Ricotta Gnocchi

Sunday September 27

Daughter Jill and family came over for brunch today. I made a wonderful Italian sausage egg casserole with green chiles for the main course. Instead of potatoes as a side, I chose a pasta dish out of Jasper Mirabile's new cookbook - Ricotta Gnocchi. I served it over pesto. It was a beautiful emerald green ( I make my pesto with garlic chives and the color is a brilliant green like grass.) AND - I didn't take a picture! I showed my granddaughter Tori how to make it and roll it into a rope. She watched as I cut it and then dropped it into the boiling water (and then you turn it down to a good simmer). So after a lovely morning complete with our favorite family brunch drink - Da Das, which are a mimosa-style drink served over the rocks with a splash of apricot brandy that smooths the acidity of the OJ. If you drink too many of them, as you try to speak, you trip on your tongue and say, "Da, da, da, da....!"

SO THE PICTURE?

I plan to make the gnocchi again this Sunday when my bridge girlfriends come over. I'll make it with bechamel, marinara and also with pesto - So we'll call it "Triple Sauce Ricotta Gnocchi" from Jasper's Kitchen Cookbook! And we'll post a picture or two

Just to make you salivate a bit, here are some photos of the gnocci courtesy of Jasper Mirabile. (Thanks Jasper!)

By the way, did I mention who the we are? Myself writing the text and my niece Lauren McKay, who is inputting and designing my blog and also helping with my e-newsletter. Right now the e-newsletter features all of the cookbooks that I carry. I try to include a recipe here and there. If you'd like to sign up for the newsletter, add your email to the box on the right of the page. Then you'll get an email confirming your subscription!

After the family leaves it is Round 3 of Boeuf Bourguignon (for the 3 classes scheduled for Sept 28, 30, and Oct 1). I'm getting to the point where I don't even pay attention to the recipe anymore. As Julia would say, "Establish your own relationship." So I cook and taste. If it doesn't look like there are enough onions or carrots - I add more. If it lacks a bit of zing - I add more thyme and a microplane full of lemon zest. The end result every time is YUM!

Supper tonight is steak soup from my friend Donna Gerber Missimer. It is good and even better when I add some leftover Boeuf Bourguignon to it!

*karen

Boeuf Bourguignon x 3

Saturday September 26

This is going to be my marathon weekend of preparing 3 triple batches of boeuf bourguignon for the 3 classes I have scheduled at my friend Jet's cooking school in Lee's Summit, A Thyme for Everything.

So I begin the morning early and bake off some of the artisan bread dough that I have in the refrigerator. I need plenty of bread to serve with the home made herb butter and also to sop up the delicious red wine and beef stock sauce that makes the beef burgundy. Did I tell you that everyone has gone mad for this bread recipe? It is from my best friend Judith's new cookbook, 200 Fast and Easy Artisan Bread Recipes, "No-Knead, One Bowl." The bread mixes in a bowl - then rises for 2 hours - then is ready to shape (no-knead) and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on how thick or thin the loaves of bread are that you shape.

I meet my girlfriends Susan and Shelley for coffee and then go off to co-host "In The Kitchen with Jasper" radio show with Jasper Mirabile. This is the first time that I have ever co-hosted a radio show. The script is easy to follow and the show is in 4 segments. The segment with Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet is taped so I don't get to speak with her. She is coming to Kansas City for a book signing this month.

So back in the kitchen and I now prepare the cooktop and floor with newspapers and towels to absorb all the grease that splatters. I use a grease catcher, too, but browning 27 pounds of beef is messy. So I begin with the first recipe and brown the meat, add the carrot and onion, season and sprinkle with flour. Then it goes into a 450 degree oven for 4 minutes uncovered to roast the flour. You stir it again and put it back in the hot oven for another 4 minutes then put it on the cooktop and add the red wine and beef broth or stock. I found a dandy Cabernet Sauvignon that is relatively inexpensive yet has high marks from Wine Spectator. It retails for around $6 to $8 dollars and is perfect to cook with and also to drink. So the real reason I chose it over some of the other wines at the store is because I loved the giant 47 pound rooster on the label - you know... the rooster is very French. I think Julia would approve.   

Okay triple batch number one (actually this will be for classes number 5, 6, and 7!) is in the oven and I take a break. Beautiful day in the 70s and the raspberries are still growing. The tomatoes are still turning red. The zukes are gone - and didn't perform well this year. I make a mental note to use the blossoms next year if the squash aren't producing. Dogs are having a raucous play day outside. My husband is an avid bird hunter and we have always had dogs - mainly English pointers. Rocky is a big 70 pound beautifully marked black & white pointer. He has both eyes and ears in black with some freckles on his nose. And he is a very sweet dog. Lady is a bit of a challenge. She is almost pure white with freckled light brown ears. She got spooked by fireworks a couple of years ago and she has never been the same. Jumps if you drop something in the house and if there is equipment outside like mowers or saws - she is a basket case. Needless to see, my husbands dogs have turned into house pets.

Onto the second triple batch - it is around 4:30 now. I get the first batch out of the oven and place the second batch in the oven... I can't face the third batch and call it quits and clean up the kitchen. I must tell you that the newspapers and towels made clean up so much easier! Have a nice evening.

*karen