, Phin and I are in Martha's Vineyard, sharing a small house with my sister, Calliope, and her two sons, Orpheus and Linus. Calliope is a fish-eating vegetarian. Orpheus, who is six, is an avowed carnivore; he burst in to tears the first time he tried carrots. His brother Linus, who is 3, is basically an air plant. All he needs is a little humidity to thrive, although he has occasionally been known to eat pizza and goldfish crackers as well.

So, as we were planning the trip, Phin and I spent no small amount of time talking about what to cook and what to bring. In addition to trying to come up with meals that everyone would like, you never quite know how well outfitted a rental kitchen will be - will there be a coffee pot? A chopping board? What is the pot and pan situ? Anyway, here are the items we decided we could not live without: coffee, salt, pepper, sugar, parmalat (for the coffee), a sharp knife, peanut butter and jelly, and - to ease any tensions - a case of wine to marinade the chefs!

Wish us luck as we try to cook for this gang in a strange and potentially under-outfitted kitchen. I hope your week has some adventures, too.

Peachy-keen

Peaches and my stash of coffee cake, in 4 containers

Last September, after a peach and apple picking adventure with my niece and nephews, I used some of the bounty to make a peach coffee cake, which was mentioned on this blog, but not done justice. The recipe comes from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking cookbook. But the results are so moist and tender that you wouldn't realize that it is whole wheat at all. (No one knew until I told.)

Happily, peaches are back in season - and it is a particularly good year for them! So, I am a happy baker. One tip - courtesy of MarMar - which has made all the difference in my baking in the last year is to measure ingredients by weight rather than volume. It is much more exact. So break out the food scale from your last diet and put it to use. P.S. - Cut into 24 servings, a slice of this luscious cake has a mere 145 calories.

Peach Coffee Cake
2 cups (8 oz) white whole wheat flour
1/2c (2 1/8 oz) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 c (7 oz) sugar (I used less - 5 oz)
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
1 egg
1 c buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c (12 oz) peaches, diced

For the topping: 2 tbsp (1oz) softened butter, 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 c (3.5 oz) sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon

Combine first 4 (dry) ingredients. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat to incorporate. Scrape bowl. Alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk in thirds. Stir in vanilla and peaches and scrape into greased 9x13 pan. Mix topping together in a separate bowl. Sprinkle on top of cake and bake for 30 min at 350. Cool and serve.


Enjoy for breakfast, brunch or dessert.

Hot Weather, Cold Soup

When I say "cold soup", you probably think "gazpacho". However, while in Spain, I preferred it's cousin, Salmorejo, which is smoother, richer and - at least to me - altogether more satisfying. Plus it is cold. And let's face it, the dog days of summer seem to have finally arrived.

Salmorejo (cold tomato soup)
1 lb ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cup stale bread, crusts removed and cubed
Salt

Puree the tomato, garlic, vinegar and oil in a food processor or blender. Add bread cubes in 2 batches and continue to process until thick and smooth. Season with salt to taste. Serve chilled with chopped hard-boiled egg and diced Serrano ham as garnishes.

I totally ignored the egg, but added a drizzle of olive oil as a final touch.
Phineas added fresh ground black pepper to his.

Like a lot of Spanish cooking, this recipe depends almost entirely on the quality of the ingredients. Made with really ripe farmers market tomatoes and good fruity olive oil, it will be a winner. And it takes less than 10 minutes start to finish. We had a little cheese (manchego and taleggio) and bread left over from the weekend to round out the dinner. Perfect on such a sticky day.

Unstuck... Except Perhaps the Roof of my Mouth

So, after a few tries, I did complete the 8 minute run session of my 5K training program and am once again progressing nicely with my running. Hurray!

I'm still hungry and definitely peanut butter obsessed. When I was in a bookstore the other day, I couldn't resist picking up Peanut Butter Planet, a cookbook that was in the bargain bin.

A whole cookbook devoted to one of my favorite ingredients!

According to an article that Erato sent me, the humble PB&J is the perfect food for a runner. So, I'm letting my peanut butter instincts run free for now, and for this week's Blue Plate, we revisit Peanut Noodles, but this time with a recipe from my new cookbook.

Just pulse the following in a food processor: 1 garlic clove, 2 tsp minced ginger, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 c peanut butter, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 c water. Simmer this on low while you cook your pasta. The recipe called for soba, but I used whole wheat linguini, which was perfect. Saute 3 c of spinach while your pasta cooks. When the pasta is done, toss everything together. I served this with some sliced grilled chicken and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Again, these noodles were good - and definitely satisfying - but not perfect. Next time, I will reduce the amount of lemon juice (2 tsp max) and add some crushed red pepper flakes for a little zip. Also, I am not sure how much the spinach brought to the party. I think carrots, sprouts and snow peas are probably the better accompaniments.

Stuck

Right now, Justin (my running coach) and I are not friends.


You may recall that I am now - in theory - "a runner," meaning that three days a week I hobble around the neighborhood at a very very slow speed, gasping and grunting while Phineas trots along shouting encouragements. Occasionally, I shout rude things back.

Anyway, no doubt you have noticed that my posts have dwindled a bit in the last few weeks. I blame it on Justin. Running is eating into my other hobbies. I'm exhausted. And hungry. Really, really hungry. But too tired to cook. And now, on top of it, I am stuck. I progressed thru the first 3 weeks of 5k training smoothly. But week 4, where I am supposed to be running for three 8-min bursts, separated by 1 minute of walking, and then a final 3-min sprint, is defeating me. It nearly killed me the first time. The second was only slightly better. And then on Monday my sneaker started rubbing my heel and I had to call my run short.

Dr Kiang said that when she started running it took 3-4 months to get to equilibrium (ie: not tired and starving all the time) . So, hang in there with me and hopefully we will be back to normal in time for Oktoberfest. In the meantime, I am considering buying stock in Skippy, since I am single-handedly propping up peanut butter sales in the northeast.

Oh, so, the point of the post: this week's blue plate special is the humble peanut butter sandwich - too humble even for a photo. I prefer mine without jelly and served open faced on a toasted english muffin. But you can have yours anyway you like it.

Dairy Queen

Encouraged by my success with making ricotta and this well-timed NY Times article, I decided that for this week's Blue Plate I would continue to play with milk, and make some yogurt.

The Blue Plate Special: Peach, cherries and blueberries
with a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of honey

I eat yogurt almost every day, so it seemed like a good thing to experiment with. Plus, it's easy. All you need is milk and a few tablespoons of pre-existing yogurt that has active live culture. I used good ol' Dannon.


Basically, all you do is heat a quart of milk to 180-190 degrees (steaming, but not boiling), let it cool to about 120 (warm bathwater), and stir in 2 tbsp of yogurt. Then let your yogurt sit in a warm place for 4-5 hours, so the bacteria can do their thing. You want to keep it at about 110-120 degrees. I used a crock pot with warm water in it.

Phineas helped me set up this crock pot to incubate the yogurt.

When it is done, just stick it in the fridge to firm up.

I ran into one glitch: the yogurt tasted wonderful (tangy, creamy, rich) but was somewhat watery. Perhaps I didn't heat the milk enough, my Dannon wasn't as lively as it ought to have been, or I didn't give the bacteria enough time to do their job. However, after some time in a strainer, I now have a gorgeous creamy and tangy greek-style yogurt.

Stay tuned for what I make with my yogurt.

Cheese Whiz

This week's Blue Plate Special was truly one of my best ideas (pats self on the back).

Some time ago, I read that making ricotta at home was easy. And it was! Embarrassingly so. And, no, this is not one of those times when I say it is easy but really that is because I have the right tools, some experience, and a skilled sous chef (Phineas). This really is easy - only slightly more difficult than watching a pot boil. And takes only about the same amount of time. Here goes:

Take the ingredients: 4 parts milk: 1 part buttermilk.

Put them in a pot over med-hi heat. If you have a thermometer, get it out.

Now, watch the pot get hot. At around 165 degrees, you will start to see curds. At 175 the magic really starts to happen and a layer of curds will form.

Scoop the curds into a collander lined with a few layers of cheese cloth as they form. By 185 degrees the magic will be all done and you are left with a pot of whey.

Let your cheese drain as much as you want (5 min for loose, 15 for drier cheese), add a little salt and let it cool in a container.

And that is it! The only tip is to not stir too much since that will make your curds rubbery. I used 1/2 gallon of milk to 1 pt of buttermilk. It yielded about 2 cups of cheese. Mine came out a bit crumbly. Next time I will drain it less.

Anyway, armed with my home made cheese, I raided the freezer. I used the second half of the gnocchi I made 2 weeks ago, italian sausage and some peas from the farmers market that Phineas had blanched and frozen, and made gnocchi tossed with sausage and peas. I topped it off with blobs of ricotta and some left over basil. Perfect!

Peas and Thank You

Peas in a pod

One of my favorite spring dishes is risotto with fresh peas and tiny sweet pink Maine shrimp. They both have short seasons. This year, the shrimp came and went, but there was no sign of peas. I waited and waited. No peas. Then the local farmers marked opened for the summer on Thursday, and I was finally able to get my peas. Even though the tiny sweet shrimp are gone, Phineas suggested that I use the peas for risotto, with normal shrimp and scallops for this week's blue plate. Here goes:

So, first I seared the seafood in a mix of butter and canola oil and removed from the pan.

Next, I sauteed shallot and arborio rice in the same pan and deglazed with white wine. I was surprised at how dark the liquids became from the fond and browned butter.

Then, I stirred in a mix of shrimp stock and water, in small doses. Finally, when the rice was nearly done, in went the peas, followed by butter and Parmesan.

The finishing touch (after testing for salt and pepper) was some small bits of seafood stirred in, a flurry of parsley and some of the prettier shrimp and scallops on top. Voila!

I have to confess, this meal was almost a disaster. Most weeks, I have been giving myself a very light gym day or a day off so that I can be home to cook the blue plate. However, last night, since I have done countless risottos, I didn't think about giving myself extra time to cook. So, Phineas and I went for a run. By the time I was home, showered and in the kitchen it was 8:30, and by 9:10 I was exhausted and ravenous. If Phineas had not stepped in for the last few minutes of stirring, I'm not sure what would have happened to my lovely risotto. So, thanks, Phin. I couldn't do it (the cooking, the running, the sewing and everything else) without you.

Mmmm... gnocchi

For whatever reason, Phineas and I were on a picture-taking roll last night. So, here is the gnocchi making adventure in pictures.

Mound up your grated/riced potatoes and make a well in the middle.

After kneading in an egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg, add 1/4 c of parmesan.

Then add flour, 1/2 c at a time or as needed. (We used about 1 1/4 c.) Phineas was a sweetie and kneaded the flour in for me since I hate touching raw flour. (eeeewwwwww).

Gather the dough into a ball and cut it into 6 pieces.

Roll each piece of dough into a half inch log and then cut half inch pieces. Then shape your gnocchi by rolling the pieces into balls and give them their characteristic lines by rolling them down the back of a fork with your thumb.

Cook them exactly like you would cook pasta. About a minute after they float, they are done.

And now for the sauce, made almost entirely of leftovers!

While the gnocchi were cooking, I sauteed some fresh chopped sage in a little butter and then added some remnants of Serrano ham (you could use proscuitto or bacon) that were left from the weekend.

When the butter was browned and the whole thing was fragrant, I added some (again, leftover) half and half and Parmesan cheese. (Really, I don't think I could cook without Parmesan. It is an absolute staple for me for weeknight cooking.)

Reduce the sauce until it is thickened to your liking and adjust the salt/pepper. Add the drained gnocchi to the pan. I also added a little of the cooking water since my sauce had thickened a bit too much.

Enjoy your gnocchi with a side of broccoli rabe or a nice salad. Buon Appetito!

The gnocchi were light and delicious. I think they could have been lighter if I had used a ricer instead of a grater to make the potato more fine. And I would add more salt to the dough (2 tsp). The only real challenge was that it took a while to get the hang of shaping the gnocchi. Half came out rather ugly and misshapen. But they all tasted great!

This was a truly over-the-top weeknight meal. However, cooking the potatoes the day before made the gnocchi making much more manageable and less time consuming (one hour from ingredients to plating up). It really did not take long for the dough to come together. What I would recommend is making a big batch of gnocchi and freezing it for weeknight use, which is what we did with the left over half of the batch that we did not cook up.