Gnocchi

After being away for a week camping and visiting family, then coming back to an earthquake - which is very unusual around here - and finally losing power for two days because of hurricane Irene, I feel like I am just reentering the modern age.   All of these things on top of getting the kids ready to go back to school has made these last two weeks a blur.
To help ease back into a routine and begin posting again I decided to start with something easy - Gnocchi.  I saw this recipe in July's Secret Recipe Club reveal and knew it would be a perfect recipe to do with the kids.  It is a simple recipe and perfect for all ages and ability levels, plus it is a great recipe to have on hand when you need a quick dinner.

Older/Experienced Cooks Can:

• Prepare mise en place
• Measure ingredients
• Mix
• Roll and cut dough

Younger/Beginner Cooks Can:

• Assist with measuring
• Mix ingredients
• Roll and cut dough

Hints and Suggestions:

• Challenge older cooks to use only one measuring cup - great practice with fractions.  
• Have younger cooks use a ruler when cutting - provides regular size pieces and gives practice with number recognition.  

Gnocchi in general is pretty easy, but this recipe is great because it is made with instant mashed potatoes so you can make it last minute and not have to worry about the extra time of cooking and mashing potatoes.  Pair it with a simple salad and top with your favorite sauce and it makes a wonderful quick dinner.

Gnocchi

(Printer Ready) recipe from This Chick Cooks

1 c. Instant Mashed Potates flakes

1 c. Boiling Water
1 Egg
1 ½ c. Flour
½ tsp. Dried Basil
¼ tsp. Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

In mixing bowl combine potatoe flakes and boiling water, mix until combined.  Stir in egg.  Add remaining ingredients mix until combined.  
On lightly floured surface knead mixture until soft, about 10-15 times.  Divide dough into four even balls.  Working with one ball at a time roll dough into a long rope about 1/2” thick, then cut into about 1” pieces.  Using a fork lightly press each piece.  Repeat process with remaining balls.  

To cook, place small batches of gnocchi in large pot of lightly salted boiling water.  Cook until pieces float, about 1 minute, remove with slotted spoon.  

Top with your favorite sauce and cheese, and serve!

CSA Week 1 -

We received our first  CSA boxes from Great Country  Farms and it was beautiful.  I am used to our produce delivery from Washington Green Grocer, which is always organic, fresh and filled with a wonderful assortment of fruits and vegetables.  Since WGC gets their produce from a variety of sources we were able to get an assortment of items and have some choice, to a limited extent, over what we would get.  With a CSA you get what you get and this is part of the reason I was always a little hesitant to join one.  At this point I am not able to depend on them as our sole source of produce, but that is ok because it is farmer's market season and we are lucky enough to have great markets throughout the week.

The first week we received strawberries, garlic scape, kale, lettuce, spring onions, asparagus and a small basil plant, which was a great surprise.

The basil plant went right into the herb garden, where it is thriving.  The strawberries went right into my kids' bellies.  They didn't even save me one, I had to eat the little bits leftover near the stem, not something I would do on ordinary strawberries, but these were so fresh it was worth it.  I roasted the asparagus with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and served it as a side, it was so incredibly fresh it needed very little done to it. I'm not a big fan of lettuce and was certain this would be the one item still in the fridge at the end of the week, but I am happy to report that I did use it all up by putting it on sandwiches and making a small salad.  The green onions were thrown in to my small salad and pretty much every other dish I made this week, again they really were much tastier than green onions you would pick up at the store.

The garlic scape was my challenge for the week.  At first I didn't think I had even received it.  I was looking for something that resembled garlic, but it turns out that scape is a beautiful green curly Q that resembles the top of a green onion.  After some searching around I decided to make garlic scape pesto, I was tempted by a white bean and scape dip, but went with the pest since my family needed dinner and probably wouldn't be happy with just dip. 

The pesto was wonderful.  Definitely garlicky, but not over the top.  I tossed it with pasta and grilled chicken, one of our favorite summer meals, and it was a nice change from the usual basil pesto.  

Garlic Scape Pesto

10 (approximately) Garlic Scapes chopped

1/4 c. Walnuts, lightly roasted

1/2 (approximately) Olive Oil

1/4 c. Grated Parmigiano cheese 

In a food processor combine garlic scapes and walnuts.  Blend until smooth and combined.  With the processor still running slowly add the olive oil forming a paste.  Scoop pesto into mixing bowl, gently mix in cheese.

Garlic Pesto Pasta and Chicken

1 1lb Box Penne Pasta

2 c. Chicken, cooked cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 c. Garlic Scape Pesto

Cook pasta following directions on box.  Strain pasta, reserving 1 cup pasta water.  Place pasta in serving bowl, add chicken and pesto.  Stir to combine adding pasta water as needed to help coat pasta and chicken.  

Kids Cooking - Homemade Pasta

Making pasta is a wonderful activity to do with kids.  The basic ingredients are familiar to kids, yet there are opportunities to introduce new ingredients.  The basic process is easy, yet there are many options for experimentation.  It is an activity that can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.  You can quickly make a batch in the afternoon and enjoy it for dinner that night.  Of, course, as with anything there is room for error, but you can't learn if you don't make mistakes, and making pasta is a great way for kids to experiment, make mistakes and learn.
We first started making pasta with the kids about 2 years, when my oldest got the book The Silver Spoon for Children as a Christmas present.  If you don't have this book, or the adult version The Silver Spoon, you need to go get it, now.  In both books the recipes are just amazing.  The children's book is broken into four sections, each section containing 10-15 recipes, so it isn't overwhelming to look through.  Each recipe gives a little bit of food or Italian history - for example "Tomatoes have only been grown in Italy since the sixteenth century.  At first, people were suspicious of tomatoes because they are related to a poisonous plant called deadly nightshade, but lucky for us, the Italians soon realized how delicious they were."  Who knew, I know I didn't know that and now I have a five year old sharing the information with his teacher.  The recipes are very simple to follow, there are drawings clearly showing each step, while the text is very easy to read and follow.  I also like the portion sizes of the recipes they easily feed a family of 4-5 and seem very manageable.  We have a large collection of children's cookbooks, and this is one of my favorites.  There are many wonderful things about this book and I really recommend it for any young cook in your life.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program - the pasta.  As I said the basic ingredients - flour and eggs - are familiar to kids and they are two of the best ingredients for playing with in the kitchen.  Kids of all ages love to play with flour, it's messy, but fun and you can't beat the thrill of watching a 5 year old cracking an egg and watching it ooze out of the shell.  When we make pasta we like to make it right on the table, without a bowl.  My kids find this way much more exciting, yes it has been much messier at times, but the adventure for the kids far out weighs the mess.
The assembly process of pasta is very simple.  Measure the flour in the middle of the table (or in a bowl), make a small well in the center and add your eggs.  

Slowly and carefully begin mixing eggs and flour together. You want to bring the flour in slowly from the sides without breaking the walls until the eggs are well coated with flour.

Once the dough begins to form a ball, begin working it with your hands.  Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic.  The dough is too big for little kids to knead on their own, so at this point I break the dough into smaller pieces and get helpers.  After each little piece has been worked for a while I put them back into one ball and work until well incorporated.   After the dough is well kneaded, let it rest, then comes the fun - deciding how to shape the pasta.

My kids like to use the pasta machine, but it definitely is not necessary to have, or use one, a rolling pin works just fine.  And even if you do have a roller it is fun to let the kids cut and shape the pasta after it has been rolled thin using the machine.

I recommend making the base dough at least once, and then begin experimenting.  This weekend we tried beet pasta, there was no beet flavor, but the color was pretty and my girls where thrilled to be eating pink food.  They love pasta as it is, but pink pasta was just magical.

To make flavored or "colored" pasta puree your chosen ingredient - spinach, sun dried tomatoes, peppers and now beet are a few of our favorites - and begin working it in once the dough is formed into a loose ball.  As you knead the dough it will become evenly distributed.

Have fun with the pasta, make it as easy or complex as you like.  Weather you do plain or flavored (colored) pasta.  Cut it into strips, fold it into ravioli or just twirl it, it is a lot of fun and a great family activity.

Fresh Pasta Dough
1 3/4 cups Flour
3 Eggs

In large bowl (or right on the table ) measure and sift flour.  Form a well in the middle of the flour and crack eggs into the well.  Using a fork slowly begin whisking the eggs, gently incorporating the flour as you mix.  Once dough is formed into a ball begin kneading until smooth and elastic.  Let dough rest, covered under damp dish towel, for 30 minutes.  Roll dough into thin sheets using a pasta machine or rolling pin, then cut into desired shape.

Another Squash Recipe

It must be Fall, it seems as if we are eating squash in some form with every meal.  Most weeks we have at least one meal with squash as the main dish, then if there are leftovers it reappears later in the week.  As much as I like squash I am running out of ideas and I don't know how many more times I can get the kids to eat squash soup.  Tonight I paired leftover acorn squash with pasta, not original but always popular.   The squash had been baked with brown sugar and butter, so it was pretty sweet, to balance out the sweetness I added bacon, sage, chicken stock and a little heavy cream.   I like a nice crusty bread with every meal, but there was none in the house so I baked off some pita chips, not the same but helped provide a nice crunch, some pumpkin seeds or nuts sprinkled on top would have also been a good addition.  It was a good quick meal and used up some leftovers, and I'm always happy when I can use those dreaded leftovers. 

Squash and Pasta

2 Acorn Squash - baked with butter and brown sugar, skin removed
1 lb Pasta cooked (I only had bow ties, but penne or rigatoni would be best)
5 Strips bacon diced
1 onion
1 Tbs. Fresh Sage finely chopped
1 cup Chicken stock
1/4 cup Heavy cream
Parmesan cheese

Saute bacon, add onions.  When bacon is browned and onions are soft add sage cook just to release flavor.  Add stock, heavy cream, squash and pasta heat until warm.  Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Menu Planning Monday

I am usually pretty good at planning our dinners for the week, but I have never been very formal about it and the weekly menu and shopping list are usually jotted down on some random scrap of paper.  As a result I don't have a record of favorite meals and reciepes.  When I want to make something again I have to look through cookbooks/magazines and search on-line, I often find something, but it isn't always the orignal receipe.  Maybe this will get me away from the scraps of paper and actually get my receipes organized.

On the menu this week:
Monday - Shepherds pie
Tuesday - Roasted Chicken with squash (no receipe just throwing it in the crock pot) tomato soup
Wednesday - Tuna Noodle Casserole (can't beat the classic)
Thursday - Mongolian Beef  (love Mongolian beef, trying a new receipe for it this week)
Friday - Baked Ziti