Peter's gorgonzola gnocchi

It’s Peter’s turn to shine, and shine he did with this amazing recipe! Sometime in the last few years we came across shelf-stable gnocchi in the pasta aisle. They’re not as good as homemade, but such a convenience that we’ve been happy with the compromise.

There is something incomparable about sitting down to a meal where you can’t stop going “ooh” and “ahh.” And then later in the evening you think back on it and say that out loud all over again. That’s how good this was (and is – we’re eating a second helping of the gnocchi tonight).

Gnocchi with bacon, spinach and gorgonzola

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

In a saute pan, heat (over medium) 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter.

Add: 2 slices thick-cut bacon which has been diced. Cook 5 minutes.

Add: ½ medium onion, thin-sliced. Cook 3 minutes.

Add: 2 large cloves minced garlic (or to taste). Cook 1 minute.

Add: 10 oz. IQF spinach (individually quick-frozen) which has been thawed and squeezed to get rid of as much water as possible.

Add: 8 oz. heavy cream, salt and pepper to taste, ½ tsp nutmeg, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Reduce heat and simmer a few minutes.

In another sauté pan, heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil until the butter is melted.

Add: ¼ cup homemade bread crumbs. Saute for a few minutes while the sauce finishes cooking.

When you think you’re about 4 minutes away from being done with the sauce, heavily salt the pot of water, toss in the gnocchi and boil until they float to the surface (3-4 minutes).

Remove sauce from the heat and stir in 4 oz. crumbled gorgonzola.

Use a spider to ladle the gnocchi into the sauce. If sauce seems to thick, add a bit of the gnocchi water. Toss well to coat and serve in heated bowls and topped with sautéed bread crumbs.

Calves liver with onions and bacon

Not for everyone, calves liver with onions and bacon can be a wondrous thing. The liver came frozen in a 1 lb. package. The problem is that when you open the package the ¼” slices (4) are very delicate. It was tough getting them rinsed and dried, but once they went into the frying pan my troubles were over.

My apologies for the picture being a bit blurry. I was in a hurry to sit down and enjoy my repast.

The accompaniments are creamed turnip greens (blog post 2/21/10) and shiitake mushrooms and brown basmati rice (Peter’s contribution).

Calves liver with onions and bacon (2 servings)
½ medium onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 strips thick-cut bacon
8 oz. calves liver, carefully rinsed and dried on paper towels
salt and pepper to taste

Caramelize the onions in the oil and butter (this will take nearly 30 minutes). Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper while they cook.

In a non-stick sauté pan, fry the bacon to your desired degree of doneness. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Sprinkle salt and pepper on the top of the liver slices. Invert them into the bacon pan in the bacon fat and then season the top sides. Keep the heat at medium high. Fry the liver for no more than 1 ½ minutes. Turn and fry another 1 ½ minutes. Serve immediately topped with onions and the bacon.

Cabbage braised with bacon and figs

The photo is of the leftovers of the braised cabbage. I'm making more of it tomorrow but I was anxious to get this recipe posted. It's that good! I'm not sure where the idea came from for this. Oh, yes I do. I was thinking about carrot raisin salad and then slaw and the notion for a braise with figs popped into my 5-watt brain. Peter added the idea of bacon. It's a 3-way made in heaven.

Cabbage braised with bacon and figs

2 strips thick-cut bacon or 3 thinner

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1/2 medium head cabbage, halved and stem removed

2/3 cup unsweetened dried figs (Sunsweet are what I found), in 1/2" dice

splash of Xiaoxing cooking wine (or dry white wine)

splash of Chinese black vinegar (or apple cider vinegar or wh. wine vinegar)

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook in a large saute pan until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

While the bacon cooks, slice the cabbage into thin strips more or less as you would for a slaw. When the bacon is done add the garlic to the bacon fat and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the cabbage and toss thoroughly. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until the cabbage starts to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add the figs, wine and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and black pepper (I used white pepper). Toss everything together.

When everything is hot, serve it and enjoy it.

LGBT sandwiches

Here is something fun and delicious. I've given it a suggestive title because it amused me to do so. In case you don't know, the acronum LGBT stands for "Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgendered." In my recipe it stands for "Lettuce, Gravlax, Bacon, Tomato."

In the spirit of LGBT, I include this pic of my significant other (going on 29 years). Just for the record, he's G, not L, B, or T.

Gravlax, for those who like smoked salmon, is an inexpensive and quick way to satisfy your salmon hunger. Check out my post from 8/4/2008 (one of my earliest) for the recipe.

The picture shows open-faced sandwiches. The reason: the remaining ends of the loaf of bread were kind of small. With larger slices we'd use 4 and top the sandwiches with a second piece of bread. You do whatever pleases you. My gravlax was homemade, the lettuce homegrown, the tomatoes Colorado-grown, the bread Colorado baked, the herbs homegrown.

LGBT sandwiches with herbed mayo

8 oz. gravlax, thinly sliced

4 slices bacon

lettuce, any kind

4 slices bread

1 large tomato, sliced

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup fresh herbs (including any of: thyme, basil, oregano, parsley), chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the bacon on a baking rack over a 1"-sided baking pan. Roast for 20 minutes (regular cut), 24 minutes (thick cut). Remove to paper towels to absorb the grease. Save the baking fat in the pan for frying something else.

Mix together the herbs and mayo and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Toast the bread and then let it cool down. Smear it generously with herbed mayo. Top it with lettuce, then tomato, then gravlax, then bacon. Eat and enjoy.

Classic cassoulet

“Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the southwest of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, pork, goose, duck and sometimes mutton, and pork skin. The dish is named after the cassole, the distinctive deep round earthenware pot with slanting sides in which cassoulet is ideally cooked.”

The above is courtesy of wikipedia, as is the picture.

Peter went out of town yesterday and I made myself a double helping of cassoulet, according to my own plan, though influenced by a published recipe. Good golly was it satisfying!

I may have mentioned the other day that I had some pork cuttings I cured in the same solution one uses to make corned beef. It essentially turned out to be like ham. Instead of using fatback or some other pork cut for my cassoulet I used my homemade product. If I hadn’t had it, I would have simply used bacon.

For the purposes of the recipe below I have doubled what I made yesterday. It would be enough to serve 4, or 2 meals for 2 people. There seemed to be little purpose to going to all this trouble (mostly just time cooking) for a single serving.

I will make this for Peter just as soon as the weather chills down again. As for me, I couldn’t have enjoyed it more than I did even in spite of the outside evening temp being about 60°.

For the beans I used the remains of a package of frozen black-eyed peas. Use fresh dried beans if you wish, but it just makes the prep more laborious. The sausages I chose were a brat-like Italian-style link sausage.

Cassoulet
4 strips thick-cut bacon
4 sausages, your favorite kind
1 medium onion, quartered
2 medium carrots, cut into 1” pieces
3 cloves garlic, sliced thick
2 red-skin potatoes, quartered, skins left on

1 qt. chicken stock

1 lb. frozen black-eyed peas
1 14 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
salt and pepper
bouquet garni (1 sprig parsley, 1 stalk celery, 1 sprig thyme, bay leaf, tied together in a bundle)
½ cup fresh bread crumbs

In a cast iron pot, render bacon. Remove and set aside.

Brown the sausages in the bacon faat. Remove and set aside.

When you quarter the onion, just trim the visible roots, trim the top, but leave the thick root-end part on so that it will hold the quarters together. This is largely a presentation thing, so if you want slice the onions in thick pieces.

Add the carrots and onion and cook over moderate heat, turning the onion pieces occasionally, until they begin to caramelize, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add, potatoes, the bouquet garni, and bacon. Add just enough stock to come up to the level of the vegetables and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the casserole and gently simmer over low heat for 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. Add the frozen black-eyed peas and sausage after 45 minutes, increasing the heat briefly to get back to a simmer.

Bring the tomatoes to a simmer in a saucepan and preheat the oven to 325°.

Stir the tomatoes into the casserole and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Add more broth if necessary. It probably won’t be if you use the tomatoes with their juice. Bake the cassoulet for 1 hour longer, removing the lid for the final 30 minutes. It is done when the bread crumb topping is well-browned. Remove from the oven, discard the bouquet garni, check the seasonings, and allow to rest, covered, for 20 minutes before serving.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.