I made gnocchi over the weekend for the second time in my life, this time using a recipe from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and a beautiful, simple potato ricer that was kindly gifted to me two weeks ago.  The first time I made gnocchi was a couple of years ago, using the wrong kind of potatoes and not using a ricer.  This time I took Hazan's recommendation and use older boiling potatoes—Yukon Golds*, to be precise—rather than newer (younger, little) potatoes and/or baking potatoes (e.g., Idaho).  Interestingly, I've seen gnocchi recipes explicitly calling for baking potatoes.  But I've been using Hazan's cookbook for a few months now and she's never steered me wrong, so I stuck with her advice.

In addition to using Hazan's recommended style of potatoes, I also used a ricer for the first time—which I think makes a big difference in the gnocchi quality.  Smashing the potatoes through a ricer while they're still hot serves at least two purposes: (1) making the potatoes smooth and (2) facilitating evaporation of moisture from the potato by exposing surface area.

Finally, with respect to the gnocchi, Hazan's recipe is a simple one that uses only potato and all-purpose flour.  Some gnocchi recipes call for the addition of egg, which may help the dough hold together, but it also apparently creates a tougher gnocchi.  The recipe I used the first time I made gnocchi a few years ago included egg and, combined with my use of the wrong kind of potatoes and my failure to use a ricer, my first batch of gnocchi were tough little suckers.

The gnocchi I made from Hazan's recipe over the weekend were, in all honesty, the best I've ever eaten.  I don't make such claims often with respect to my cooking . . . but Hazan deserves all the credit this time.  They were light but held together perfectly.  Hazan did me a solid once again.

I topped the gnocchi with some sage* brown butter, along with some steamed Romanesco* which is a super-funky fractal-ly member of the Brassica plant genus . . . a relative of broccoli and cauliflower, which is in season here in the Chesapeake Bay region right now.  It's really groovy and nutritious and delicious.  Check it out.  And but Marcella Hazan's cookbook and check out her gnocchi, too.  Cheers.

        

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The squash photos above are part of the photo series that I took for my little friend Thea.  And this is the soup I made out of the squash.  It's a simple concoction, paying homage to the squash with little distraction.  It's easy to make and I think it's delicious.  This recipe makes about 8 cups and you'll need a steamer basket like this one.

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots*
• 8 cups water
• 5 lbs. of winter squash* (I used the Turk's turban, delicata and butternut squash pictured above.)
• salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• nutmeg

1. Cut up the squash into large pieces, reserving the stringy insides and seeds.
2. In a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot or dutch over, melt the butter over medium heat and then sauté the shallots until translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the stringy insides of the squash and sauté for another 5 minutes.
4. Add 4 cups of water and bring it to a boil, then insert the steamer basket and all of the squash with the cut side down.  Cover and steam for about 30 minutes, until cooked through.
5. Remove the squash from the pot when it's done and remove the skin from the squash pieces when it's cool enough to handle.
6. Strain the liquid from the pot through a mesh sieve into a bowl.  Discard the solids.  Add the remaining 4 cups of water to the bowl of liquid.
7. Puree the squash with the liquid in a blender in batches.
8. Rinse the pot, then return the soup to the pot to heat through.  Salt to taste and serve garnished with a drizzle of heavy cream and some freshly grated nutmeg.

 

        

I'm excited to let you all know that I'll be showing some of my photography—including this photo—on Friday evening, Oct. 24, from 6-8 PM at an event called Veggie Love at ArtSpace DC.  Veggie Love is a collaborative effort between ArtSpace and the 7th Street Garden.  One of the Garden's queen bees will be teaching a canning workshop, the coordinator of ArtSpace will be showing some of his food photography, there'll be food-inspired pottery and a local chef will be making something to snack on.  It'll be a celebration of food.

I'll be showing photos I've taken over the past two weeks as part of a series of simple in-season food photos for my new little friend Thea, who was born in Brooklyn on October 10.  I was in Brooklyn for Thea's dad's birthday in August and, when I offered to go on a photo assignment and give him one or more prints of anything he wanted as a birthday present, he requested a simple food photo to hang above the crib of his soon-to-be-born daughter . . . to introduce her to beautiful food from the get-go.  I suggested I wait until her birthweek and then photograph some food in season and at the farmers markets at that time.  A few days after Thea was born, when I was in the midst of shooting this photo series, I was invited to show some photos at ArtSpace and decided I'd show the "Food for Thea" series.  Thea's mom and dad haven't seen any of the photos yet . . . but I'm hoping there'll be at least one photo in the series that they like.  And maybe there's a photo in the series that you'd like.  I'll be selling prints.  If you're in the DC area, come on by ArtSpace on Friday night and check it out.  I'd love to see you!

        

I'd never eaten a goose egg before yesterday.  I bought it from Pecan Meadow Farm operators Daniel and Lois Shirk, from Newburg, PA, who vend at DC's 14th & U Streets farmers market on Saturday mornings.  I also bought a goose from them, which is in my freezer and will likely be roasted next weekend.

Because I'd never before eaten a goose egg, I decided on a super simple preparation . . . side by side with a chicken egg from Waterview Foods in Nanticoke, MD, to see if I could perceive any major differences beyond size.  Well, to me, they pretty much tasted the same.  The goose egg white was a bit more translucent when fully cooked, but the tastes of the two eggs were similar.

In the spirit of a diversified diet, I plan on continuing to buy/eat goose eggs when the opportunity presents itself.  Next up, the one-goose-egg-omelette.  Cheers.

        

Not exciting, but delicious . . . roasted rosemary chicken and potatoes . . . comfort on a plate.  This is a dish I make throughout the year and I never give it the attention that it deserves here on my blog.  So today roasted chicken gets its due.  I've done this so many times I don't need to open a cookbook and follow a recipe, but the approach I use I learned from The New Best Recipe.

I preheat the oven to 350°F, baste the chicken with melted butter, salt, pepper and chopped rosemary, then place it on a v-rack in a roasting pan with one wing side up.  I roast it for 15 minutes, then turn it so the other wing side is up, roasting for another 15 minutes and, finally, turn it breast side up, turn the oven up to 450°F and roast it another 20-30 minutes, until a thermometer inserted in the breast measures 160°F and inserted in the thigh measures 170°F.  I let the roasted chicken rest for 10 minutes under a loose tinfoil tent, then carve and serve.

As for the potatoes, I toss them with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and roast them uncovered in the oven alongside the chicken.  Couldn't be simpler.

        

Oh yeah . . . I did . . . I braised delicious, fresh off the stalk Brussels sprouts from New Morning Farm in heavy cream with prosciutto and topped them off with some freshly grated nutmeg.  I had some heavy cream that was going out of date, which I almost used to make some boxed chocolate pudding.  But I was also planning on eating the Brussels sprouts that I picked up yesterday at the Dupont Circle farmers market.  Considering how to prepare the sprouts, I opened The New Best Recipe and found that the authors' favorite mode of preparation is braising sprouts in heavy cream.  I was planning on incorporating some prosciutto into my sprout dish, so I modified the The New Best Recipe approach to make what may very well be the most decadent Brussels sprouts dish ever assembled.  I don't recommend eating these heart-stoppers often, but they'd make a great holiday dish.  Today happens to be a holiday . . . so it's all good.  My arteries will forgive me, I'm sure.   This makes enough for a side dish for 3-4.

• 1 lb. Brussels sprouts*, trimmed of any loose and/or discolored leaves
• 1/8 lb. prosciutto, cut into half-inch pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• pepper
• some freshly grated nutmeg

1. Put the prosciutto in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat and fry until its fat is rendered and the prosciutto is beginning to crisp.
2. Add the heavy cream, Brussels sprouts and salt and bring to a boil over medium-low heat.  Shake the pan to coat all of the sprouts with cream.  Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, until sprouts can be easily pierced with a fork, shaking the pan occasionally during cooking to toss and coat the sprouts.
3. Season with some pepper and freshly-grated nutmeg and serve.

        

The winter squash is here . . . you know . . . the kinds with the thick inedible skins . . . like butternut and acorn (as opposed to the thin-edible-skinned summer squashes like pattypan and zucchini).  On Sunday I made up this recipe for butternut squash risotto.  A dear Italian-American friend of mine loved it and told me it reminded her of a dish her Italian grandmother makes.  I can imagine no greater compliment!  This recipe would serve 6-8 as a side dish or 4-6 as a main course.

• approx. 3 lb. butternut squash (to produce 2 cups squash puree) + a few tablespoons of water 
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 small onion
• salt
• pepper
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup grated hard Italian cheese (I used a half-cup of Pecorino Romano and a half cup of Parmesan)
• green garlic or some other fresh, green herb

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Cut squash in half, remove seeds and place cut-side down on a baking sheet.  Rinse the squash seeds.  Roast the squash until it's easily pierced through with a fork—about 30 minutes.  About 15 minutes into the cooking, scatter the seeds on the baking sheet around the squash and roast the seeds until they begin to brown, which will take about 15 minutes.
2. When the squash is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and puree it in a blender or food processor, adding a little water if necessary to puree, by the tablespoon.  Measure 2 cups of squash puree and reserve the remainder for something else.
3. Place the 4 cups of stock and 2 cups of water in a saucepan over med-low heat.  As soon as it begins to simmer, turn the heat down to the lowest setting to keep the liquid warm.  This is simply a step to reduce the cooking time of the risotto when you add these liquids.
4. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pot.  When the butter stops foaming, add the onion and sauté until it's translucent . . . 6 or 7 minutes.  Add a pinch of salt and a twist from the pepper mill while the shallot is cooking.
5. Next, add the arborio rice and cook until it is translucent around its edges . . . around 4 minutes.
6. Then add the white wine and cook until the wine is fully absorbed by the rice . . . about 2 minutes.
7. Next, add the 2 cups of squash puree and about half of the pre-heated stock/water mixture (don't worry about measuring it—just pour it straight from the saucepan into the dutch oven with the rice).  Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed . . . 10-15 minutes.
8. When making risotto, you should at this stage begin checking grains of rice for doneness . . . I prefer my risotto soft (not mushy) with a little tiny bit of resistance from the center of the rice—al dente.  Proceed by adding additional pre-heated stock/water by half-cup increments, stirring and waiting for the liquid to be absorbed, testing for doneness, and adding another half-cup if necessary.  This is, perhaps, the stage of risotto-making that has earned it the label of "difficult" from some—but it's not difficult at all.  Just test as you go and continue adding liquid until it's done.  Also, if you run out of stock/water before the risotto is done, don't panic . . . just add some water.
9. When the risotto is cooked to your preferred degree of doneness, add the cheese to the risotto, stir, salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.  Top with some roasted squash seeds and green garlic or flat-leafed parsley or something else fresh and green.
   

        

I wrapped up Octoberfest on Sunday by baking this pear kuchen using a recipe from Epicurious.  It came out of the oven looking beautiful and I was hoping it'd taste as good as it looked.  Rather than busting into the pretty thing last night, I brought it into work this morning for my co-workers to see and eat.  Turns out, it does taste as good as it looks.  I think it'd make a fun holiday dessert . . . maybe I'll make it again for Thanksgiving with the family.  Cheers, folks.  Hope you enjoyed Octoberfest as much as I did!

        

        

I'm happy to announce that there's a new protein pusher at the 14th & U farmers market—Pecan Meadow Farm, run by Daniel and Lois Shirk in Lancaster County, PA.  Last weekend they had Mallard ducks and I'd never eaten Mallard duck before, so I bought one.  I roasted the duck with rosemary, thyme and sage on the outside and some lovage, half an apple and half an onion stuffed inside.  I also made a dressing of breadcrumbs, onions, apples, grapes, lovage and some spices.  The bird was pretty scrawny . . . less than 2 pounds . . . so there wasn't much meat on it.  It tasted fine, but the texture was a little tough; perhaps I overcooked it.  I won't be rushing to buy another mallard anytime soon.  In the coming weeks, they'll also be offering Muscovy ducks and geese and I'm looking forward to trying them both.   They're considerably bigger and meatier than Mallards, so I'll be hoping for better results.  Stay tuned!