A Recipe & Organizing Them

I received requests for the Gnocchi Veronese recipe.  To all you adventurous people out there, here it is!  You can use store-bought, fresh gnocchi or you can make your own.  I included the recipe for Ricotta gnocchi, but remember it will make your soup salty, so increase the cream as you feel fit.


Another question I was recently asked is how do I store all of my recipes.  For me, if I find one I like from a book or magazine, I will type it into Word and save it in a recipe file on my computer.  I find this to be the easiest way to quickly pull up those delectable dishes I go back to over and over again.  Plus, I am able to print them out.  If they get messy during the cooking process, I can easily make a new copy later as needed.  In reality, I keep my MacBook on the counter next to me and just refresh my memory from the screen.  


I have tried the Betty Crocker software when I was PC based.  I'm not sure if it is Mac compatible though.  It was fine, if you want to follow their format.  For me, the Word Docs were the most convenient.  Then I save everything in subfolders based on the type of recipe it is:

Within the subfolder, I put the main ingredient followed by a comma (,) and then the rest of the description or name:

So that's that... at least that is what works for me.  I also have dozens of books, magazines, etc. that I keep with post-its hanging off pages featuring tasty treats.  For those, if I try the recipe and really like it, I type it up, adding the changes or substitutions that I did in my computer-copy.  Then I remember what I did that day.  


Oh, see that "TEMPLATE" file in the first screen shot?  That's what I use to type into every time, so the formats are the same for all of my recipes.  I may be a little anal retentive, but like I said, it works for me. :)


Hope that helps you guys!  If you have good ideas you want to share, message them to me.  Perhaps I'll post them in a future update.  Until then, enjoy the Gnocchi Veronese... let me know if you do it and how it turns out!

Gnocchi Veronese

5-10min prep; 20min cooking

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

• ·      1 T olive oil
• ·      1 ½ stalks celery, diced
• ·      4 cloves garlic, chopped
• ·      ½ carrot, shredded
• ·      ½ onion, diced
• ·      4 C chicken stock
• ·      2 C half-and-half, heavy cream or light cream
• ·      1 tsp thyme
• ·      salt and pepper, optional
• ·      1 C fresh spinach, chopped or torn
• ·      16 oz gnocchi (potato; if using ricotta, add more cream or it will be very salty) Recipe Below!
• ·      1 T cornstarch, optional

Directions

1. 1.     Heat oil in stockpot over medium heat.  Saute celery, garlic, carrot and onion until soft and onion is transluscent. 
2. 2.     Add chicken stock, cream, thyme, salt and pepper.  Heat to boiling then add gnocchi.  Gently boil 4 minutes then simmer for 10 minutes.
3. 3.     Add spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes until wilted.
4. 4.     Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in water if you want a thicker soup.

Ricotta Gnocchi

15min prep; 2-4min cooking per batch

Yields approx. 5 dozen soup-sized gnocchi, less if larger

Ingredients

• ·      8-9oz Ricotta, drained
• ·      1 egg yolk
• ·      ¼ - ½ tsp fine sea salt
• ·      1 oz Parmigiano or Pecorino, freshly grated
• ·      ½ - ¾ C all-purpose flour, extra for dusting
• ·      Sauce (or soup) to serve

Directions

1. 1.     Discard any excess liquid that the Ricotta’s packaging may contain, then add Ricotta cheese, egg yolk, salt and freshly grated Parmigiano into a large bowl. Mix well with a spoon. Now add the flour and stir in briefly, just until combined – the dough will still be quite sticky. (Of course you can add more flour at this point, but keep in mind, that the more flour you use, the denser the gnocchi become in the end. And you want them to be as light & fluffy as possible, with a velvet-like texture.)
2. 2.     Forming these gnocchi is the slightly tricky step, this is the technique that works best for me: Generously flour a board, take a big tablespoon of the dough and scoop it onto the board. It gets dusted with flour (dust your hands generously, too!), before rolling it into a finger-thick roll. Cut it into little pillows (stick the knife’s blade into the flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough). Then place each gnoccho on a floured board or parchment paper lined baking tray. Continue quickly with the next step, otherwise they will get soggy and stick to the paper/board anyway.
3. 3.     Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt and reduce heat until the water bubbles lightly. Add the gnocchi and stir once, so they don’t stick to the bottom – then let cook until they start floating on top. Depending on their size this may take 2 to 4 minutes. Take out with a skimmer and serve immediately.