Put the eggs in a pot of water. Bring the water up to 140°f and let the eggs sit at that temperature for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not let the water go above 142°f or the whites will start to set. After 3 to 4 minutes, drain the water out of the pot and run the eggs under cold water for 2 minutes. The eggs are now safe to use without cooking them.
Separate the whites and yolks of the eggs being careful not to get any yolk in the whites. Put the whites in the bowl of a mixture and add a pinch of salt. Beat the eggs on medium-low speed with the whisk attachment until the whites start to foam. Add 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp at a time then turn the speed up to high and beat the eggs to stiff peaks. Transfer the whites to a separate bowl.
Add the yolks and another 1/4 cup of sugar to the mixer bowl. There is no need to clean it after beating the whites. Beat the yolks until they are pale yellow and the sugar is fully mixed in. Add 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tbsp of brandy. Mixing should take 4 to 5 minutes.
Mix the mascarpone into the yolk mixture then fold in the egg whites 1/3 at a time.
In a medium bowl combine the coffee, 2 tbsp of sugar, and 2 tbsp of brandy.
Get a 9X9 casserole dish and spread a thin layer of mousse in the bottom of the dish.
Dip the ladyfingers in the coffee mixture and place, sugar-side down in the dish. Cover the whole bottom of the dish with ladyfingers then top with mousse. Repeat this process until the dish is full. Finish with a layer of mousse and sprinkle with cocoa.
Put the tiramisu in the fridge and let it rest for two hours before serving.
Polenta is an Italian dish that is essentially porridge made with ground dried corn. Today, we will turn that dried corn into Cheesy Breakfast Polenta. You may be thinking, “Hey, isn’t that grits?”. The answer is nope. Grits are made with hominy which is dried corn that has been treated in an alkaline solution to make it more easily digestible. Hominy is what’s used to make masa for making tortillas. Cornmeal is simply dried and ground corn that is untreated. Make sense? Italians have been making this kind of dish since ancient Rome and probably beyond, so it makes sense that when corn arrived from the new world, they used it to make a dish they knew well. I’m very excited to share this recipe with you, so let’s get to it. You can find the recipe directly below, but keep reading for a more in-depth look.
Getting Started
Cornmeal
As I said in the intro, this recipe uses cornmeal. You can find cornmeal in any grocery store, and any type will do. But, if you can find some fine ground cornmeal it will cook quicker and have a better texture than the more coarsely ground stuff. As you can see in the picture below, I used Bob’s Red Mill medium grind cornmeal, and it worked perfectly. If you’d like, and if you live in an area of the world where you can get it, you can use grits in place of the cornmeal. They aren’t available where I live, but they would work well. Check this Wikipedia article to learn more about what grits are and how they’re made.
Round-Up The Ingredients
For this recipe, it’s essential that you have all your ingredients ready to go. You don’t want to be running around and grating cheese while cooking your polenta. The ingredients are cornmeal, milk (2% or Whole Milk), old cheddar cheese, cajun seasoning, butter, salt, pepper, eggs, and vinegar.
How To Make Breakfast Polenta
Start with the eggs
In my experience, the best way to poach eggs is to first let the eggs sit in a little vinegar for a few minutes. The vinegar starts to set the egg white, helping the eggs stay together when added to the simmering water. You can break the eggs into one bowl with the vinegar, but I find keeping them separate works a little better. Add one teaspoon of white vinegar to each of two ramekins or small bowls. Crack the eggs into the ramekins and leave them alone for a few minutes. Once the eggs are cracked and in the vinegar, grab a medium pot, fill it three-quarters full of hot water and put it on the stove on high heat to bring to a boil.
How To Make Polenta
To make the polenta, put the milk in a medium pot, and turn it on medium-high heat. Once the milk is just below a boil, whisk in the cornmeal and cajun seasoning. You must whisk as you add the cornmeal; otherwise, you may have uncooked lumps. After adding the cornmeal and seasoning, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook while stirring for about ten minutes or until the polenta resembles the texture of scrambled eggs. Remove the polenta from the heat, season with salt and whisk in the butter and cheese. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
How To Poach Eggs
The hardest part of making this whole dish is getting the timing right so that the eggs and polenta are ready at the same time or there about. So, once you add cornmeal to the milk, set a ten-minute timer. When the timer has four minutes left, start cooking the eggs. The poaching water should be at a boil. Don’t worry about salting the water. The water is boiling, turn it down to medium and stir the water to create a cyclone in the center of the pot. One at a time, put your ramekins are close to the surface of the water as you can and pour the eggs into the centre of the cyclone. Now, leave the eggs alone until the timer goes off. If the water starts to boil, turn the heat down a little more. Once the timer goes off, gently scoop the eggs out of the water one at a time with a slotted spoon. Place the eggs in a bowl or on a plate lined with a paper towel or a clean dishtowel. The eggs can sit like this for a few minutes while you finish the polenta.
Cheesy Breakfast Polenta Timing Break Down
I realize that the timing of everything for this Cheesy Breakfast Polenta may be a little confusing. So, I will break it down in point form below to make it a little clearer. Here we go.
Gather and prepare ingredients.
Break eggs into ramekins with vinegar.
Put poaching pot on the stove on high heat.
Put milk in a pot on the stove on medium-high heat.
Poaching pot boiling. Milk is just under a boil.
Add polenta and cajun seasoning to milk while whisking. Turn the heat down to medium-low and set a ten-minute timer.
The timer reaches four minutes left. Stir the poaching water, gently drop eggs into the cyclone. Turn poaching pot down to medium-low.
The ten-minute timer goes off. Remove the polenta pot from the burner and set it aside.
Remove the eggs from the poaching water and place them on a towel.
Whisk the butter, cheese, and salt into the polenta. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Plate and serve.
I hope that clarifies and simplifies the process.
Finishing the Cheesy Breakfast Polenta
To serve the Cheesy Breakfast Polenta, divide the polenta between two bowls and top each with a poached egg. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Top with a bit of hot sauce (optional), and make it beautiful with two chives placed crosswise over the egg. Finally, dig in and enjoy. When I conceptualized this recipe, I intended to add sausage or bacon to it. At the last minute, I changed my mind and made it as you see it here. I’m glad I did because it really doesn’t need anything else. This Cheesy Breakfast Polenta is perfect the way it is.
The Wrap-Up
This Cheesy Breakfast Polenta is my new favourite breakfast. It’s delicious, easy to make, and filling. Even though you probably don’t automatically think of polenta when you think of breakfast, maybe it’s time to start. You don’t know what you’re missing.
Thanks for reading! Remember that sharing is caring, so share this with your friends and leave a comment below to tell me what you think. Have a great day! I’ll see you back here next Thursday. Oh, and if you want to learn more about polenta, check out this post I did called Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Polenta.
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Cheesy Breakfast Polenta with Soft Poached Egg
Porridge as we know it is typically made with oatmeal, but other parts of the world make similar dishes with whatever they have on hand, be it rice, barley, or in this case, corn. Porridge made with ground dried corn generally goes by the Italian name, polenta. This specific polenta is made with cheddar cheese, a little cajun seasoning and topped with a poached egg to make it the perfect breakfast to start your day.
Break the eggs into two ramekins and add the vinegar.
Fill a medium pot 3/4 full with water and put it on the stove on high heat.
Pour the milk into a second pot and put on the stove on medium-high heat.
Once the milk is just under a boil, whisk in the cornmeal and cajun seasoning.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and whisk until the polenta is the texture of scrambled eggs. This will take about 10 minutes. I suggest setting a ten minutes timer. When there are four minutes left on the timer, put the eggs in the water.
Once the pot of water comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium-high. Stir the water to make a funnel in the middle then add in the eggs one at a time. Cook the eggs for four minutes, then scoop them out of the water using a slotted spoon. Pat them dry with a paper towel.
Take the polenta off the stove and whisk in the butter then the cheese. Divide the polenta among two bowls and top with the poached eggs. A few drops of hot sauce will really make the polenta pop.
What if you could spend ten minutes preparing some ingredients, throw them in the oven, then an hour later have a complex, satisfying, and beautiful pasta sauce? You don’t need to wonder because that is exactly what we will do in this post. Today we will make Oven-Baked Arrabbiata Sauce. Don’t know what Arrabbiata sauce is? Don’t worry. I’ll fill you in on everything you need to know. Are you ready? You can always find the recipe directly below but keep reading for more information and more detailed instructions. Let’s get to it.
What is Arrabbiata Sauce?
Arrabbiata is an Italian pasta sauce made of tomatoes, garlic, and chilli cooked in olive oil. It’s a little sweet, a little acidic, a little spicy, and a lot delicious. My version is a little different than others you may encounter in that it is baked in the oven rather than cooked on the stovetop. I also use rosemary in my sauce, where most people use parsley or occasionally basil because I find it perfectly balances the tomato and chilli. . I make my arrabbiata sauce in the oven because doing so requires less effort and because roasting the ingredients pulls more flavour out of them. So, my version is easier than most and has a deeper, more developed flavour. Let’s look at how to make it.
Arrabbiata Ingredinets
The ingredients for my Oven-Baked Arrabbiata Sauce are 6 to 7 Roma Tomates, 1 bulb of garlic, 1 red chilli, about a quarter cup of olive oil, 1 big sprig of rosemary, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. That’s it.
How To Make Arrabbiata Sauce
Preparing The Tomatoes
To prepare the tomatoes, cut them in half, and use a sharp knife (feel free to use a smaller knife than I did) to cut away the stem. Pour half of the olive oil into the bottom of a castiron dutch oven or similar oven-safe cooking vessel. Put the tomatoes in the pot cut-side up.
Preparing The Garlic
Cut the top off the bulb of garlic and remove any loose skin. You don’t need to peel the garlic. You just don’t want loose garlic skin floating around. Push the bulb of garlic, cut-side up, into the middle of the pot. Break the rosemary sprig in half and place it on either side of the garlic.
Preparing The Chilli
Cut the chilli in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. If you enjoy an especially spicy sauce, you can leave the seeds in. Put the chilli in the pot on top of the tomatoes. Drizzle the tomatoes, chilli, garlic, and rosemary with the remaining olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Put a lid on the pot and bake in a 400°f oven for 35 minutes.
Roasting and Finishing The Sauce
After the initial 35 minutes of cooking, remove the lid from the pot and return it to the oven for another 30 minutes. Cooking the sauce with the lid on first will keep all the moisture that comes out of the tomatoes in the pot. Finishing baking with the lid off allows most of that accumulated tomato liquid to evaporate, leaving a concentrated tomato flavour. Allow the sauce to cool for 5 minutes after it comes out of the oven. Use two spoons to squeeze the roasted garlic out of the peel. Discard the peel. Use your fingers or two spoons to remove the needles from the rosemary stems. Discard the stems. Break the tomatoes up using two spoons, then purée the sauce with an immersion blender or transfer the ingredients to the bowl of a stand blender. Once the sauce is smooth, taste it and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
Uses For Arrabbiata Sauce
The classic use for Arrabbiata Sauce is to toss it with some penne and parmesan cheese. This works as a great lunch with a salad, a fantastic first course, or even as a side dish. You can also add some chicken and/or bacon to the pasta. A few tablespoons of heavy cream will calm the spice down a little bit and draw a little more sweetness out of the sauce. I really like cooking mussels in arrabbiata sauce or tossing fried calamari in it. It would also be good with shrimp. Once the sauce is made, it can be cooled and stored in the fridge for four days. I’m not sure if it freezes well or not. I haven’t tried.
The Wrap-Up
There isn’t much that can compare to this Oven-Baked Arrabbiata Sauce’s simplicity, complexity of flavour, or versatility. It is an all-around winner in my books, and I think you’re going to love it. But, to love it, you have to try it. So, get cooking! Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your week and weekend. I’ll see you right back here next Wednesday for another fantastic post. And for those of you joining me this weekend for my pop-up dinner at the Clairestone Inn, I look forward to seeing you, and I cannot recommend the meatballs enough!
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Oven-Baked Arrabbiata Sauce
This Oven-Baked Arrabbiata Sauce is a little sweet, a little acidic, a little spicy, and a lot delicious. And it takes little to no effort or expertise to make. You can use it right away or save it in the fridge for a few days and use it later. Either way, you are going to love it.
Keyword: Arrabbiata Sauce, Italian Food, Pasta Sauce, Penne Pasta, Tomato Sauce
Servings: 6servings
Author: Chef Ben Kelly
Ingredients
6Roma Tomatoes
1bulb Garlic
1Red Chilli
1largeSprig Rosemary
1/2tspKosher Salt
1/8tspBlack Pepper
1/4cupOlive Oildivided
Instructions
Heat your oven to 400°f.
Coat the bottom of an oven-safe dutch oven with half the olive oil.
Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and cut out the stem. Put the tomatoes in the dutch oven cut side up.
Cut the top off the bulb of garlic and remove any loose skin. Push the bulb of garlic into the middle of the dutch oven cut side up.
Cut the chilli in half and remove the seeds and stem. Put in the dutch oven on top of the tomatoes.
Break the rosemary sprig in half and put it on top of the tomatoes.
Drizzle the remaining olive oil on the garlic, tomatoes, and chilli.
Season with salt and pepper, then put a lid on the dutch oven and bake for 35 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for another 30 minutes.
Let the ingredients cool for 5 minutes. Squeeze the garlic out of the peel. Discard the peel. Take the needles off the rosemary stem. Discard the stem. Put the tomatoes, peeled garlic, chilli, and rosemary needles, along with any oil and liquid from the pot, in a blender and purée. Or, use an immersion blender and purée.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
Toss the sauce with cooked penne or linguine, top with grated parmesan and serve.
Imagine it. You’re out in the woods, and the tent is all set up, there’s a nice breeze, so the bugs aren’t too bad, you’re looking out over the forest eating a bowl of smoky, cheesy campfire pasta bolognese. If that doesn’t excite you, nothing will. If you aren’t the camping type, don’t worry. I’ve added a note to the recipe so that you can make this indoors just as easily as outdoors. And full disclosure, I made this in my backyard, not out in the woods, and you can too. As always, the recipe is directly below, but keep reading past it for more detailed information. Let’s get to it!
Campfire Pasta Bolognese with Burrata
Are you tired of eating the same thing every time you going camping or cook over a fire? Well, this campfire bolognese is just the thing you need to fuel yourself for a long night in the woods.
340gDried Gluten-Free Rigatoni. cooked340 g is the dried weight
Instructions
Get a good fire going and let it burn down so there are some hot coals.
Set a castiron dutch oven over the coals and let it get hot for about 5 minutes.
Pour the olive oil into the pot and add the ground beef. Cook until the ground beef is browned, about 5 to 10 mnutes.
Add the onion, carrot, celery, tomato, garlic, and rosemary to the pot. Cook, stirring for 10 to 15 minutes or until the onions and celery have softened.
Pour the red wine into the pot and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the wine has almost all evaporated.
Add the beef stock and season with salt and pepper.
Bring the pot to a boil, put a lid on it, and hang it about 6 to 8 inches above the fire.
Let the sauce simmmer for about 35 to 45 minutes.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Stir the cooked pasta and parmesan into the sauce. Pull the burrata apart into small pieces and place it on top of the pasta. Put the lid on the pot and cover with hot coals. Let it cook for another 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and just starts to brown. Serve.
Notes
This recipe can be easily translated to indoor cooking. Start the beef on medium-high heat until brown. Add the vegetables, rosemary and garlic, cook, until the onions soften. Deglaze with red wine, add the stock, season to taste. Turn the heat down, cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in the cooked pasta and parmesan, top with the burrata and broil for 3 to 4 minutes or until the cheese is browned. Done and done.
The ingredients for this Campfire Pasta Bolognese are pretty straightforward. They are ground beef, onion, carrot, celery, tomato, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, red wine, beef stock, pasta, parmesan cheese, and burrata cheese. We’ll talk about what exactly burrata cheese is in a minute. Now, you may expect this recipe to have tomato sauce because that is what most of us are used to as a bolognese. However, traditional bolognese has little to no tomato in it. The sauce is wine and stock-based. I generally prefer to add a bit of tomato paste to add richness and a bit of that tomato flavour, but I didn’t have any, so I left it out. Honestly, the recipe isn’t missing it. It tasted great as it is.
What is Burrata Cheese?
Have you ever had fresh mozzarella cheese? I’m not talking about the name-brand blocks you get at the grocery store. I mean real fresh mozzarella. What about ricotta cheese? Well, burrata is pretty much a ball of fresh mozzarella stuffed with ricotta. Sounds good, right! If you can’t find burrata, you can use regular mozzarella, but I had some, and I thought this would be a great use for it. I wasn’t wrong.
Campfire cooking
To cook this pasta over a campfire, you need two things. Firstly, you need a pot that can withstand the heat of the fire. I used a Lodge Castiron Dutch Oven. Secondly, you need something to hang the pot off of. I have a castiron tripod, specifically for this purpose, but you can tie three equal-length sticks together and make a tripod that way if need be. As a bit of a side note, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to use either the dutch oven or the tripod, so it was a pretty exciting day for me.
Cooking the Campfire Pasta Bolognese
The first step in any campfire cooking is obviously to get a fire going. You have to light the fire and let it burn down until you have some nice hot coals to cook over. Next, place the pot over the coals and let it heat for about five minutes. Add a touch of olive oil to the pot along with the ground beef and cook until browned.
Adding the vegetables
Once the beef is brown, add the vegetables, garlic, and rosemary. Cook for five to ten minutes or until the onion and celery have softened.
Season and deglaze
Season the sauce with salt and pepper and pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan. Let the wine cook until it has almost all evaporated. This should only take about two to three minutes.
Add the beef stock
The final step in building the sauce is to add the beef stock. Pour it into the pot, then wait until it comes to a boil. Put a lid on the pot, and lift it off the fire. Set the pot about six to eight inches above the fire and let it simmer for about 35 to 40 minutes.
Finishing the Campfire Pasta Bolognese
After the sauce has had some time to simmer, take the lid off, and taste the sauce. Add salt and pepper as needed. Now, stir in the cooked pasta and parmesan cheese. Pull the burrata apart and place it on top of the pasta. Return the lid to the pot and cover it with hot coals. Let the pasta sit for about ten minutes. Carefully remove the coals from the lid, then remove the lid from the pot. The burrata should be melted and just starting to brown. That’s when you know the pasta is perfect.
Serve the Campfire Pasta Bolognese
All that’s left to do is serve the pasta. This should make enough for four to six people depending on how hungry everyone is. If you want to stretch it a bit further, serve it with a green salad and some toasted bread.
The Wrap Up
If you’re sitting around a fire and someone hands you a bowl of this Campfire Pasta Bolognese, you’ll want to give them a big hug because that’s exactly what they just gave you. This pasta is like a big hug in a bowl. It’s everything you love about pasta bolognese but with a hint of smoke and that special je ne sais quoi that only comes from cooking something over an open fire. Again, you can make this in the house, and it will be delicious, but if you get the chance to cook this on a fire, take it. Becasue this delicious pasta will then truly become something extraordinary.
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Do you want a quick meal that you can put together in only a few minutes? Are you looking for the perfect recipe to make on a Tuesday night after work? Is your perfect meal one that takes little to no effort? If you answered yes to any of those questions, move along because this baked eggplant parmesan isn’t any of those things. This is the kind of meal that you need to invest at least two hours of your life into. Is it worth it? I think so. But you be the judge. Let’s get to it.
Preparing The Eggplant
Buying Eggplant
There are many people, and you may be one of them, who have never bought an eggplant. If you’ve never bought an eggplant, you probably don’t know what to look for when you do. Let me help you out. Look for eggplant with clear purple skin. It shouldn’t have discoloured spots, bruises, or punctures. The skin should be tight, and the eggplant should feel firm with no soft spots. To tell if the eggplant is ripe, give it a little squeeze with your fingertips. If your fingers leave dents, the eggplant isn’t ripe yet. For this recipe, you will need an eggplant that is about one pound (454 g). There should be a scale around the produce section, so if you are unsure, you can weigh it.
Cutting the Eggplant
Once you get the eggplant home, rinse it really well under cold running water and pat it dry with a clean kitchen towel or a paper towel. Cut the top off and discard it. Cut the eggplant into quarter-inch (1/2 cm) rounds. You can discard the very end piece.
Salting the Eggplant
Why salt eggplant?
The next step is to salt the eggplant. Salting the eggplant has two purposes. The salt extracts moisture from the eggplant giving it a firmer texture when cooked and removing some of the eggplant’s bitter flavour. So, salting the eggplant makes it taste better and gives it a better texture.
Salting the eggplant
I find that the easiest way to salt eggplant is to line a baking sheet with a paper towel and sprinkle it with a tablespoon or two of kosher salt. Lay the eggplant down in a single layer, then top it with another tablespoon or two of salt and another layer of paper towel. You can put a second layer of paper towel, salt, eggplant, salt, and paper towel on top of the first layer if you need to. Let the eggplant sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour. Then, rinse the salt off the eggplant, and pat it dry with a paper towel.
Setting Up Your Breading Station
For this eggplant parmesan recipe, the eggplant is breaded. You can skip this step, but the finished dish isn’t going to be as good, so I don’t recommend it. Plus, you’ve come this far. Why not go all the way? To set up, the breading station get three containers. Fill one container with 1 cup of flour seasoned with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Crack 3 eggs into the second container and whisk until the yolks and whites are fully combined. In the third container, measure out 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs. For the record, I used gluten-free flour and bread crumbs for this.
Breading The Eggplant
To bread the eggplant, which is the same process for breading anything, coat the slices of eggplant in flour, then in the egg, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Put the breaded eggplant on a tray until you are ready to cook them.
Frying The Eggplant
Whether you bread the eggplant or not, you will need to cook it before assembling your eggplant parmesan. To fry the eggplant, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in a 1/4 cup of olive oil, and cook the eggplant for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Take the cooked eggplant out of the pan and set it on a cooling rack until all the eggplant is cooked. You may need to add more oil to the pan as you go.
Making Marinara Sauce
If you really want to, you can use a store-bought marinara sauce to make the eggplant parmesan, but again, you’ve come all this way. Why take the easy way out now? Marinara sauce is not hard to make. Let me show you. To save time, make the marinara sauce while the eggplant is sitting with the salt.
Prepping the Onion and Garlic
The first step in making marinara sauce is to pep the onion and garlic. Use a medium-sized onion. You want about 1 cup of diced onion in total. If you have a little more, or a little less, it isn’t the end of the world. Cut the top off the onion and cut it in half through the root, then peel it. Make on horizontal slice halfway up each half about 90% of the way through the onion. Make 5 to 6 verticle slices through the onion towards the root, but not through it. Cut across those verticle slices to get a diced onion.
For the garlic, cut the ends off, and gently crush the cloves with the side of your knife. Peel the garlic cloves and chop them as fine as you can. You want about 1 tbsp of minced garlic.
Prepping The Tomatoes
You can use either whole tomatoes and crush them for the sauce or use passata, which is crushed and strained tomatoes. I often use passata, but today I wanted to do something a little differently, so I opted for the whole tomatoes. If you can get them, go with San Marzano tomatoes, they are more expensive, but they taste amazing. The tomatoes I got are “San Marzano Type Tomatoes,” which means absolutely nothing. San Marzano is an area in Italy that is famous for growing tomatoes. They have a specific designation that allows only tomatoes grown in that area to be classified as San Marzano. If they are real San Marzano tomatoes, they will be a product of Italy, first of all. Secondly, they will have the letters D.O.P. on the can. That’s the Italian designation. Crush the tomatoes by hand or with a potato masher.
Making The Sauce
To make the sauce, heat a medium pot over medium heat. Add in a 1/4 cup of olive oil, along with the onions. Cook the onions, stirring now and again, for about 10 minutes or until they start to brown. This browning sweetens the onions, which will help sweeten the sauce, meaning you won’t need to add sugar. Once the onions are browned, add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes. Season the sauce with 1/2 a teaspoon of kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Depending on how thick the tomatoes are, you may need to add up to 1/2 a cup of water to them.
Basil
While the sauce is simmering, chop a handful of basil,. You want a 1/4 cup in total. Add that to the finished sauce, stir it in, taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper. You can use dried basil here, but I don’t recommend it because it has a much different flavour than fresh basil. If you use dried basil, a 1/4 tsp will do. Add it when you add the tomatoes.
Marinara Sauce
A simple and delicious multipurpose marinara sauce.
To assemble the eggplant parmesan, put a ladle full of the sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish. Top the sauce with a layer of eggplant. Top the eggplant with a ladle and a half of sauce, half a cup of grated mozzarella cheese and a 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Repeat with a second layer, finishing with mozzarella and parmesan.
Baking The Eggplant Parmesan
Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake in a 375°F oven for 20 minutes. Take the foil off the pan and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned, and a knife easily slides through the eggplant. Take the eggplant parmesan out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Serving The Bake Eggplant Parmesan
Serve the eggplant parmesan with salad and garlic bread.
Eggplant Parmesan
Eggplant parmesan is a classic Italian dish that everyone should have at least once. When done well the eggplant is tender but still has some bite. The eggplant should have a mild flavour after being salted and properly cooked. This is not the kind of recipe you are going to throw together on a Tuesday, but it is great for a sunday afternoon project.
1cupflourseasoned with 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/8 tsp black pepper
3Eggs beaten
11/2cupsbreadcrumbs
2cupsgrated mozzarella
1cupgrated parmesan
1/2cupolive oildivided
1batch marinara sauce
Instructions
Rinse the eggplant, and pat it dry. Slice it into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
Line a sheet pan with paper towel and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of kosher salt. Lay the eggplant on the salted paper towel and top with the remaining 1 tbsp of salt and another layer of paper towel. Let the eggplant sit for 30 minutes.
Rinse the eggplant under cold running water and pat dry with paper towel.
Heat oven to 375°f.
Coat the eggplant by dredging it in flour, beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. Set the breaded eggplant on a rack while you finish breading the remainder.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add in 1/4 cup of olive oil. Fry the eggplant in batches until golden brown on each side. This will take 2 to 3 minutes per side. Take the eggplant out of the pan and set it on a rack until the rest has been fried. Add the second amount of oil to the pan as needed.
Coat the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with a ladle full of marinara sauce. Add a layer of eggplant and top with another ladle full of sauce, 1/2 a cup of mozzarella, and a 1/4 cup of parmesan. Repeat until all the eggplant has been used. Finish with the remaining sauce and cheese.
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Take the foil off the pan and bake uncovered for 5 to 10 more minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and a knife easily slides through the eggplant. Take the dish out of the oven, allow it to rest for 10 minutes, then serve with salad and garlic bread.
Notes
To speed up the process, you can skip breading process. In this case, you would salt and rinse the eggplant as the recipe says, then pat the eggplant dry and fry it as is. The finished eggplant parmesan won’t have the same texture, but it will still be delicious.
As I said, this is not a quick recipe. However, it is worth making at least once. Eggplant parmesan is an amazing dish and one that I think you will really enjoy. Oh, and it’s vegetarian. You won’t even notice. I didn’t
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There is no right or wrong way to make Minestrone. The basic idea behind it is that you take some broth, add a pile of vegetables, pasta or rice, beans, and maybe a bit of meat and cook it all together. Really, it’s about using what you have on hand and what’s in season. Minestrone is not meant to be an overly complex soup in terms of ingredients or flavour. The majority of the flavour comes from the vegetables and the broth rather than a large variety of extra seasonings, though those can be added if you’d like. If you want a simple soup that will fill you up and empty your vegetable crisper, look no further. This is Minestrone, now let’s get to it.
Making Chicken Broth
First and foremost, you can use a store-bought broth if you want. But, I should demonstrate how to make this soup from scratch. The first step in doing that is to make the broth. Take four chicken legs (thigh and drum), put them in a large pot and cover them with three litres of cold water. Put the pot on the stove, bring it to a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for two hours. While the broth is simmering, skim it every once in a while to remove any skum that floats to the top. Turn the heat off, let the pot cool for about half an hour, then put the whole thing in the fridge to cool overnight. The next day skim the fat off the broth’s surface, take the chicken out, set it aside, and strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any excess fat or pieces of chicken. Pull the chicken meat off the bone and set it aside. Discard the bones and skin, and you are ready to make Minestrone.
Base Ingredients
The first few ingredients for Minestrone are onion, garlic, celery and carrot. See the recipe at the end of the post for measurements. The carrot, onion, and celery should all be cut about the same size. The garlic should be thinly sliced.
Cans
I wanted this soup to be very substantial, so I used both white beans and chickpeas. You can use one or both. I’ll leave that up to you. Also, use one can of diced tomatoes, along with the liquid in the can.
Additional Minestrone Ingredients
The final few ingredients are potatoes, green beans (you can use peas if you’d prefer), pasta (cooked), Italian seasoning, a bit of crushed red pepper flakes, and the chicken, which was picked off the bones. Now that we have all that sorted, we can make the soup. For the pasta, I used gluten-free penne. You can use regular penne, obviously. I cut the noodles in half once they were cooked just so they weren’t quite so big. You can do the same, leave them alone, or use smaller pasta. The choice is yours.
Making The Minestrone
Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add in two tablespoons of olive oil along with the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery. We can add it all at once because the goal isn’t to brown the vegetables (in which case the garlic would burn before everything else). We only want to sweat the vegetables. I mean that we only want to cook the vegetables until they start to release moisture into the pot. This will take four to five minutes, then the chicken broth is added. About thirty seconds before adding the broth to the pot, add in the red pepper flakes.
Step 2
Once the broth is in, add the tomatoes and their liquid, the potatoes, Italian seasoning, and a big pinch each of salt and pepper. Turn the heat up to high and bring the pot to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Add the chickpeas and beans into the pot and boil for another five minutes. If you are using fresh or frozen green beans, add those in now as well. If the soup stops boiling when these ingredients are added, bring it back to the boil, then cook for five more minutes after that.
Step 4
When I made this soup, I had a pile of cooked green beans leftover from the previous night’s meal. I didn’t want to waste them, so I used them in the soup instead of fresh ones. Becasue the green beans were cooked, I added them in at the same time as the cooked pasta and chicken. As I said in the previous step, if you are using fresh or frozen green beans (or peas), add them along with the chickpeas and white beans.
Once the chickpeas and beans have cooked for five minutes, add the pasta, green beans, and pulled chicken to the pot, then turn the heat off. Stir those ingredients into the soup and give it a taste. You will probably need to season it with a little more salt and pepper. Then serve.
A Classic Minestrone Soup Recipe
Minestrone is a very substantial soup that will fill you up and give you energy for the rest of the day. It is loaded with vegetables, beans, chickpeas and more. You can't go wrong.
You will be hardpressed to find a soup that is more substantial, easier to make, and that tastes nearly as good as this Minestrone. It’s the kind of soup that will give you energy for the whole day. Serve it with crackers, a bit of buttered bread, a sandwich, a grilled cheese, or just on its own. Next week, as we continue the Chef’s Notes hearty soup series, we will look at how to make loaded potato soup. I hope that you are as excited about that as I am.
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Last night as I sat with my family eating a big bowl of Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (garlic and oil), I thought about why more people don’t eat like this. By this, I mean a few good ingredients cooked together to make something magical. It can’t be because of time constraints, because the dish takes only a few minutes to put together. It can’t be because of money because the ingredients are cheap. And, it can’t be because of taste because it tastes amazing. And so my conclusion is that it’s simply a lack of knowledge. With that, I can help.
Simple ain’t easy
In Canada, we tend to overcomplicate pasta. When making the sauce, if it isn’t just coming from a jar, there is a tendency to add more and more ingredients until it tastes good. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom’s spaghetti sauce, and it has like twenty ingredients in it. But the mistake we make is assuming that’s all there is. Those twenty ingredient pasta sauces, tasty as they may be, run counter to the Italian way of cooking. The Italian way is to use quality ingredients that already taste good and add only a few other complementary ingredients. This isn’t just true of pasta. It’s the secret to all Italian food. Less is more.
Now I want to say, and I want to say it very clearly, that simple is not the same as easy. For most cooks, amateur or even professional, the simple dishes are often the hardest. There is nothing to hide behind. If you make a mistake, it’s obvious. But, a pasta dish with only a few ingredients that has been well executed will probably be some of the best food you’ve ever cooked or eaten.
Simple Pasta Dishes
Below you will find a list of five simple pasta dishes. Each one has only a handful of ingredients but will taste better than just about any pasta out there. Try them. Even if you don’t think you’ll like them, even if it’s only one or two of them, try them. Have them for a weekend lunch or a quick weeknight dinner, or whatever. Just try them! I promise that it will be worth your time and effort not only because they will taste good, but also because you will learn a bit about the benefits of simplicity in cooking. I think that can change how you look at food and how you cook overall. Isn’t that worth a quick bowl of pasta?
Ingredients
Before we jump into the list, I want to take a minute to talk about ingredients because the key to simple food is that you have to use quality ingredients. If you are making spaghetti with garlic and olive oil but using garbage olive oil that is overly bitter, the dish will not taste very good. When you are making carbonara and use poor quality bacon, the dish will not taste very good. If you are making pasta with tomatoes, or pasta with cheese and pepper and your tomatoes, or your cheese, aren’t good, you guessed it; your pasta isn’t going to be good either. Good ingredients are crucial to making these dishes taste good.
Recommended ingredients
Olive Oil
When it comes to olive oil, avoid anything sold in a plastic bottle. The oil degrades the plastic, which leaches into your food and gives the oil an off flavour. Second of all, and this may seem counter to what you believe, avoid Italian olive oil. There is a massive issue in Italy with counterfeit olive oil. Seriously, you can read this Forbes.com article from 2016 for yourself. The olive oil that I use most often comes from Tunisia. You’ve probably seen it. It has a yellow label with a black horse on it. The brand is Terra Delyssa, and you can find it at Costco, Walmart, and even most grocery stores now. It is a really smooth flavoured oil that won’t make your food taste bad.
Parmesan Cheese
Real parmesan is sold in wedges cut off of a large wheel. They will be fairly expensive, running about $15 to $20 depending on size. However, that wedge of parmesan will last an average family of four two months or more. And, it will last in the fridge for months and months and months. To use the parmesan, grate on the fine setting of your cheese grater. That’s it. There is no comparison between real parmesan and the grated stuff that sits in a plastic jar on the shelf. Real parmesan is a necessity for good simple pasta. You can buy real parmesan cheese at the cheese or deli counter of most grocery stores.
Salt
Use either sea salt or kosher salt rather than table salt. Table salt has a harsh flavour and doesn’t dissolve as evenly as sea salt and kosher salt. Yes, this will make a difference in the flavour of your dish.
Tomatoes
It is okay to use canned tomatoes as long as they are of good quality. Avoid no-name cans or store brands. Splurge for a can of San Marzano tomatoes or the best quality ones you can afford. Check the ingredients list on the can. If there are more than tomatoes, salt and basil in the can, it is probably best to avoid it.
Garlic
Garlic should be fresh only. Don’t use garlic that is jarred in oil. It has been pasteurized and likely has chemical additives which will change the flavour. Buy a bulb of garlic and take the time to peel and chop it. And yes, this really does affect the flavour of the whole dish. Again, if you only have a few ingredients, and one of them tastes off, the whole dish tastes off.
Herbs
In all the pasta below, use only fresh herbs. These dishes won’t be cooking long enough for dried herbs to hydrate and release their flavours properly. Save the dried herbs for that twenty ingredient pasta sauce.
Bacon
Bacon should be naturally smoked if you can find it. It is best to buy bacon from your local butcher or smokehouse. If you can’t do that, look for packaged bacon at the grocery store that looks firm and dry. Avoid packages that are soft or look like they have excess moisture in them.
Pasta
It is perfectly fine to use dried pasta in these dishes. However, I would avoid buying the cheapest options there are. Instead, opt for a name brand you know or even splurge for that expensive Italian brand you’ve always seen on the shelf but have never tried. And yes, you can make all of these pastas with gluten-free pasta. That’s what I do.
Okay, that is more than enough chit chat, let’s take a look at the five pasta dishes.
1. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Aglio e Olio (Ag-li-ol-e-o) means oil and garlic, and that is basically what this pasta is though there are typically a few other ingredients. Other than oil and garlic, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio consists of crushed red pepper flakes, lots of parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, fresh chopped parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice. This is the pasta that I had for dinner last night that sparked this entire post. I can’t truly express how delicious this pasta dish is. You’ll just have to make it for yourself.
Keyword: pasta recipes, Quick Meals, Quick Pasta, Quick Recipes
Servings: 4
Author: Chef’s Notes
Ingredients
8ozDried Spaghetti Noodles225 g
1/2cupOlive oil
1bulbGarlic, peeled and very thinly sliced
1/2tspCrushed Red Pepper Flakes
1/2cupParsley, freshly chopped
1 cupParmesan, freshly grated and loosely packed
2tbspLemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/4cup Hot water
1/2tspKosher or Sea salt
1/4tspBlack Pepper, freshly crushed
Instructions
Bring a large pot of satled water to a boil.
In a large skillet, combine the olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Put on medium heat.
Add the pasta to the pot and stir for a minute so that it doesn't stick or clump.
Once the garlic starts to turn golden brown just around the edges, add in the parsley.
Take a 1/4 cup of water out of the pasta pot and set it aside. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet.
Take the skillet off the heat and add in parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Toss the pasta to coat it in the sauce. Add in the reserved pasta water, and toss the pasta to coat it. Finish the pasta with a little more freshly grated parmesan and a few turns of fresh cracked pepper.
Spaghetti Carbonara may be the most bastardized pasta dish in the world. If you go to any two-bit pub or chain restaurant, they have some sort of carbonara on the menu. In that context, they are using the word “carbonara” to refer to any pasta with cream in it that isn’t alfredo. Now, here is the big problem with that. Carbonara doesn’t have any cream in it. So how did it become the word that second or third-rate restaurants use for creamy pastas? Probably because carbonara is creamy. Let me clarify.
Where does the creaminess of carbonara come from?
The creaminess of carbonara comes from a mixture of egg and cheese cooked using only the heat from the hot pasta and bacon (traditionally guanciale) and sometimes the addition of a little boiling pasta water. A couple of eggs are broken into a bowl with a few big handfuls of parmesan cheese and some cracked pepper. I like to add a handful of fresh parsley to mine though that isn’t strictly traditional. The pasta is put in boiling water to cook, and the bacon is put in a hot pan to crisp. When the bacon and the pasta are cooked, they are added to the cheese and egg bowl and stirred until the egg reaches a temperature where the white and the yolk begin to coagulate. As the egg cooks, the cheese melts, and what’s left is a thick, creamy sauce. If it is too thick or too dry, a little hot pasta water can be added to the bowl.
As you can see, there is no cream in carbonara. So, the next time you’re at a restaurant, and you see carbonara on the menu, know that what you’re getting is probably just a big bowl of pasta, cream and disappointment that doesn’t even come close to the quality and flavour of its namesake. If you want to know more about Carbonara, take a look at this post I wrote back in 2019 all about it.
Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato and literally translates to “love apple.” That’s a pretty good name for a tomato if you ask me. Anyway, pasta Pomodoro is a straightforward dish of pasta, tomato, olive oil, garlic, basil, a little red pepper, and parmesan. That’s it. You are going to be pretty hard-pressed to find a better recipe than this one from Bon Appetit. If you are looking for a dish with lots of fresh flavours, that is simple to make and celebrates the love apple, you’ve found it.
4. Cacio a Pepe
You know how kids will eat pasta with a little butter, cheese, and salt and pepper. That’s a real Italian pasta dish. Though, the real version is probably a lot better than what most kids are eating. Cacio e Pepe literally means cheese and pepper. Simple but beyond delicious. Check out this version from Delish
5. Linguine and Clams
If you like clams, nothing can beat a big bowl of well-made linguine and clam pasta. Clam juice, butter and white wine make the sauce’s base, with parsley adding a fresh finishing flavour. I’m salivating as I write this. Again, like all the pasta on this list, this pasta dish is incredibly simple and out of this world good. If you like clams, this is a must.
This list of simple pasta dishes is by no means conclusive. It doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of amazing simple pasta dishes that are part of the Italian repertoire. And that’s just pasta. Once you start getting into other dishes like salads, pizza, braises, roasts, all of it, it’s all simple, focusing on great ingredients, and it all tastes amazing. Now do yourself a favour, pick one or two of the pasta on this list and make them. It will be worth it.
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Polenta is creamy, buttery, cheesy, and oh so delicious. It also happens to be very simple to make. If you can boil water and stir, you can make polenta. But why should you? You should make polenta not only becasue it is delicious but because it makes a great side dish for meat sauce, vegetarian ragu, braised meats, and more. It also can be eaten on its own with butter and cheese or topped with sausage and egg for a hearty breakfast. The point is that polenta is one of those all-purpose dishes that is a must for anyone who loves to cook or eat. Today, I’m going to show you how to make it. Are you ready? Good, let’s get to it.
What is Polenta?
Polenta is ground dried corn (cornmeal) cooked in boiling liquid (water, milk, or stock). The cooked cornmeal thickens and takes on a porridge-like consistency that is great when paired with rich tomato-based sauces or with lots of cheese and butter.
Different Types of Polenta
There are two main ways to serve polenta. They are creamy and firm. Firm polenta is creamy polenta that has had a little more moisture cooked out of it, and then it has been left to cool, cut into shapes and recooked. Creamy polenta has a higher moisture content and is served fresh. Firm polenta can be cut into many different shapes and fried or seared to develop a crisp exterior and a soft interior. Creamy polenta should resemble scrambled eggs.
Polenta Ingredients
Polenta really only has a handful of ingredients. They are cornmeal, liquid (water, milk or stock), seasoning (salt and pepper), cheese (usually parmesan) and butter (to add flavour and creaminess). Other ingredients added to polenta can include bay leaves, herbs like thyme and rosemary, different types of cheese like cheddar and asiago, or even onion and garlic.
How To Make Polenta
To make polenta, bring a pot of water to a boil (use four to five times more liquid than cornmeal), add the seasoning and herbs if you’re using them, then whisk in the cornmeal. Turn the heat down to medium and cook, continuing to stir, for about twenty minutes. Once the cornmeal has softened, and it resembles scrambled eggs take it off the heat and stir in some parmesan cheese and butter. Taste the polenta and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
What to serve polenta with
My favourite thing to serve with polenta is beef or pork braised in a rich tomato sauce. You can do the same with mushrooms. I also really like it served as a side with roasted meats. And I love it for breakfast with sausage, egg, and lots of cheese. Essentially, it can replace pasta or potato in most cases.
Perfect Polenta
Have you ever dreamed of a creamy side dish, made of corn and loaded with butter and cheese? Yes, you have? Oh, fantastic! Have I got the thing for you. This polenta fits all of those wants.
Add the salt and pepper to the boiling water then whisk in the polenta.
Turn the heat down to medium and cook the polenta, stirring constantly until it resembles scrambled eggs. About 20 minutes.
Take the polenta off the heat and stir in the butter and parmesan cheese.
Serve the polenta as it is, as a side dish with meat sauce or roasted meat, with mushroom ragu, or for breakfast with fried eggs and sausage. You can also spread the polenta out on a sheet pan and cool it, then cut it into shapes, and pan fry it to get a crisp exterior and a soft interior.
Polenta is one of the most versatile, easy to make, and delicious side dishes you’ll find. Not only that, but it seems fancy. It seems like the kind of thing that can only be made by true masters, but it really isn’t. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, can make polenta. So what are you waiting for? You probably already have all the ingredients on hand. Get cooking! And for more on polenta, take a look at this post I wrote way back in September of 2018 called Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Polenta.
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Gnocchi, you’ve probably had it at your favourite Italian restaurant, or maybe you’re lucky enough to come from an Italian family or at least are friends with one. Either way, if you’ve eaten gnocchi, you’ve likely wondered how to make it. Well, wonder no more. Today, I will show you, step by step, how to make delicious, light gnocchi from scratch whenever you want. What’s going to blow your mind is just how simple this is. Are you ready? Yeah, me too. Let’s learn how to make homemade gnocchi.
What is Gnocchi?
I’m guessing that there are some people out there that don’t know what gnocchi is. No problem! Let’s get that out of the way first. You can think of gnocchi in two ways. The first way is as a little potato dumpling. Or, you can think of gnocchi as small balls of pasta made with potato. Both of those are correct. But here’s the thing, gnocchi is easier to make than pasta and dumplings. Really. You cook potatoes, peel them, mash them, mix them with egg, flour, butter, and a few flavourings, roll it, cut, and cook it. That’s it. Let’s look at that process in a little more depth.
How To Make Gnocchi
The Right Potato For Making Gnocchi
As I said, gnocchi is little bits of pasta or dumplings made with potato. So, we have to start with potatoes. Typically, for gnocchi, you don’t want to use a mealy potato like russets. You want a potato with a reasonably high starch content to help bind the dough. I suggest Yukon gold potatoes or other yellow-fleshed variety. These will provide a great flavour and the right consistency for your gnocchi.
Cooking The Potatoes
Some people say that when making gnocchi, it is best to bake the potatoes to prevent them from retaining too much moisture. I always either boil or steam my potatoes for gnocchi, and I have never found that there has been an issue with the moisture content being too high. However, I do find that boiling or steaming the potatoes whole, with the skin still on, does help prevent the potatoes from getting too wet.
To cook the potatoes, put them in a pot of cold, salted water. The cold water will help the potatoes cook more evenly than if they started in hot water. The last thing you want is for the outside of the potatoes to be mushy, while the middle is still hard. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or so depending on their size. Really, time isn’t what you should be paying attention too. What’s important is that the potatoes are cooked through but not overcooked. Cook the potatoes just until a knife slides easily into the middle of the potato.
Steam Drying The Potatoes
One other little thing that I find helps prevent any moisture issues is allowing the potatoes to steam dry for a few minutes before peeling them. All I mean by steam drying is that once the water is drained off the potatoes, they are left to sit in the colander for a few minutes before peeling. All the steam that is coming off of the potatoes is excess moisture leaving the potatoes. I go into this in more depth in this post I did way back in January all about 5 Tips For Better Mashed Potatoes. Make sure not to let the potatoes sit for more than a few minutes because you want them to be hot as you mash them. Cold potatoes will become a gummy mess that is next to impossible to work with.
Peeling The Potatoes
Because the potatoes are cooked, the peels will come off fairly quickly. However, the potatoes will still be hot. So, either hold the potato in a towel in one hand and scrape the skin off with a paring knife in the other hand. Or, rub the skin off using a kitchen towel. Rubbing the skin off works well, but it makes a pretty big mess.
Mashing The Potatoes For Gnocchi
There are a few ways that you can “mash” the potatoes for gnocchi. The first and my least favourite is to use a regular old potato masher. I’m not a fan of this method because it is next to impossible to get perfectly smooth potatoes without overworking them and turning them into a gummy mess. The same goes for a mixer. The methods that I prefer are to use a food mill, potato ricer, or if you don’t have either of those, a cheese grater. The goal is to get the mash as smooth as possible while working the potato as little as possible. You also have to work quickly enough so that the potatoes don’t cool down too much. I promise that this is the most complicated this process gets.
Adding Other Ingredients To That Potatoes
Okay, I think that we have covered just about everything there is to cover about the potato portion of the gnocchi. Of course, gnocchi isn’t just potato so let’s look at what else there is. Two ingredients that pretty much stay the same are egg and butter. For one pound of potatoes (before being cooked), use one large egg and a quarter cup of butter. To the mix, add in a big pinch of salt and a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg. Now, this is where things get mildly complicated again.
The Flour
First of all, I use all-purpose gluten-free flour to make my gnocchi. I notice no difference between my gnocchi now and when I could eat it with regular flour. So, gluten-free people, don’t despair. Our gnocchi can be just as good as everyone else’s.
Whether you are using gluten-free flour or regular flour, you have to keep a few things in mind when adding it into the gnocchi dough. The moisture content in the potatoes and the level of humidity in the air will affect how much flour the dough will need. Whatever recipe you’re using (I hope it’s mine which you can find at the end of this post), starts with only half the flour listed. Mix it in and add more as needed. You only want to add enough so that a cohesive dough forms. You want the gnocchi to be light but still hold together. The more flour you add, the heavier the gnocchi will be.
Forming the Gnocchi
To form the gnocchi, divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece on a lightly floured surface into a snake about the width of your thumb. Cut the snake into pieces that are as big as your thumb from the tip to the first knuckle. While you are rolling the dough, keep the rest covered with a clean dishcloth. Once the gnocchi is formed, you can roll them on a gnocchi board or on a fork to get the classic gnocchi lines. Those lines will help the gnocchi hold on to whatever sauce you toss them in. You don’t have to do this last step, but it does make the gnocchi look cool and helps them collect the sauce a little better. Once the gnocchi is formed, put them on a lightly floured plate or sheet pan. Do not stack them. Be gentle with them. They should be pretty soft, and you don’t want to deform them.
One thing to keep in mind is the longer the other pieces of dough sit, the wetter they will get. So, you want to work as fast as you can. Even so, you may notice that the last two pieces of dough will be stickier than the first few. That’s okay. You’ll just need to put a little extra flour down on the counter when you are rolling them.
Storing the Gnocchi
With the gnocchi all formed, you have three options. You can cook the gnocchi right away. You can store them in the fridge for a few hours covered with a floured tea towel. Or, you can freeze them in a single layer on a floured sheet pan. Once they are frozen, you can break them apart and store them in the freezer in a ZipLock bag for a few months. Then, cook them right from frozen the same as you would with fresh gnocchi.
Cooking Gnocchi
You want to cook the gnocchi in two to three batches. The reason being that you don’t want to cool the cooking water down below the boiling point. If the water stops boiling, the gnocchi will sit on the bottom of the pot. If the gnocchi sits, they are going to stick and break apart. So, to cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Divide the gnocchi into three batches. Take the first batch of gnocchi and gently drop them into the boiling water a few at a time until the whole batch is in the pot. If you dump them all in at once, you risk them breaking and sticking together.
The gnocchi are cooked when they float. Scoop them out of the pot and into your sauce using a slotted spoon. Don’t dump the gnocchi into a colander like you would with pasta. The force of the water will crush and break them. Just scoop them out. And just like that, you’ve made gnocchi.
Additions To The Dough
Like pasta, you can add other ingredients into gnocchi dough for colour and flavour. Cooked, chopped, well-drained spinach makes a great addition to gnocchi dough. You can substitute up to two-thirds of the potato for sweet potato or squash, but you may need to up the amount of flour. You can even add some ricotta or parmesan cheese into the mix. The point is that you can take this basic recipe, add another ingredient or two to it and make it something completely new. But of course, that is up to you and how creative you are feeling.
Sauces For Your Gnocchi
Gnocchi, like other forms of pasta, goes well with a variety of sauces. You can serve it with bolognese sauce, as I did in the picture at the beginning of this post. It goes well with classic tomato and basil. Gnocchi is fantastic in a blue cheese cream sauce. It even pairs perfectly with sage and brown butter, or pesto. Essentially, any sauce you can think of to put on pasta will probably be really good on gnocchi as well.
Gnocchi
An easy and delicious recipe for light and flavourful homemade gnocchi.
Boil the potatoes whole until they are tender when poked with a fork.
Let the potatoes cool slightly then peel.
Pass the potatoes through a food mill or grate on a cheese grater into a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg, butter, flour, salt and nutmeg into the potatoes and mix just enough to combine all the ingredients.
Divide the dough in two. Cover half the dough with a tea towel and roll the other half of the dough on a floured surface into a finger-width rope.
Cut the rope of dough into 1-inch pieces and place them on a floured baking sheet.
Roll and cut the other piece of dough.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Place the gnocchi into the water and wait for about 3 minutes for them to cook. Once the gnocchi starts to float scoop them out of the pot with a slotted spoon and into your sauce.
Once all of the gnocchi have been scooped out of the pot, toss them with the sauce, garnish with parmesan and fresh parsley and serve.
Nothing about making gnocchi is hard. Yes, you have to put some thought into it regarding moisture and flour and all of that, but it is not difficult. But here is the thing, it seems like it is. People think that it is. Even now, you probably are skeptical about how easy I’m making it seem. Because most people believe that gnocchi is hard to make, when you serve it to them, it will blow their minds. So, make this, get a feel for it, then the next time you have people coming over for dinner, make it again. You won’t believe the reaction you’ll get. Plus, it’s fun, and gnocchi is delicious, so what do you have to lose?
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Twenty years ago, I sat down at a table in suburban Toronto and ate a meal that would forever change my perspective on Italian food. Up until that point, all I knew of Italian cuisine was the heavy meat sauce and garlic bread my mother would make once every couple of weeks, and, of course, pizza. I know now that my mom’s sauce was about as Italian as a Hawaiian Pizza. It was delicious (unlike Hawaiian Pizza), but it wasn’t Italian. I left that meal, all those years ago, stuffed beyond belief, and with an understanding of the rustic simplicity that is authentically Italian.
Looking back on that moment now, and reflecting on my career, I can see with absolute clarity that the shadow of that meal still affects how I cook and view food to this day. I’d like to share that meal with you. If it affects you in even the smallest way that it has affected me, it may just change your entire perspective on food and cooking. If that isn’t worth five minutes of your time, nothing is.
The Meal
It was August in Ontario. Hot, humid, unbearable. I had come to Ontario from rural Nova Scotia to spend the summer with my sister and brother-in-law. I was working my first job doing prep and cooking in a Chinese Restaurant and, I was having the time of my life. My sister and her husband had a friend who lived just outside Toronto and needed help moving. As an able bodied fifteen-year I was pulled in to help carry boxes and furniture. After the move, in return for my help, I was taken to a meal at the family home of the Maria, the person we were helping move.
There was food growing everywhere.
Maria’s family home was like nothing I’d ever seen. Their backyard was mostly garden. Shading their back deck were grapevines brought to Canada from Italy and used to make the family wine. There was food growing everywhere. In this small suburban backyard, the family grew a large percentage of their food. It was beautiful and a stark contrast to the manicured lawns and concrete beyond the backyard fence, an oasis in the middle of a desert of asphalt. As taken as I was with the garden, it was the preparation of the food that really caught my attention.
…the table was covered with more food than I had ever seen in one place.
I stood back quietly and watched as the family worked together to prepare enough food for three times the number of people that would be at dinner. The brother, Dino, was grilling bell peppers and sausages from the local Italian butcher. The father picked fresh vegetables from the garden and took them into the kitchen where Maria and her mother were making pasta and salads. When the family finished cooking, they put the platters of tortellini, spaghetti in pesto, bell peppers, salads, and grilled sausages on their old wooden dining table that creaked under the weight of it all. It was more food than I had ever seen in one place. It was all fresh, light, and simply prepared. Colourful and vibrant. It was immediately apparent that what I knew of Italian food was wrong.
…a chorus of “Mangiare!” would encourage me to eat more…
I dug into my first authentic Italian meal with the hunger and ferocity that only a fifteen-year-old boy who has been lifting boxes and furniture all day can. I ate everything that was put in front of me. When I thought I was done, a chorus of “Mangiare!” would encourage me to eat more, and more. I ate until I couldn’t possibly fit another bite of food in my body, and then I ate some more. By the time I had actually finished eating, I thought I was going to die, but I was going to die happy.
…this was the first time I saw people eating for pleasure.
On the surface, it may seem like I ate a good meal, and that’s about it. It was a delicious meal, but it was more than that. I grew up eating, heavy, meat and potato dishes. We always ate well, and my mom took pride in her cooking, and she was good at it, but despite that, food was fuel. Its purpose was to keep us going until the next meal. We got it in us as quickly as we could then went about our day. This Italian meal was something much different. It went on for hours. It was as much about fueling the soul as it was the body. The family talked and joked, enjoyed each other’s company. Thinking about it now, I think what struck me most was that this was the first time I saw people eating for pleasure. These people loved food. Their whole way of life was dedicated to it. There was no rush to eat so that they could go do something else. Eating, laughing and drinking was what they wanted to be doing. That had such an impact on me that twenty years later, I think about that meal at least a few times a week.
An Authentic Italian Meal Twenty Years Later
The meal I am about to share with you is not the exact meal I ate all those years ago. I honestly can’t remember everything that was on that table. But, this is as an authentic Italian meal as you’re going to find just about anywhere. What you will notice is that there are very few ingredients in each dish. The flavours are fairly mild, and the meal is relatively light. There is nothing fancy about it, and there is no pretense. It is good food, prepared simply to create a fantastic meal. That’s it.
Peppers and Onions
The first dish is peppers and onions. Remove the seeds and stems from two bell peppers (the colour doesn’t matter). Slice the peppers about 1 cm thick. Peel an onion (white, red, or yellow) and slice it the same width as the peppers. Slice two cloves of garlic as thin as you can.
Heat a medium-sized pan over medium heat, add in 2 tbsp of good olive oil. Put the garlic in the pan and cook for about 45 seconds, then add in the peppers and onion. Season with a pinch of salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Cook the peppers, stirring every minute or so for 7 to 8 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. That’s it. That’s the whole dish.
I also made a quick pasta dish of fettuccini noodles tossed with homemade pesto. To make this, cook the pasta, drain it, then toss it with a few tablespoons of pesto. Top it with a little salt, pepper, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. You can find the pesto recipe below.
The final piece of my authentic Italian meal is a few sausages. Where I live, there are no Italian butchers, and I didn’t have time to make the sausages myself so, I bought some mild Italian sausages from the grocery store. Cook them on the grill over medium-high heat if you can. If not, roast them in the oven on 400°f for 20 minutes or until they are fully cooked.
What I find works really well is to cook the sausages over direct heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, then turn the center burners of the grill to low, put the pan of peppers on the grill and put the sausages on the warming rack above the peppers. Put the lid down and let the sausages cook for another 7 to 8 minutes. Crank the heat back up and finish the sausages over high heat. You don’t have to go through this whole process but you’ll be happy you did.
Conclusion
My authentic Italian meal isn’t nearly as big as the meal I ate all those years ago. But, it definitely brought me back to that time. What’s really crazy is that this meal didn’t take long to make. If you already have the pesto made and the vegetables roasted, as I did, this meal will take you less than 30 minutes to put together. What’s more, is that you are going to feel like a king or queen eating it.
Is there one meal that stands out from your life? If so, I’d love to hear all about it. Tell me in the comments below or on Facebook.
Thank you for reading the post. If you liked it, remember to share it on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by clicking the icon to the left of the right of the page. Did you know that Chefsnotes.com has almost 400 posts just like this one? Don’t ever miss a post again. Become a Chef’s Notes member right here. You will be notified of every new post. And if you would like to know more about me, click the link below to read my story.
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