Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

So many new discoveries this month.. let's count! 1- I CAN post more than once a month! I can! 2- Someone's bad karma CAN bite them in the ass eventually! (No, not me :P) 3- I can live on Totino's Pizza Rolls when I absolutely have to! 4- I'm the ONLY Daring Baker who couldn't wait for her lasagne to set up before slicing! 5- Who knew Hubbs would put the kibosh on green noodles?? 6- Indoor plumbing is VERY! IMPORTANT! Okay I'll stop on that last one.. yes, major plumbing issues this month.. and a husband who REFUSED to call a plumber because "I CAN FIX THIS". Two 100 foot plumbers' snake rentals, 3 wax rings and about eleventy billion loads of sopping wet towels later - we have working drains and faucets and toilets and showers and we didn't have to call a plumber. Now ask me if I've started to hit the bottle around mid-morning snack time. :P Cooking dinner without working plumbing isn't easy either.. and this is how I found out I could eat pizza rolls 3 nights in a row, where previously they would make me gag. Maybe I didn't gag because the only energy I had left at pizza roll eating time was swallowing. So needless to say, the Daring Bakers challenge was put off, yet again, until the last week of the month. We were supposed to make it last weekend, but Super Plumber reckoned he deserved a weekend off to play with his brother, and Ivonne and I decided it was high time to get some unfinished The Daring Kitchen website business taken care of. So that left no room for lasagne as planned. But, we figured, this wouldn't be a big deal as there are two of us and only 1 lasagne to make. Should be a piece of cake! Mmmm hmmm.... First off, let me insert the information for this month's challenge: The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge. Our lovely hostesses only had one thing to say.. we must make our own pasta sheets from scratch! HAR! Dough! Me! *thud* To say I was a little nervous going into this is truly an understatement. Dough hates me. Seriously, I could screw up a simple pizza dough, believe me. And they want me to make pasta dough? Flavored pasta dough? The kind you have to roll out MANUALLY?? *eek* Oh yeah, Hubbs didn't have a chance of getting outta this one. Even if we had made it over the weekend with all the time in the world, he still didn't have a chance. Okay well, back to two of us and only 1 lasagne. We figured we'd make the pasta dough and the ragu on Monday night and then make the bechamel and assemble, bake and eat the lasagne on Tuesday night. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! Here's what happened.. Monday it rained, and Hubbs didn't have to work - so I asked if he'd mind making the ragu because that would save us so much time once I got home. We'd only have to make the pasta. Easy Peasy! He agreed.. and he made a mighty fine ragu in my opinion. His opinion.. slightly different.. he didn't feel that it was worth the 3 hours he put into it. When I got home from my 8 in the dungeon, we were to make the pasta dough - BUT - he had decided to surprise me! He made the dough while the ragu was simmering on the stove, bless his reinforced toe tube socks! Problem was.. and I tried not to giggle, point and stare.. honest. I tried. But his "ball of dough" laying on the counter resembled something that most likely died of a really bad case of the shingles. The thing had scales. And lumps. It was kind of the shape of a ball.. like maybe a rubber ball that's sat in the sun for years and was just flaking apart when the wind hit it just right? I should mention, we did NOT make the spinach flavored dough as requested by our lovely hostesses. No, I'm sorry, but he will not eat spinach pasta. HATES IT. And since I'm not the biggest lasagne fan - I love it! But it's just too rich of a dish for me.. we eat it maybe twice a year, maybe - I really wanted to make a lasagne that he'd eat. So in discussing it the week prior, we decided that we'd take the unbelievably delicious slow roasted tomatoes made from the last of our tomatoes at the end of summer last year, thaw 'em out, puree them and use that in lieu of the spinach. Since the recipe called for 10 oz. of spinach and since spinach is so light, we figured 5 oz. of the pureed tomatoes would work. Apparently not. :) Not enough liquid to keep that dough ball baby alive. Jebus, it's death must have been painful.. poor guy. So I made the pasta dough this time.. and I upped the amount of slow roasted tomato puree to about 8 oz. and threw in 2 tablespoons of EVOO. Perfection! OHMYGOD I MADE PASTA DOUGH and it didn't give me the big F!U! in return for my efforts! I'm grinning from ear to ear right now, and this happened several days ago! teeeee! So I started kneading.. and kneading.. when I realized I should be taking photos! Yes Photos! I'm a blogger after all! This is for my blog! "Ohhhh honeyyyy.. can you take over the kneading so I can photograph it??" Muahahahahaahaha And that he did: We decided to let the dough rest until after we'd had dinner - I think he had micro-waveable creamed beef on toast and I had a hot dog? Something.. might have been cereal.. no wait.. yeah, it was pizza rolls. *sigh* And after our nutritious and very low sodium dinners, we said screw the pasta and watched Two and a Half Men. The next day after work, we came home and rolled the pasta. No wait.. when I say "we" I really mean "he" - I had to be super photographer again, doncha know? It took him approximately 2.5 hours to roll that dough out to what we thought was paper thin. He went in sections.. very small sections.. and my job was to take pretty pictures and to hang the sheets (I use that term loosely) over our kitchen table chairs. Here, look for yourselves:    BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! All I could do that night was think about Silence of the Lambs.. remember how the serial killer would take pieces parts of his victims' skin and sew them together to form a mask? Holy cow he would have peed himself had he waltzed into our kitchen! Look at this one! It's got the eyes and mouth hole already built in!! By the time rolling was done, we looked at each other and again said, "screw it". He ate the pizza rolls and I had cereal that night. I think I watched a few Ellen shows I had tivo'd. Now we're on day THREE. And come hell or high water, we were going to eat this bitch TONIGHT. We were DONE dammit. So I started the bechamel (which neither of us wanted, but I had already cheated with the tomato flavored dough so I couldn't make any other changes without the possibility of the Daring Lynch Mob coming after me), and he put the water on to boil and heated the ragu. 20 minutes into it, we realized that our noodles WEREN'T paper thin and wow.. they were kinda thicker than we thought. So imagine the two of us standing in the middle of our kitchen holding up steamy fakkin hot strips o'noodles debating on whether or not we could see each other through them. "I can see you plain as day! Quit moving", "I didn't move". "oh.. maybe I'm looking at Chloe then?" "Well I can see you!", "Yeah, well I don't doubt it as you've got both eyes open and I'm about 140 times wider than that strip of pasta." Ahhh.. newlywed love. Can you feel it? ANYHOO.. we assembled the lasagne and gently covered the pan with foil.. slid her into the hot oven and listened to our stomachs growl for about an hour. At this time, the lasagne was finished and looking wonderful - smelling even better. I should have waited a while for it to cool down a bit and set up, but I truly thought I'd be signing divorce papers had I not cut that baby tout de suite. I mean the man was standing over me with a fork in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. ;) So I cut.. and it oozed a lil.. and then I slid my favorite fish flippin' spatula underneath and slowly lifted a piece of what smelled like heaven.. and then.. *sploooooge* It totally slid apart and I barely got it on the plate: This did not deter us from eating it right then and there. And let me tell ya'll.. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy we didn't fall from the recipe a second time - the bechamel was divine with the lasagne. OMG SO GOOD. The ragu was delish, the pasta had a lovely texture, although we couldn't really taste it's flavor with it being buried under all that other stuff.. but all in all, the judges gave this lasagne a 10. No longer will I ever make the heavy lasagne I grew up on.. this will now be my go-to lasagne with maybe just a few small alterations here and there to cut some time.. but nothing major because I wouldn't want to lose that flavor and lightness it had. Thanks so much for a great experience and a new go-to recipe, Mary, Enza & Melinda!! xoxo

Thanks, Sherry!

Most of the food blogging world already knows, but we lost a dear friend last week. Sherry of What Did You Eat? passed away suddenly. :( As a tribute to Sherry, many of us prepared one of her recipes this past week and are blogging about them today in tribute to such a wonderful woman. I found Sherry's blog a couple years ago and became a fan from the beginning. She made me laugh and her recipes sounded delicious. And then she joined the Daring Bakers and we got to know each other a little better through e-mail. She was a joy to chat with and I really loved getting to know her through her stories on her blog. I've many memories of things she'd said to me, but there is this one comment she made that had me absolutely rolling - tears streaming down my face and an effort to catch my breath.. it was regarding a certain recipe we were making and what a bitch it was. No one was having any luck and we were all frustrated. But she managed to find the exact right words to make it all seem not so bad - I have a feeling she did that often in her life.. helped those she loved and cared about feel better when they weren't in a good place. The world is a sadder place now that she's gone. Fortunately, many of us have memories to keep her close to our hearts and we've got her recipes to keep us thankful she was such a great cook! So in tribute to that beautiful woman, I made one of her many recipes that I've got tucked away in my recipe file.. This is a vegetarian dish that she enjoyed and was written by her favorite chef and cookbook author, Deborah Madison. The book she chose this recipe from is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and it's called Fideos, Dry Mexican Soup. This is a perfect recipe for a warm day.. it was easy to put together and didn't take much time in a hot kitchen. The changes I made were to use organic chicken stock from Trader Joe's, but adding the same spices to it that Sherry did. Since Hubbs loves noodles and carmelized onions together, I just mixed them into the noodles instead of pureeing them. And finally, thanks to a left over rotisserie chicken, I shredded some breast meat and threw it into the mix for a lil protein. I served it simply with sliced cukes from our garden dressed in balsamic vinegar and a lil olive oil. It really was delicious and will become a regularly made dinner for us. I thought about Sherry the whole time I prepared it and while we were eating it and I couldn't help but feel that she was smiling down upon us in approval. Thank you Sherry, for the laughs, the insight to your life, the friendship and for my knowing I've been blessed to have you in my life, for however brief that time might have been. Ya'll can read about the recipe on Sherry's blog here xoxo

Exciting News! Also, a New Scallops Recipe!

Thanks to everyone who gave their opinions on the Reynolds Parchment Paper! Daniel wrote and said that he will pass along the comments to Reynolds.. so maybe, just maybe, they'll listen and our parchment paper blues will end! heee! Has been a pretty busy week.. and I haven't cooked much new and exciting, but I do have some new and exciting news! Tuesday was "Lung Day 2008". Yeah, not a national holiday but a very important date to my mom and myself. Tuesday we went to 2 doctors and they both agreed.. "IT'S NOT A TUMAH!" (Did I sound even remotely like Arnold?) WOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! What a fakkin relief. Talk about being scared out of your mind for 2 months. But it's all good now. :) (Whoops! For those of you who are lost at this point.. they found "something" on my mom's left lung 2 months ago.. but it was too small to tell exactly what it was.. finally after a very long wait a 2nd CT scan showed it was NOT a tumor) Anyhoo.. from new and exciting news to a new and exciting recipe that both Hubbs and I loved. Again with the scallops.. his favorite seafood. I was craving pasta like you would not believe so I went in search for a scallops-y pasta-y recipe packed full of deliciousness. It didn't take long.. I went to Cooking Light's website and found a recipe that sounded pretty good and included ingredients that I had on hand. Bonus! This dish ended up being really, really good. A creamy red pepper and cheese sauce that has outstanding flavor, wrapped around tender scallops and al dente linguine. Superb! It was super easy to make.. well.. it would be super easy to make for any other person on the face of the planet. All that was required was pulsing the sauce ingredients in the food processor, sautéing the scallops, cooking the pasta until almost done and then baking the whole kit-n-caboodle in my Ohhh so sexy dutch oven. Easy peasy, right? No. Not right. Not even close. If you are me. With the bad juju. Fakk no it was NOT EASY. There's a lesson here, kids.. now pay attention to what I'm about to say.. I've got one of those food processors that has a lid with a shooter tunnel thingie on the side.. you know, it kind of resembles your pet hamster's playground but you'd never let your preshus hamster play in this playground because the hamsters in this neighborhood play with spinning blades. Anyway.. this shooter thingie, I suppose it's got a purpose. I just don't know what it is. Well another little feature that my food processor has is a slit in the lid. And in this slit is a removable plastic blade-like thingie. I never really gave much thought to this removable plastic blade-like thingie other than to wash it once I was finished processing. So, did it even occur to me that I was headed for a rude awakening when I noticed the lil plastic blade-like thingie wasn't in the slit on the lid? Did I even give it a second thought? No. No I did not. I didn't think about it after I threw in the roasted red peppers, the fat-free cream cheese, the salt and the hot water.. I didn't even think about it when my hand pushed the pulse button down.. HELLO! It was at that particular point, when the contents of my processor bowl shot out of the shooter thingie covering my legs, feet, floor, dog dishes, butcher block table and assorted small appliances in a curtain of warm, chunky, liquidy, pink gobble-dee-gook. ewwwwwwwwww! GOD DAMMMMMITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! MOTHER F*CKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU SON OF A MOTHERLESS GOAT!!!!!!!!!!! It was squishy between my toes. That's not such a very good squish. Me no likey. Thankfully, my sweet male counter-part, heard my "alarm" and came running. After he stopped laughing, he grabbed a bunch of paper towels and started cleaning up the floor so the dogs couldn't OD on pureed cheesy peppers. I waddled on my heels to go hose down my legs and feet. Gah. And the lesson learned? If you own one of these instruments of Satan, go bury it in the back yard. No, that's too close.. go find a field somewhere and bury it. It probably wouldn't hurt to douse the site in holy water as well. To extreme for you? Then right now.. before you read another word - go find the duct tape and close that side shooter tunnel thingie for good! (and it probably wouldn't hurt to douse the tape in holy water as well) Luckily, I had another jar of peppers and more fat-free cream cheese, so I started over, only this time I made sure the f*ckin' plastic blade-like thingie was in the f*ckin' lid of the f*ckin' processor. God. I have to say.. although I really don't think any recipe is worth what I went through, this one was pretty darned good. Creamy, cheesy, sweet and smokey bell peppery with the bite of the just-done linguine and those scallops were super tender and didn't lose their flavor under the sauce. I recommend this low-fat / low-cal but doesn't taste low-fat / low-cal recipe! Give it a shot! My only change would be to thin the sauce a little bit.. maybe adding a little of the pepper "juice" next time. Even if you aren't a scallops fan, try it with shrimps (the original recipe actually called for scallops and shrimp - as well as ziti instead of linguine).. or leave the seafood out completely. The sauce would be completely delish over some cheesie ravioli or tortellini. You can find the recipe here. Here's my take on the recipe in photographs! And for those of you wondering.. sorry! the camera didn't come out until after my kitchen AND MY TOES were clean.. :) First you slather up your sexy dutch oven with a lil olive oil and you slip some linguine in a nice salty bath until it's almost done. Then you toss in a lil garlic, finely chopped.. Finally the scallops go in for a quick sear on each side. Once you've seared in the flavor of the scallops, pour that crazy roasted pepper sauce over them. Don't forget the linguine! What's a lil pasta without some parsley, eh? And who would think of putting all that goodness in the oven half-nekked like that?? There's ALWAYS room for an Asiago blanket to keep our scallops toasty warm in that 400º oven! Mmmm.. melty cheesie goodness! Voila! Slightly blurry, but ohhhh so luscious Baked Sea Scallops and Linguine in Roasted Pepper Sauce! *slurp* xoxo

Italian Tuna and Pasta - Killer Combination!

When I saw this dish on one of my most favoritest blogger's blog I knew immediately that I'd be making it this week for dinner. The favoritest blogger? The extremely talented Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen! The dish? Pasta Shells with Italian Tuna and Artichokes! The verdict? Delish! Now being me, I hadda fiddle with this just a lil to give it an Italian spin and because of some personal preferences. And how easy it was to add and/or take away from what is a magnificent base recipe for my playing around fun. I had to omit the artichokes, as he won't eat them - so I subbed sliced hearts of palm instead. I had a lovely bag of baby spinach and some grape tomatoes that were screaming to be used so I tossed them in as well.. Ohhhhh God was this dish is a winner! Granted, you must like canned tuna to dig this dish, because you really taste it. I think that was my favorite part, because to me, Italian tuna in olive oil is a special treat - especially when used in this way where it's one of the main ingredients. The sauce on it's own was very light and flavorful. It really needed nothing else, but again.. me being me.. I added a handful of Pecorino and a few ladles of the pasta water. It made the sauce just the right kind of creamy while still keeping it light. Delish! And so it is with great gratitude that I express my thankfulness at being lucky enough to have seen Patricia's post featuring her friend, Terry, who is the author of this recipe. After making a recipe of Patricia's and cross posting about it, this time it was Terry's turn to provide the recipe and well.. Thanks to you too, Terry! :) Below is my take on this light and super easy pasta dish - as well as my submission to this week's Presto Pasta! hosted by the lovely, Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. =) Pasta Shells with Italian Tuna, Grape Tomatoes & Baby Spinach Adapted from the recipe, Pasta Shells with Italian Tuna & Artichokes by Terry & Patricia 2 6 oz. cans imported Italian tuna in olive oil 1 10.5 oz. can of hearts of palm, pre-sliced ¼ cup capers, drained (I had to omit the capers in mine as I couldn't open the damn jar!) 1 large garlic clove, minced 2 tsp. olive oil 1 bag of baby spinach 1/2 of carton of grape tomatoes (about 10-15) freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/4 c. of grated Pecorino Romano cheese 12 oz. medium pasta shells Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook pasta. While water is coming to a boil, in a large enough skillet to accomodate all ingredients (including cooked pasta) saute the garlic in a 2 tsp. of olive oil, over medium low to medium heat, until lightly golden. Add the tuna with the oil, hearts of palm & tomatoes and saute until the tomato skins slightly wrinkle, about 3 minutes. When water comes to boil, salt it generously, then cook pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Right before your pasta is ready, add the baby spinach to the tuna mixture and fold until the spinach is wilted. Using a pasta spoon or slotted spoon, transfer the shells and add them to the skillet with the tuna mixture. It's okay if you don't drain the shells completely with each transfer. Alternately, you can drain the shells in a colander, just keep a 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water to make the sauce. Once you've transferred the shells, sprinkle the Pecorino over everything and stir until sauce is creamy. If it's dry, add a little of the pasta water in small amounts, you don't want to use so much water that it washes out the wonderful flavors of this dish. Finish the dish with a sprinkling of black pepper or a few turns of a cracked pepper mill. This makes enough for 4 servings, or 2 generous servings and a kick-ass lunch the next day! :D *Note: Patricia and Terry did not cook the tuna mixture, but mixed it in a separate bowl big enough to accomodate the cooked pasta. Once the pasta was done, it was mixed in with the tuna mixture, or as Patricia calls it, the salsa cruda. I decided to saute all my ingredients over med heat so that my tomatoes would cook down a little and to make sure my spinach wilted properly. So either way you want to prepare this dish, you'll get excellent results.

When You Can't Have Risotto

After a marathon session of catching up with my favorite bloggers yesterday, what I noticed was that there were quite a few risotto recipes being posted. Of course, when I finally got home for dinner that's all I wanted - go figure. I couldn't even decide which recipe to use, they all looked so fakkin phenomenal! So my project would first be to make my list of these recipes and then decide which one I could make depending on what I had on hand.. I had narrowed it down to two but I was unsure if I had radicchio or a reasonable facsimilie thereof - so my choice would depend on that one factor. Off I went to the kitchen to see which risotto recipe I'd be making and guess what?? I had spinach, I could use that in lieu of the radicchio! But then guess what else?? I HAD NO ARBORIO RICE. wtf? Guess I'm going shopping today because I just couldn't bring myself to leaving the house again after my 8 in the dungeon last night. *sigh* So yeah, no risotto was had - but what's the next best thing? Pasta in a creamy sauce, that's what!! More specifically Campanelle in a Creamy Garlic Sauce with Baked Garlic/Herb Shrimp! WOOOO!! I found this sauce recipe on Recipezaar and it called for Penne, which I have but I was in a flowery mood, so I chose Campanelle (lillies) to use instead. I followed Karen's sauce recipe to the T except I used skim milk. This sauce came together quickly and my kitchen smelled absolutely divine. Hubbs kept walking in and out proclaiming "I love the smell of garlic" "I love the smell of garlic" (yeah it kinda got on my nerves after the 10th time). This was a very quick and easy dinner to put together, it was delish and we were both sorry to see that I had actually only made enough for 2 portions. ha! Figures. You can do the shrimp two ways here.. I've always got shrimp in the shell on hand in my freezer - so I simply butterflied these and brushed on a melted butter/crushed garlic mixture and sprinkled some parsley on top, then baked until the shrimp was opaque and the shells were red (about 5 minutes in a 375º oven) OR you can take a helping hand and if you are ever at Trader Joe's pick up a box of their Colossal Shrimp in Garlic and Herbs. They are wonderful - just as good as making them yourself.. and they were the inspiration for making my own last night. Campanelle in Creamy Garlic Sauce with Baked Garlic-Herb Shrimp The following recipe is as I found it on Recipezaar - Serves 6-8 1 (1 lb) box penne or penne rigate, cooked as directed, drained and kept hot 2 TBS. butter or margarine 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 TBS. flour 3/4 c. chicken broth or beef broth 3/4 c. milk 2 tsp. parsley flakes Salt and pepper, to taste 1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese Melt butter and add garlic in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium for 1 minute. Add flour and cook 1 minute, stirring contantly. Stir in broth and milk and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce boils and thickens. Add parsley, salt, pepper and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Toss hot pasta with sauce and serve immediately. Hey! It's pasta! Therefore it's my submission to this week's Presto Pasta Nights over at Ruth's Once Upon a Feast!

Ruth's Presto Pasta Night No. 6

The very sweet Ruth, of Once Upon a Feast holds a little round up each Friday with the theme of pasta.. one of my favorite subjects! Thanks Ruth! =) I actually made this dish a couple weeks ago with every intention of getting it to Ruth back then.. and somehow I lost track somewhere and so the pictures sat on my Flickr account and the post was never written.. until now. Quite possibly one of the easiest and quickest pasta dishes I've ever made. My tummy was grumblin for mac & cheese that night - but the Mr. whined that he wanted something more substantial. Go figger. And so with a quick check into my many freezers and many pantries *blush* I decided to add some ground round and a lil salsa.. give basic mac & cheese a Mexican kick if you will. Truly this one isn't rocket science in the least. Take your favorite mac & cheese recipe, brown some ground with a lil onion and a lil garlic, toss in your favorite salsa and you've got yourself dinner - in less than 30 minutes! Take THAT Rachael Ray! :P This quick dish was quite tasty - and there are practically a ZILLION ways you could change it up to make it your own. I think the addition of some corn kernels would have been nice, as well as some sliced black olives. He added jalapeno slices to his PLUS a few dashes of his favorite hot sauce. Instead of using cheddar cheese on top, Manchego probably would have been divine. Now that I'm thinking about it.. instead of the ground round, maybe use some Serrano ham, cut into strips - THAT sounds really good! I should probably remember that next time, eh? =) Or hey, keep it vegetarian and use black beans in lieu of the meat? The Italians use beans and pasta together for a variety of tasty dishes (bless their carb loving hearts).. why not in a Mexican type dish? The only thing I regret about this dish is that I had no fresh cilantro in the house that night. The zing cilantro lends would have been just the perfect touch. If you don't have a favorite mac & cheese recipe, here's the one that I used - it's pretty basic and the cheese can be changed out for whichever kind you like, but try to use cheese that melts well - you don't want grainy cheese sauce. 2 TBS. flour 1 1/2 c. milk 1/2 c. grated sharp Cheddar cheese 1/2 c. grated Fontina cheese In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together the flour and milk until it comes to a boil. Continue cooking a minute longer. Add cheeses and remove from heat, stirring until cheese has melted. After I browned the meat, garlic and onions I added 1/2 a bottle of salsa, and combined it well. Then I poured the cheese sauce over the beef mixture and stirred until it was just combined. I combined this with my pasta which was cooked al dente and threw it all (not literally) into a greased 9" x 13" glass baking dish. Sprinkled a 4 cheese Mexican blend on top and baked for 20 minutes in a 350º F. oven. This dish is complimented perfectly with a garden salad dressed simply in olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Author Tells Shocking Secrets!!

I'm going to be candid in this post. I'm going to admit a few things, that I don't know if you are ready to hear, kids. But for the sake of keeping you fine people entertained, I am willing to bare my soul. For you. I am a closet (guess no longer, eh?) The Girls Next Door addict. I can not explain my infatuation with 3 busty blondes and one 81 year old pervert. I'm at a loss. But I can't stop DVR'ing it!! And if that wasn't enough.. my favorite girl? Kendra. I KNOW. She is the epitamy of every and all blonde jokes EVER. And she whinessss ohh lord how she whines.. but her laugh? I crack up every time I hear it. And she can't pass a mirror without shaking her heiney and looking at it. har! I heart her so. And then there's Bridget - She's sunshine wrapped up in cotton candy. I want to be her best friend. But only if I don't have to hang out with her a lot or listen to her baby talk. Did you know she's got a master of arts degree in communication?? Finally, Holly.. I haven't made up my mind about her (3 seasons into it) yet.. sometimes I like her a lot.. other times I see her as a conniving bitch and I want her to go away. So anyway back to my girlfriend, Kendra. Did you know her favorite restaurant is the Olive Garden?? She lives in a mansion with a billionaire.. but she prefers the Olive Garden. You just have to love that. And so.. my 2nd soul baring secret - Now, keep in mind, this is comin from a gal who worked 11 years in her family's ITALIAN restaurant... best food in all of Ohio, too! But I also love the Olive Garden. *gasp* *blink* *blink* Yes it's true. So true, that I have tried to recreate the last meal I had there.. it was a plate of fettucini covered in alfredo sauce with medallions of beef tenderloin laying on top. It was fab. So I don't make alfredo often.. he doesn't like it much and I find it to be a lil rich, even for me, if I eat it much. Therefore I don't have a good recipe for it, so I checked out my usual haunts and I think I pretty much just picked a 5 star from allrecipes.com.. I know I read quite a few of them, and they were pretty much all the same.. melt an obscene amount of butter in a saucepan, add garlic and heavy cream.. then add your cheeses and stir until the cheese melts and the sauce gets thick. I used Fontina and Parmigiano. It was a decent alfredo, although slightly grainy.. which is how all of my alfredo sauces turn out when I make them at home - regardless of the recipe or the cheese I use. Why is that? I had also just been to my favorite Italian market, where I purchase some fresh Tagliatelle, so I used that in lieu of Fettucini.. and to make it my own, I sauteed crimini mushrooms in some butter and garlic until they were nicely carmelized and added that to the sauce.. grilled my tenderloin, sliced her up and voila! I had a reasonable facsimile of the Olive Garden's whatevertheycalledit. Will I make it again? Doubtful.. well, at least not very often.. he liked it (which shocked the hell outta me) so I might make it again on a special occasion. Mebbe. =)

Baked Tortellini Casserole

With no real plan for dinner last night, when the time came I just decided to dump a few ingredients into a baking dish and bake it until it was bubbly and goldeny delicious. At least that's what I had hoped for. Although I found this dish to be a lil rich for my liking, Hubbs loved it and has demanded that I write down exactly what I did so I can make it for him again. Nothing special going on here.. the usual garlic, onions, herbs and tomatoes sauteed then mixed with some tortellini and fontina cheese. The only thing I thought I was taking a chance on was the addition of prosciutto. I'm kind of a prosciutto "purist" as I only really like it wrapped around something sweet (melon and/or figs) or just plain straight out of the butcher paper. I don't even like it on a sandwich. So adding it to a baked dish was something new. My feelings are, the prosciutto was what made the dish taste a lil too rich. I think if I were to experiment using it again in something I'm cooking, my sauce would be much more light.. like pasta mixed with a lil olive oil with maybe sun-dried tomatoes and prosciutto or just prosciutto and some fresh basil. But not with a tomato sauce. But who am I? Like I said, Hubbs loved it and even had a 2nd helping. He put the remaining casserole in a tupperware and is bringing it to work today for lunch, so mebbe my tasters were off last night? hehee Baked Tortellini Casserole 1 pkg. fresh tortellini (the smaller package, not the family sized) 1/2 large vidalia, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 bell pepper, chopped 1 (28 oz.) can quality diced tomatoes (San Marzano is what I prefer) 3 TBS. tomato paste 1/2 tsp. dry oregano 2 TBS. fresh basil, chopped 1/4 c. dry white wine 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1/8 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto, cut in ribbons (optional) 1/2 c. grated Pecorino Romano 4 oz. Fontina, cut into 1/4 inch slabs Preheat oven to 400º F. In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil, then salt the water generously. Add tortellini and cook just until they float to the top - you don't want to over cook them as they will be baked later - drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute onions, garlic, bell pepper and oregano in a little olive oil until veggies are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the can of diced tomatoes with the juice, tomato paste, 1/4 cup of wine, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Combine tomato mixture with tortellini, sprinkled Pecorino over top and mix gently then add the slabs of Fontina, mixing some into the tortellini and leaving some laying on top. Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered. Let set for 5 minutes then serve with a salad and crusty bread. *Note: I think this is the first time I've made a dish with Fontina baked on top (I've always used Mozzarella) and it was fabulous. So good, in fact, that I am going to sub Fontina for Mozzarella the next time I make my pizzas. :D

Mmm Manicotti

I woke yesterday with the wish to finally get back into my kitchen since the big party AND with an incredible urge to make manicotti. Funny thing is? I don't think I've ever eaten manicotti let alone made it before. Weird, eh? Stuffed pasta dishes weren't big in our family - other than my father's Christmas ravioli and the occasional offering of stuffed shells on our restaurant menu. So how could I crave them? Ya got me.. but I'm glad I did!! Not having a recipe made it a lil hard to figure out how to make them, although I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to stuff them with. So off I went to All Recipes as I always do when in search of ideas and or specific recipes. I was not disappointed in finding many recipes for Manicotti, that's for sure. I chose to go with Manicotti Alla Romana submitted by Mark Blau. Although I didn't follow his recipe to the Tee.. it did give me the guidelines I needed for a perfect Manicotti dish. The reason I chose his recipe was because of the bechamel sauce involved. Although I wasn't sure if I'd include it or not - as my favorite Lasagna Roll recipe from Giada (a/k/a The Head and Mammories) calls for bechamel, it doesn't need it and I haven't included it since the very first time I made her rolls years ago. But this bechamel was slightly different with the addition of chicken bouillon. I found that interesting and decided to try it. It was fantastic! My only change next time would be to try to create this sauce with chicken stock as opposed to the bouillon granules because you could slightly taste it was bouillon. I really feel though, that this addition of bechamel really pushed the dish over the top. So if you decide to try this recipe.. don't skip it. =) The other changes I made were to leave the spinach out and to substitute 1/2 pound of the ground meat for 1/2 pound of pork sausage. And I added Pecorino to the meat mixture as well. Is there anything better than the scent of garlic and onions cooking? I think not! Here is my slightly different version of the above referenced recipe - 2 TBS olive oil 1/2 c. chopped vidalia onion 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 pound ground round 1/2 pound ground pork sausage 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper 14 manicotti shells (1 package) 2 c. ricotta cheese 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 c. Pecorino Romano cheese, grated 3 c. marinara sauce (divided) 2 TBS. butter 2 TBS. all-purpose flour 2 TBS. chicken bouillon granules 2 c. half-and-half 1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley 2 TBS. fresh chopped basil 1/2 c. Parmigiano Reggiano Preheat oven to 350º F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent. Saute garlic for 1 minute and stir in ground beef and pork sausage. Cook until well browned and crumbled. Season with salt & pepper and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add a generous amount of salt. Add manicotti shells and parboil for half of the time recommended on the package (5 minutes). Drain and cover with cool water to stop the cooking process and prevent the shells from cracking. To the ground beef/pork sausage mixture add the ricotta cheese and Pecorino Romano. When the mixture is cool, add the beaten eggs. Spread 1/4 cup marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Gently drain the manicotti shells and carefully stuff each one with the meat and cheese mixture; place shells in prepared dish. Lightly cover the dish with plastic wrap or a clean, damp towel to prevent shells from cracking. See Note. Prepare the white sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and chicken bouillon. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble. Stir in half and half and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Pour or ladle the sauce evenly over the stuffed shells. Carefully pour or ladle marinara sauce over the white sauce, trying to layer the sauces without mixing. Sprinkle the basil over the marinara sauce. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle with Parmigiano cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes more. Let sit for 5-10 minutes so the manicotti will set a bit. *Note: After stuffing the Manicotti, I placed them into a plastic container that has a tight fitting lid. I used wax paper between the layers to prevent sticking and froze 8 Manicotti and only baked 6. Two manicotti per person is a generous portion.. unless you are Hubbs and eat 4. har!

Mama Cream Puff's Lasagna

It's been 12 hours and I'm still swimming in the afterglow of the best lasagna I've ever had. Yes.. I made Ivonne's Mom's lasagna last night and whooo baby! I can't wait for lunch time! After much deliberation, I decided to nix the braciole idea and use pork shoulder in lieu of the veal for Ivonne's sauce. I know that pork is more flavorful than most cuts of beef when simmering in a sauce and the fattier cut of the shoulder along with the bone would definitely impart good flavor, yes? Oh Hell Yes. And then much to my delight, I checked e-mail a couple hours after the sauce was still simmering on the stove to find that Ivonne had wrote back with that same suggestion. I was more than happy to know that my gut feeling was right on track! I made just a couple changes.. the pork, obviously, and I had a good hunk of creamy Fontina cheese that needed used, so I added that in with the mozarella and parmigiano. Lastly, I had to use store-bought lasagna noodles. I'd give anything to try this with fresh noodles, but I don't have a pasta making machine and I'm kind of afraid of making my own pasta. One day I shall conquer that fear! But right now, I'm still chicken. This lasagna was so good with store bought noodles that I can't even comprehend how much more wonderful it is with fresh! Holy comoly! :D In her e-mail, Ivonne suggested that if I wanted meat in the lasagna I should shred the pork and add it to the layers. I think that is a fabulous idea, but for my first try at this dish, I decided to keep it as close to Ivonne's as possible. I served the pork on the side and that worked really well. Hubbs got his meat and enjoyed it.. but only had seconds of the lasagna, so that - again - should tell you how damn good it was! ha! So in a nutshell, all I can say is this.. Mama Cream Puff ROCKS! Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous family treasured recipe, Ivonne.. I'll be making this lasagna for many, many more years to come! Mama Cream Puff's Lasagna Courtesy of Ivonne and her Mom! I'm going to direct you straight to Ivonne's post for directions on how to make this lasagna. Not only can you get a look at her fabulous pictures, but she explains how to make this much better than I ever could. =) How does one loving daughter tell her mother that her lasagna recipe is out and someone else's mama's recipe is in? Pray for me people. Pray. For. Me.

OMG She Cooked!

Hello? Anyone out there? Remember me? Lisa from the suburbs? I'm baaackkkk! It feels like forever since I've cooked a meal! These last few weeks have kicked me in the arse, to say the very least. Gawd. As I now refer to this painful episode of my life, "Painapalooza 2006", I can't get over how it effected me. I am so incredibly exhausted that I haven't felt like doing jack shite since it all began. I do not even remember being this tired after the hysterectomy. And my God, the total lack of appetite has blown me away! Don't get me wrong.. I'm not complaining.. it's kind of refreshing as I've always had me a good appetite! ;) These thunder thighs and chunks O'hips certainly needed the break from the power noshing spell I'd been under the past few months! teee heeee! Hubbs has been wonderful during all of this.. but I could tell he was getting a lil nervous that I'd never get back in the kitchen. Poor man has survived on carry-out and frozen pizza for the past 3 weeks. Oh the shame! So against my so very tired body's wishes, I forced myself to get me arse back in my lovely little kitchen and make my man a home cooked meal. I'm glad I did.. I rocked this dish! I chose to make an Alfredo sauce. I don't really know why I did that, as Hubbs isn't particularly fond of cheese sauces. Way to go, eh? Finally cook him a decent meal and chose one of his least favorites to go with! Well you'll have that.. I added shrimp to offset his dislike of Alfredo, so I'm not all that bad, right? ;) When he asked what I was going to cook, I simply told him a pasta and shrimp dish, which made him happy. As I was cutting the cheese (no pun intended) into cubes, he asked to try 3 of the 4 varieties I was using and gave a thumbs up - so far so good! The sauce came together quickly and beautifully. It was incredibly silky and scrumptious.. a mild cheesy flavor with a nutty hit in the background - I assume due to the Gruyere. I chose papparadelle pasta, which I'd never had before, and I really liked it. The other highlight of this dish, aside from the outstanding sauce, was that FINALLY my grocery store is carrying wild AMERICAN shrimp. What a difference! My God, they were creamy and so tender without that too salty taste. Fabulous and about time, dammit! I think the key to this sauce being so damn good was the cream cheese. I'd never heard of using it in an Alfredo but it definitely makes a difference. Seriously, kids, try this the next time you feel like Alfredo and/or are feeling naughty.. because this is not a figure flattering dish :D Shrimp Alfredo 1/2 c. butter 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese 2 tsp. garlic powder 2 c. heavy cream (or milk) 6 to 8 oz. grated Italian Fontina cheese 6 oz. grated Gruyere cheese 1/2 c. grated Parmiagiano Reggiano 1/4 tsp. white pepper pinch of salt 1 lb. Pappardelle or Fettucini pasta, cooked al dente 1 lb. medium to large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined In a medium sized, heavy sauce pan melt butter. Add cream cheese and whisk with melted butter until melted and smooth (it will be hard to incorporate the cheese with the butter at this point and that's okay). Slowly add the heavy cream whisking to combine. Add the garlic powder, Fontina, Gruyere and Parmigiano stirring often until melted and incorporated. Add the pepper and salt. This sauce will thicken quickly, so keep an eye on it and stir often. After my pasta had been boiling in salted water for about 5 minutes, I simply dumped the raw shrimp in with it. They took about 4 minutes to cook perfectly, which was just enough time for the pasta to be al dente. I drained the pasta and shrimp, placed it back in the pan and added 1/2 of the sauce to coat it. Served it family style, in a large bowl, with the remaining sauce on the side. Yum! *Note: Hubbs not only gave this a thumbs up but said he'd eat this whenever I felt like making it again! Now that's a sign of a good Alfredo sauce ;)

Summer Tortellini Salad for WCC #6

This pasta salad is pretty much the only pasta salad I really enjoy. And it was a total fluke that I ever found the recipe for it as the cookbook that contains it is one of my least favorites that I rarely ever look to for inspiration. Betty Crocker's Easy Summer Recipes is chock full of the same old boring recipes you've seen a 1,000 times over. Potato salads, cold sandwiches, that Jello poke cake that's frosted with whipped cream and decorated with strawberries and blueberries to create the American flag.. yanno.. things that might have been new and inspiring about 25 years ago. With that said, this one little gem did catch my eye and I've been making it ever since. I decided this salad would be perfect for my submission to this month's WCC #6 event :D Summer Tortellini Salad 1 pkg. Buitoni 3 Cheese Tortellini (found in refrigerator section) 1 bell pepper, diced (doesn't matter what color, although I prefer yellow or orange) 1 bunch green onions, sliced (Using both white and green parts) 1 can medium black olives 1/2-1 full carton grape tomatoes 1 slice of bavarian ham, diced (Slice should be about 1/2" thick & cut from middle of ham) 1 slice of oven roasted turkey, diced (Sliced the same as the ham) 2 slices hard salami, diced (Yep, you guessed it, sliced the same as ham & turkey) 1/2 c. Wishbone Robusto Italian dressing 1/8 c. balsamic vinegar 1/4 c. canola oil (Or EVOO) 2 tsp. garlic salt Combine all your meats & veggies into a large bowl. Pour the Wishbone dressing on top and stir well. You could stop here (although you'd prolly need more dressing as the tortellini will absorb a lot as it sits). I find bottled dressing is a lil too sweet for my liking - but I was following the recipe, so I had to use it. Here's where I cheat. Combine balsamic & oil until you get an emulsion. Sprinkle the garlic salt over the salad and then pour the vinegar & oil over the salad and mix well. I figured the next time I'd make the salad I'd just use my balsamic & oil dressing, but I found I really like the combo of my dressing with the bottled dressing.. go figure :D

What to do before things go bad

You make baked penne of course! I had a situation last night. Hubbs went out to farm land last week to visit his brother. On his way back he stopped in at his favorite butcher out in those parts and bought 3 pounds of the best sweet italian sausage in alla world. Made from an Amish man ;) When he got home he froze 2 packages and left one in the fridge as a subtle hint, I guess. hehee What he forgot to tell me was that it was in there. I discovered it yesterday morning and realized I needed to come up with something pretty quick before it went bad. Normally we use this delicious sausage on my pizzas, but there was no time yesterday morning to whip up a batch of dough and sauce.. so I went to the dungeon thinking about what I could do with it. Apparently my cravings haven't caught up with summer yet, because the only thing that sounded really good was some sort of baked pasta dish - yanno.. something hearty that sticks to your ribs and warms you up after a freezing day of Ohio blizzard? Oh well.. making the baked pasta dish would help me to use up a good amount of cheese that I had laying in the dairy drawer of the fridge as well as the sausage. Although not a light summery dinner.. this was fabulous and has become a definite keeper. Not only was it extremely tasty but it's one of those dishes that I just threw stuff in and hoped for the best. When those dinners turn out excellent, I get happy happy! I love when I don't use a recipe.. and I don't know why I don't do that more often. Well I guess it's mainly because there are sooooo many spectacular recipes out there that I just need to try, eh?! :) Alrighty then.. I was thinking layered lasagna like.. but I wanted to use up some of the Penne in the pasta cupboard. I wanted to incorporate some of my fresh herbs and I had just enough of my marinara thawed out waiting to be used up. Perfect! The fresh basil added the freshness and herbiness I was looking for, the penne was cooked al dente for that bite I was going for, the sausage - oh yeah, the sausage - well the sausage wasn't sweet italian as I had expected! Dear Hubbs, apparently was in a rush when purchasing and didn't realize he had bought your basic pork sausage with no seasonings. hehee! It was still the best sausage I've had, I just got to use up more of my herbies from my pot along with some dried herb. I added fresh basil & parsley and dried oregano. Turned out great! I had a loaf of french bread that I was allowing to go stale for Panzanella this weekend, but decided to heat it up in the oven the last 10 minutes of baking time and I had oven fresh bread slathered in creamy Amish butter to go with.. serious Yum! :D Baked Penne & Sausage 8 oz. penne 1.5 lbs. sweet italian sausage* 2 TBS. + 2 tsp. fresh basil, rough chopped and divided 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 small or 1/2 of a large vidalia onion, small diced 15 oz. pkg. of ricotta cheese 2 tsp. fresh parsley, chopped 1 tsp. dried oregano 2-2 1/2 c. marinara sauce 2 c. shredded cheese (I used a four cheese italian "crumble" mix) Preheat oven to 350º F. In a large skillet start to brown the sausage, when it's almost done, drain excess grease and add onions and garlic; continue to cook until sausage is browned, onions are almost translucent and garlic is fragrant. About 5 more minutes. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, salt well. Add Penne and cook for about 7 minutes or until al dente. Drain. Chop the basil roughly and set aside. Mix the 2 tsp. of basil, 1 tsp. parsley and 1 tsp. of dried oregano with the ricotta cheese, set aside. Once the penne and sausage are cooked, start your layering by first covering the bottom of an 8" x 8" Pyrex baking dish with the 1/3 of the marinara. Then add 1/2 of the basil. Follow with 1/2 of the sausage and a few good dollops of 1/2 of the ricotta cheese mixture. Spread the cheese over the sausage. Finally sprinkle 1 cup of the shredded cheese on top. Continue layering in this manner once more, excluding the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese and 1/3 c. of remaining marinara. Over the last layer of the ricotta mixture, spread the remaining marinara. Sprinkle with remaining basil and shredded cheese. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and turns golden brown. Serve with a nice salad and good crunchy italian or french bread. *To give the plain pork sausage an italian taste, I added 1 TBS. fresh basil, 1 TBS. fresh parsley and 1 tsp. dried oregano along with the onions and garlic.

Lisa's Shrimp & Penne

I have a dilemma today. It's bothering me, big time! Do I eat my leftovers from last night's hella good dinner for lunch?? Or do I force myself to wait until dinner time tonight?? UGH! teeee! Quite frankly, I've been awake now for about 30 minutes.. haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet and am thinking my shrimp & penne might not be too bad for breakfast :P Holy crap was it good! Can ya tell? I started making this a few years ago.. I had shrimp and a cupboard full of pasta and all I knew was that I wanted to combine them somehow. I pretty much just looked in my fridge for ingredients that might work - I chopped, I minced and I threw it all together and it worked.. and worked well if I do say so myself, my friends :D The tanginess of the lemon and tomatoes is wonderful with the salty, yet sweet shrimp. The heavier type of pasta works so well with the delicateness of the sauce, giving you something to sink your teeth in to. The tender shrimp and the pasta soaks up the garlicky, buttery, lemony flavors in a most heavenly way.. *swoon* Lisa's Shrimp & Penne 1 pound medium to large, deveined, shell on, raw shrimp 1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick) 6 cloves garlic, minced 6 to 7 sun-dried tomato halves, chopped 1/2 c. chicken stock, not broth 1/2 lemon, juiced 1/2 c. Parmigiano Reggiano, grated 1/2 c. Pecorino Romano, grated good handful of fresh, chopped parsley 2-3 c. penne S & P to taste (If you have sea salt, use it in this recipe if you normally don't) Remove the shells from the shrimp and set aside. Fill a large pot with water and heat to boiling. Once it comes to a full boil, throw a good amount of sea salt in along with the penne, cook for about 7-8 minutes or until al dente. While your water is heating up, place butter in large skillet and heat until it's melted and starting to bubble (You don't want to brown it, though) then add your garlic and tomatoes. Let the garlic permeate the butter for about 3 minutes then add your lemon juice and the chicken stock. Heat through about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp. Cook the shrimp until it just becomes opaque, then add the Parmigiano, then sea salt & pepper to taste, mix well. Once the shrimp has turned a creamy white and pink, take it off the heat. Your sauce should be thin. When the penne is at al dente, using a slotted spoon or spider strainer, remove the pasta from the water and add directly to the skillet with the shrimp mixture. Add maybe a 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Just before plating, add the Romano and the chopped parsley. Sprinkle more romano on top and devour.. try to slow down so the juices don't dribble down your chin. Use a napkin, people! :P Just a couple notes on this one: I normally don't like to spend a lot of cash on my groceries.. I look for bargains and on occasion, I even coupon clip! But.. I have to say with this recipe, don't skimp on your ingredients. Such as.. I keep a good domestic Parmesan in my fridge as well as a hunk of the really good stuff, Parmigiano Reggiano - the cheese that costs like $12.00 for a small hunk - if you can, use that kind in this recipe. Make sure your shrimp are fresh, I didn't buy these at my normal grocery store, I made the trip to my local fish mart because I wanted to know for sure it was caught yesterday. And for really, really good depth of flavor, use stock instead of broth. You can buy a really good quality stock at the grocery store, it's located in the soup section and comes in a paper box. Or use your own homemade stock.. even better :) Because it's such a delicate (yes even with the 1/2 c. butter) dish, you really want fresh, vibrant flavors throughout.. trust me :D )

The joys of gnocchi

Ivonne! Ivonne! I made them! My first attempt at gnocchi.. how fab is that? All thanks to Cream Puffs in Venice. I have not had gnocchi in FOREVER. Reason being, when my Aunt Doo (somehow a nickname for Antoinette) passed, no one else in the family made them. I don't like ordering them (or much italian food for that matter) out because rarely are they ever homemade. These were just wonderful.. brought me back to so many times in my Aunt's kitchen - they tasted just like hers =) Another little funny story about my Aunt Doo's gnocchi (which she called cavadels (I so sounded that out)) - when I was younger, much younger, most of my father's side of the family was still alive and we'd hold a huge family reunion every summer at some park in our town. Everyone would bring a dish for sharing (with like 90 hungry italians) and their own beverages. After everyone arrived, they'd lay out all the food buffet style and you'd have to RUN to try to be first in line, basically, for my Aunt Doo's cavadels. They were famous - as were her meatballs. God forbid you were late to these functions. If you were, you were stuck with my Aunt Julia's cabbage rolls which tasted like sawdust wrapped in plastic. Gawd. And you had to take one, regardless of where you were in line, because she was the only one who'd stand over her dish and dole them out making sure only one went to a person (as if anyone would want two) and making damn sure each person had one. All I can say is, there were a lot of uncomfortable gassy doggies at the end of those gatherings. teeee! I miss those reunions. The men would always play bocce and then gather around a table with their jelly jars full of home made red wine and play cards for hours. The women would chase around their babies and kids, gossipping and telling stories about their husbands. And being a kid there was great, because with 50 aunts and uncles gathered - you were sure to be spoiled rotten that day. And there were hardly any rules.. we got to run amok and have a grand old time as long as we stayed away from the water "you don't know who has been peeing in that water - stay out!!" hehe Anyhoo.. many thanks to Ivonne for sharing that recipe and a photo that looked so damn good that I knew it was finally time for me to make my own gnocchi. As much as the cheese and butter sauce looked divine in Ivonne's photo, when it came to finally eating these little dumplings made of potato, I couldn't resist fixing them like my Aunt did all those years ago. So I made up a quick batch of meatballs and marinara and dug in.. Mmmm Mmmm good! :D The only change I'll make next time is to cut them a bit smaller.. I got a lil carried away because, obviously, I don't know what an inch is. lol Again, I'm going to link to Ivonne's recipe because she shows you step by step the process in making them, which was really and truly helpful to me. My gawd I almost forgot the cheese! =)