Wheat-free Potato Gnocchi

I’ve been wanting to make wheat-free potato gnocchi for years and I finally did it! Turned out to be easier than I expected. I adapted a recipe for normal gnocchi by substituting white spelt flour and used the delicious new potatoes we have been enjoying from local farms.

Measurements are approximate; I had to adjust the amounts as I went to get the dough right.

2 lbs potatoes
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 ½ cup white spelt flour
½ tsp salt

Bake potatoes until they are tender, but not too soft. When they are cool enough, scoop them from their skins and pass them through the fine side of a grater. Add the other ingredients and mix with hands. Adjust until the dough is the right consistency; you may need to add more flour if it is too wet or a little water if it won’t hold together. You want it just sticky enough that you can roll it into snakes, but not too sticky. Do not over mix; no kneading necessary.

On a floured surface, gently roll the dough with your hands into snakes about ¾ inch in diameter. Cut the snakes into 1 inch lengths, then press an indentation into each piece with you finger tip.

At this point, you can freeze any extra gnocchi by spreading it out on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen you can consolidate into a bag. When you want to cook it, just drop it into boiling water as described below (I did this, but haven’t tried cooking the frozen stuff yet, so not sure how well it works).

To cook the pasta fresh, bring a large pot of water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and drop the gnocchi in a few at a time. When they float up to the surface the gnocchi are done (this will only take a couple of minutes), take them out and put in the next batch until all are cooked.

I topped them off with fresh pesto from our garden, but you can use whatever sauce you like. Enjoy!

Caprese Plus

We are in the dog days of summer and everything is ripe and ready to eat.  It is far too hot to cook indoors and as the evenings are getting cool it is a reminder to spend as much time outdoors as possible because the famous Oregon rain will be here soon.

This meal came out of a long day followed by bad news.  I found myself standing with the fridge door open wondering what was inside.  I have always loved caprese salad when the tomatoes are ripe and since I can’t leave well enough alone, I riffed on the theme.  Feel free to add whatever you have on hand.

Traditional Ingredients:

• 1-2 perfectly ripe beefsteak type tomato (heirloom have the best flavor)
• 1/2 lb of fresh mozzarella (I usually have equal parts tomato to mozzarella)
• handful of basil leaves
• olive oil (if you have a fancy bottle, this would be the time to break it out)
• salt & pepper (use your fancy salt & fresh cracked pepper)

What we added:

• 2 ears of corn, roasted on the bbq, kernals cut off
• 2 sweet peppers, cut & seeded
• 4 slices of crusty bread, toasted and rubbed down with a raw garlic clove

Preparation:

Traditionally the tomatoes are cut into slices like you’d put on a sandwich.  We elected to cut them into ‘segments’ (not sure what to call them – see photos).  The mozzarella that we had was the large buffalo type – the 2 balls in the container were the size of a decent sized tomato (although any size would do). The cheese was cut the same way as the tomato.  These were arranged around the side of the platter leaving a hole in the middle.

In the hole we piled the roasted corn.  Then the handful of basil was thrown on.  We had some extra mozzarella that didn’t fit with the display below – it was added on top.  The sweet pepper was sprinkled around.

Add anything you’ve got ripe in the garden or attracting fruit flies on your counter.  Maybe peas, or grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, green beans?  This starts heading toward a salad nicoise but that is my favorite meal on this earth – so I can’t fault you there.

A healthy amount of olive oil was poured over.  Sprinkle salt and crack pepper over the top.

The bread was toasted & rubbed down with a raw garlic clove on one side.  Drizzle a little olive oil on the bread.  The bread is great to soaking up the olive oil and tomato juice collecting on the bottom of the serving plate.

Open the bottle of white wine.  If its cheap like ours add a few ice cubes and enjoy!

Lunch for Cooper – Black Bean Salad

This recipe is very loose and changes with what I have on hand and what is in season or is cheap.

• 2 cups dried black beans (or two 15 oz cans)
• 1/4-1/2 red onion, diced (depending on how much you like raw onion)
• 2-4 ears of corn, raw or roasted on the BBQ (or small bag of frozen corn)
• 1-2 bell peppers (orange and red for color)
• 4 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 of a jicama, diced (or any other crunchy vegetable that you enjoy)
• cherry tomatoes, cut in half (optional)
• basil or cilantro (depending on where you want to go with the dressing)
• juice of 2-3 limes/lemons
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• smoked paprika or some other interesting spice
• sherry or apple cider vinegar

Soak the black beans in water over night, changing water 2-3 times.  If you don’t have over night, use hot tap water to speed up the process.  Rinse beans, cover in water and bring to a boil.  Lower temperature to simmer, cover and check at 30 minutes.  You want the beans to be tender but holding together.  Depending on how long you soaked them and other factors (your stove, your beans, the position of the moon) they will take 35-45 minutes to cook.

While the beans are cooking, cut up all your veg and put in a bowl.  I am not a huge fan of raw onion, so I soak my diced onion in water for a bit before straining and adding to veggies.

Juice your lemons and add to small jar, add olive oil until you have the standard vinaigrette ratio (two parts acid to 1 part fat, right?).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Make sure this is ready when the beans are done cooking.

When beans are done cooking, pour them into a strainer.  Then pour beans over veggies in large bowl.  Pour vinaigrette over beans – by doing this when they are hot they soak up lots of the flavor.  You will notice that even though you poured almost a cup of liquid over that there is nothing in the bottom of the bowl.  Add whatever herbs/spices you want, some splashes of vinegar and more salt and pepper to taste (but don’t get to anal at this point).  Cover the bowl and let it sit for an hour or more.  The beans continue to soak up the flavor and you’ll find that what was salted and dressed perfectly has changed within an hour.  This salad keeps for a week in the fridge – we eat a bit everyday and each day it is different.  By the end of the week we are eating it with hot sauce by the chipful.  It is good alongside other stuff, eaten cold or at room temperature.

Have fun & enjoy.

Zucchini Cakes

Zucchini really are versatile and lovely.  Here’s a savory recipe for them that seems healthy but really it’s a bit naughty – yum!

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini, grated
1 large egg
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Seasoning to taste – salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, lemon rind

Steps:

• Remove excess liquid from freshly grated zucchini by placing them between paper towels and squeezing.  They are full of water so do it over the sink with a few paper towels.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
• Heat a large pan on medium with some oil. Shape spoonfuls of the zucchini batter into 2-inch (diameter) patties, and drop onto the sizzling pan. Cook each side for about a minute and a half, or until the outside is golden brown.
• Finish the cakes off in the oven — stick them on a baking pan and broil them for 1-2 minutes.

(adapted from http://www.justputzing.com/2011/07/zucchini-cakes.html)

Arillas Eggplant & Kalamata Tapenade Pasta

This dish was perfectly suited to the time and place, being lunch time today in Arillas, Greece. I don’t think I’d fancy it, for example, on a foggy night in San Francisco—but then again, it was tasty! I had prepared the noodles and eggplant last night and then ended up going out to eat after all, so today I ate it coldish (well, more like room temperature), but on a foggy night in San Francisco, I imagine hot would hit the spot.

• spaghetti noodles
• eggplant—3 small or 1 large
• kalamata olive tapenade
• garlic—1 large clove
• crushed chili or paprika flakes
• cayenne—a pinch
• cumin—a pinch
• olive oil—a lot
• lemon—1 wedge
• salt & pepper– to taste

slice the eggplant into thin slices (about ¼ “ thick). I had some beautiful small eggplants (really so nice: deep, even purple, glossy and perfectly firm) so I just cut each in half the long way and then sliced the halves. Probably bigger eggplants should be cut up more.

Chop or crush the garlic clove.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide frying pan and add the eggplant and garlic. As the eggplant cooks, flavor it with crushed chili (I actually had crushed paprika on hand so this was for flavor, not heat, hence the cayenne), cumin, and salt. Cook until eggplant is soft.

Cook the pasta and toss with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.

Top each serving of pasta with eggplant and about 1 teaspoon of tapenade.

I ate this with slabs of big, juicy, locally-grown tomato that I sprinkled with salt, pepper, and capers, and a boiled egg (gotta get my protein!).