October 23rd, 2012 by Dawn Becker

I thought I would post this recipe here on my highly neglected blog since a friend of mine requested it yesterday. This soup takes its inspiration from the Humble Pea & Ham Soup found in Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain cookbook. His recipe adds “a dozen fluffy little dumplings” but I prefer the Southern style dumplings that look more like noodles.

Where Jamie Oliver uses good-quality smoked ham or smoked ham steaks, I used an inexpensive smoked ham hock that you find shrink-wrapped in plastic in the deli case of most supermarkets. They were actually beside the smoked turkey legs, which I think would also work well, but are twice the price. Based on the size of the ham hock, I adjust my water accordingly so that there’s enough smoky hammy flavour in the final soup. If the ham hocks are small you may wish to buy two to make a larger portion. Ham hocks are surrounded by rind so I cook the soup until the rind breaks down, at least 1.5 hours. Rind makes some people squeamish. Their loss.

The trick with the dumplings is not to overwork them which seems to be the rule of thumb for simple dough recipes. Mix together wet ingredients, stir in dry ingredients and stop when the two are just combined. Knead a couple times. Roll them out on a floured surface as thin as you can (they get thicker when they cook in the soup). Roughly slice them into squares so they look unmistakably hand-made and make a small incision in the middle of the square so the centre cooks through. Drop them one by one in the pot of soup that’s boiling heartily (just like pasta) and allow them to boil for 15 to 20 minutes until tender. That’s pretty much it. Your soup will thicken slightly as the dumplings cook but that’s a good thing.

Ham Hock Soup with Southern Style Dumplings

1 smoked ham hock about 1.5 lbs

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped (celery leaves can be chopped and added to finished soup, if desired)

3 bay leaves, fresh if you have them

ground pepper

Cut the meat around the smoked ham hock into large chunks working around the bone and reserve. This will allow the smoky flavour to come out even more. In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium high heat and sauté the onions until opaque about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and sauté for another 5 minutes till softened. Add the bay leaves, ham hock bone and chunks of ham. Season with a couple grindings of pepper. Add 12 cups of water and bring the stock to a boil. Once boiled, cover and simmer for 1.5 hours or longer, until the rind and ham meat have softened. Taste and adjust for seasoning. You may not need to add any salt as the smoked ham hock may have been salty enough.

For the dumplings

1 egg, beaten

1/2 Tbsp butter, softened

2 to 4 Tbsp milk

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

Mix all of the wet ingredients together. Stir the flour and salt into the wet ingredients until just combined. Knead the dough 3 or 4 times until it forms a smooth ball. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Cut the dough into three portions and roll out each portion on a floured surface as thinly as possible. Slice the rolled dough into strips and then into 2 inch squares (or so). Make a small incision in the centre of each dumpling square so the centre cooks evenly.

To cook the dumplings, once the ham soup is done to your taste, turn up the heat until you have rolling boil. Add the dumplings one at a time into the soup. Stir as you go so they don’t stick. Boil the dumplings for 15 to 20 minutes until tender.

Optional: Add a cup of fresh or frozen green summer peas or a handful or two of baby spinach and allow soup to cook another minute until the peas warm through or the spinach is wilted, whichever you’re using.

April 22nd, 2012 by Dawn Becker

I realize I haven’t posted an update on my activities this year. I’m officially taking a hiatus on this blog to work on a novel that’s been floating in my head for the past few months. I guarantee you that I am continuing to eat lustily and with gusto. For now, writing about those great meals will have to wait until this other story in my head is fully on paper. I hope that my next post will be more details about my novel and to say “I finished”. Wish me luck. I’ll be back.

December 10th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

I’m staring into my fridge and I see a slight greenish tinge on the corner of my very precious truffle cheese. Eek!! As a good Chinese daughter that already tries to waste nothing, at its price per gram, anyone would freak if that last hunk of truffle cheese went past due. Also known as tartufo pecorino, truffle cheese is like a meal in a slice. There’s just enough truffle infused in the cheese to hit your olfactory glands with that luscious earthy scent. It’s truly drool worthy and usually doesn’t last long. But in my home, as the sole dairy fiend, sometimes I lose track of what I’ve got in my cheese drawer.

This truffle cheese is already like a bowl of pasta so why not turn it into an actual bowl of pasta. Carbonara pops to mind plus there’s always bacon and a nice wedge of parmesan/romano/grana padano/pecorino in this house. Since I want to use the truffle cheese, I’m thinking why not elevate all the carbonara ingredients and treat myself by using the artisanal guanciale slices – sweet pork cheeks cured with spices – that I’ve been munching on nightly in my deli drawer. My secret indulgence, though not so secret on my hips.

Darn. The breakfast crepes I made this morning used up the last of our eggs. What do do? What to do? Ah, quail eggs. I always have a carton of quail eggs on hand. They have a long shelf life in the fridge and they make a great pan-fried snack, one of Cole’s favourites. I estimate about 4 quail eggs is equal to one large egg but with more yolk to white ratio and flavour-wise it’s hard to tell the difference.Usually, I prefer dried spaghetti for carbonara but I’m hungry now and there’s fresh linguine which takes 2 minutes to cook versus 7 minutes for spaghetti. I know, what’s 5 minutes but I’m that hungry that it sways me. Pot of water on to boil. Grate a handful of truffle cheese into a bowl. Crank some freshly ground pepper. Take a sharp knife and cut into the shell to cleanly open the 4 quail eggs. If you’re new to quail eggs, you might want to do this in a separate bowl. If you don’t get a clean slice from a ridiculously sharp knife, the shell will fall apart and you’ll find little crackly pieces in your pasta. Lightly beat the quail eggs and cheese to combine.

Slice the guanciale and in a medium hot pan toss to render the fat. Unlike bacon, these thin guanciale slices will go from opaque to translucent in seconds. The fat will render quickly and you don’t want the guanciale to get brittle so keep an eye on it. When the water boils, put your linguine in and set your timer for 2-3 minutes, or as per package instructions. When the linguine is ready, drain and toss in the egg/cheese mixture. Add the guanciale and any fat that has rendered in the pan and toss to coat thoroughly. The heat of the guanciale and pasta will cook the egg slightly making a velvety sauce. Serve with another crank of freshly ground pepper. Dive in and enjoy immediately.

For a more traditional recipe, I highly recommend Ruth Reichl’s spaghetti carbonara. She makes everything seem possible to make and utterly delicious. And if you like reading beautiful tweets, following Ruth Reichl at #ruthreichl is poetry. Each morning I check in and get inspired.

November 19th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

Food & Wine recently posted a recipe for Daniel Boulud’s Gargantuan Gougères that are served to guests at Bar Boulud, located in Manhattan. They looked absolutely delicious and the recipe seemed relatively simple. I also read that gougères freeze and reheat well and if this recipe worked out, I would have my home-cooked offering to bring to this season’s upcoming holiday parties.

I’d never heard of gougères before but they looked a lot like a soft cheesy puff of dough and to me, that is an irresistible combination. A quick search and I discovered gougères are a baked savoury choux pastry (also called pâte à choux) made of choux dough mixed with cheese. Choux pastry is used for making light, sweet pastries like crullers, beignets, profiteroles and croquembouches which will give you an idea of the texture of these yummy, airy, cheesy puffs. For these savoury gougères, Boulud’s recipe adds a bit of spice with Piment d’Esplette. I didn’t have that on hand so I substituted Nora pepper flakes from Spain.

Noras are the same pepper used to make paprika and are found in the famous Valencian rice dish, paella. I purchased these Nora pepper flakes from Manotas Organics and Fine Foods located on the lower level of the St. Lawrence Market. I love the aroma every time I open this jar and in my mind this mild smoky pepper flake would be a nice substitute for the Piment d’Esplette.

I also didn’t have Gruyère cheese so I used sharp old cheddar. And because Cole doesn’t like strong cheese, I made a few gourgères without any, instead adding some fresh thyme to compensate for the loss of flavour without cheese.

Another important consideration is the size of your eggs. I had very large “large” eggs and used only three eggs versus the four in Boulud’s recipe. You only need to add as many eggs as it takes to make the choux pastry smooth and silky, and likely why part of the recipe says to add them one at a time.

Finally, this recipe takes a lot of arm strength. It calls for hand mixing the dough (shown above “before” the eggs are added) with a wooden spoon to incorporate the eggs into the mixture and I would think to lighten it by adding some air to the final dough. I definitely burned some calories here and got a good arm work out for the few minutes of mixing it asks for in the recipe. Or maybe I’m just a total wimp.

I’m sure there must be a way to do this in the food processor but I need to try a recipe first before I can figure out where I can add a short cut and to be honest I hate cleaning so a wooden spoon is always my first choice.

I also baked a few of these as small pop in your mouth versions dropping teaspoon-sized mounds versus the gargantuan three tablespoon-sized baseballs called for in this recipe.

These tasty treats are definitely going to be my holiday go-to snack this year. They are simply scrumptious and go well with a chilled white burgundy as the recipe suggests and I would think a light, crisp beer like a pilsner. Plus you can make them ahead and look like a pro when you quickly reheat this hors d’oeuvre from frozen for unexpected guests that might pop in. Thanks to Food & Wine for posting this recipe.

November 8th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

While our server’s name wasn’t Lola, I would give odds that on any given night, you can find Tony or Rico in the CopaCabana, a Brazilian-styled steak house, located at 150 Eglinton Avenue East. That might sound racist but I know when you go to a Chinese restaurant you’re just like me. You want to see a good handful of Asian diners and a solidly all yellow cast of servers. Then you can say to yourself that this place can’t be too bad. Seriously, nothing irks me more than going to a Japanese restaurant, for example, and discovering that I’m being served by a poorly trained Chinese sushi chef. I’ll know it before they mouth a word by the size and quality of the California roll. Too much rice and there’s sure to be some Chinese influence, whether it’s the chef, the manager or the owner. And don’t get me wrong. I am fully aware that behind most kitchen doors in this city, there’s a lovely and talented crew of the best Sri Lankan chefs you can find anywhere. I’m all for that.

So when I say that CopaCabana has an expected Latin flavour in it’s clientele, servers, and entertainment, this is a good thing. I’m not generally a fan of in-your-face theme restaurants though I have been caught on camera dancing on tables in a Greek restaurant called Taverna Opa. The dancing was wholly due to the wildly authentic and sincerely delicious food, and oh yeah, a few shots of ouzo.

When you read the reviews about CopaCabana Toronto you’ll see a definitive line of lovers and haters. I happily divulge to you that I am one of the former. I will admit when my friend Brian chose this spot to celebrate his 30th birthday I was skeptical. Would this place be hokey? Would the steak come the way I like it (tender, rare and oh so juicy)? And what’s up with the salad bar? This is Canada, not America.

At first glance, CopaCabana is the kind of spot you think you’ll only go to when you’re looking for entertainment beyond the meal. With the extra loud beats, shiny shimmy shimmy of the Brazilian dancers dressed in barely clad carnival gear and the shirtless capoeira performers, it’s hard not to wonder if this is some kind of attempt to misdirect you from mediocre food? Turns out, it’s absolutely not.

As a diner with some miles on her fork, I entered CopaCabana with a few opinions and hopes that this show would taste as good as it looks. And to my surprise it did. Let’s start with the salad bar consisting largely of a good selection of grilled vegetables, piles of asparagus, mushrooms grilled or lightly marinated, eggplant and zucchini slices slightly charred and covered with a silky coating of olive oil, caprese salad with a very generous portion of baby bocconcini, seafood salad with sweet baby shrimp, two types of rice, pasta, deep fried yuca, and fruit platters settled amongst a few of the less appealing wilty green-type of salad options that I just skipped.

Then when you’re back at your seat, prepare for the real fun. Slow down and take it all in. It’s performance art. Around comes a server offering you the most delicious dough balls filled with cheese, poorly described by me, but absolutely addictive. Then comes a swash buckling assortment of meat on large skewers carried by servers wielding sharp butcher knives. It’s a wonder no one loses an eye but they are careful and even though demand is up-tempo the whole night, they manage to keep serving everyone through till past full.

We tried everything on the list except for the suckling pig and rib eye that I didn’t see come around even though we went on a Saturday – certain items are justifiably available on Fridays and Saturdays only – though it’s possible I blinked and missed it with all the other activity in the restaurant. At the top of the pleasure list, I enjoyed the ultra garlicky sirloin, well-marbled rib eye and strangely a little chicken drumstick they managed to cook to supreme juiciness on the skewer. To finish off, our party dined on roasted pineapple again sliced directly off the skewer at the table. Sadly, I couldn’t partake in the pineapple due to my growing fruit allergy (which, as an aside, I have seen mostly afflicting other Asians – perhaps we’re missing an enzyme like the one that prevents some of my brothers from processing alcohol).

Nowadays, diners seem to have elevated expectations of their restaurant experiences. I think this is partly due to more discussion in the media and online through reviews and blogs like this, and partly due to glamourizing chefs and restaurant experiences on television networks. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing but I think that diners should be aware of what places they are choosing so they know what’s in store. For me, CopaCabana in Toronto is a place you should definitely try at least once but absolutely not on a first date. If it’s a busy night have patience. Take in the whole evening for the spectacle that it is and appraise it accordingly. Oh, and an elastic waist band also helps.

October 29th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

The weather has turned quite brisk and with the seasons’ harvest of root vegetables, I’ve had soup on the brain. I picked up a handful of Jerusalem artichokes earlier this week and decided to treat myself to a velvety bowl of soup for lunch. Jerusalem artichokes are nothing like the prickly globe artichokes. These are tubers from a type of sunflower, are closer in taste and texture to potatoes and have the appearance of knobby ginger root.

Vegetable puree soups are one of the easiest things to make. Most recipes follow a similar cooking method which is to sautee some aromatics in a pot, usually diced onions, until translucent. Then add whatever vegetable you’re using that’s been cut up into small uniform pieces (so they cook evenly) such as carrots, butternut squash, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, and sautee for a few minutes. (TIP: The smaller you dice your vegetables the less time they have to simmer.)

Then add some herbs, spices or other flavourings like ginger or cinnamon. Pour in some chicken (or vegetable) stock just to cover the sauteed vegetables. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to simmer until the vegetables are soft. I then puree the whole mixture in a blender or with a hand blender directly into the pot, which is so much easier for clean up. I then add seasonings, salt and pepper to taste and an optional addition of heavy cream depending on your preference. Cream is not necessary but it adds a lusciousness to some types of soups. Too much cream and your soup will be ruined because pureed soups have such a delicate vegetable flavour.

I like to add a flourish with some toppings to finish off my soup. Here you can get a little creative. For the Jerusalem artichoke soup, I like to top it with some prosciutto crisps and a sprinkling of chives. Beet soups or cabbage soup call for a dollop of sour cream that gives it an Eastern European flair. Broccoli or cauliflower soup work really well with a dash of hot pepper sauce and some grated sharp cheddar. Be creative and have fun with your soup. It’s a great way to enjoy your vegetables on a bitter cold day and here in Toronto, we’re sure to have many more chilly nights ahead.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

1 lb of Jerusalem artichokes

1 small potato

1 onion

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 bay leaf

2 cups of chicken stock

3 Tbsp heavy cream

salt and pepper

Peel and dice the Jerusalem artichokes and potato. Have a bowl of cold water handy with a squeeze of lemon juice in it and drop the diced artichokes and potatoes into the bowl to prevent discolouration. Dice the onion. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium high and sautee the onions about 5 minutes until translucent. Be careful not to brown the onions.

Drain the artichokes and potatoes and add them to the pot with the onions. Add the bay leaf. Sautee for 2 minutes. Add the stock. The stock should just cover the vegetables. If not, add more stock or some water to cover. Bring to a boil then lower to simmer for 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

When the vegetables are ready, remove the pot from the stove. Remove the bay leaf and using an immersion hand blender, whizz the vegetables right in the pot until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

You may wish to blend in a few tablespoons of heavy cream. I use no more than 3 tablespoons for this soup as Jerusalem artichokes have a delicate flavour and the taste can be easily overwhelmed by the cream. You can also skip the cream altogether to keep this vegetarian (of course using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock). Serve topped with prosciutto crisps and some chive snippings.

Prosciutto Crisps

Super easy to make. I use one slice of prosciutto per serving. Heat a few droplets of olive oil in a pan on medium high just to lightly coat the pan. Add the prosciutto slices and cook until brown a minute or two and then flip to brown the other side. Remove from heat and place on a paper towel lined plate to soak up excess oil. The prosciutto will crisp up as it cools. You can then crumble it with your fingers and use as a topping for soups or salads. If you prefer uniformly sliced prosciutto crisps just cut them into slices of your desired thickness before you drop them into your hot pan. Alternatively you can also broil prosciutto slices on a cookie sheet in an oven, if you prefer not to fry them, but I personally can’t justify heating up my whole oven to make prosciutto crisps in order to avoid a few drops of oil.

October 19th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

I haven’t heard anyone use the old adage “a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” in ages but it seems to me that this is also the way to his philanthropic soul. Food-related charity events are quite a trend for non-profits to raise funds and I couldn’t be happier about this.

Events such as Feast For The Fight, a program that my friend Crystal has been helping to promote, is a dining event where host restaurants will donate a portion of their sales from the day to the Canadian Cancer Society. Events like Feast For The Fight allow you to contribute to a good cause by doing nothing more than what you might do on any given Wednesday, having a bite to eat and a few beers somewhere local. Here’s a list of the restaurants participating in tonight’s Feast For The Fight fundraiser. You’ll find me at one of them.

This event goes right alongside the latest book I’ve been reading, Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant by Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz. First off, one of the guiding principles of Mission Street Food, as set by Myint and Leibowitz, was to build a restaurant business model with a charitable component. On page 63 of their book, you’ll find them discussing the “Benevolent Business” and whether the benefits outweigh the costs. At the end of the day they seem to conclude that it doesn’t matter to them and continued to give money away with the opening of their next three restaurants. If all it takes to be charitable these days is to eat, then count me in. I do it (eat) at least three times a day so why shouldn’t someone benefit from my gluttony.

For a similar reason to why I loved David Chang’s magazine, Lucky Peach, Mission Street Food reads like an artful stream of consciousness, documenting their business wins and woes in a unique and intriguingly arranged cookbook of sorts that’s actually part memories, part cookbook, part kitchen confidential and lots of fun. I suppose, I could learn to be philanthropic, like the theme of tonight’s Feast For The Fight dining event, but this is one book that I will not share with others. Get your own copy.

October 14th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

I’m trying to expand my repertoire and take on new dishes that I felt were a challenge in the past. My post on gnocchi was the beginning and in between I’ve reunited myself with crème brûlée, which isn’t really hard at all once you understand how a bain marie and a kitchen torch works.

Next I decided to try using salt cod. Salt cod has been used in recipes for hundreds of years. Essentially the cod is dried and salted to extend it’s shelf-life. Many cultures have recipes that use salt cod including bacahlau famous in Portugal and Spain, ackee and saltfish in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, and in Northern Europe, parts of Africa and all over China. In fact China uses this preservation method for many types of seafood including mussels and oysters and too many types of fish to list to here. Check out this blogger’s post for a varied list of Chinese dried fish products complete with great photos.

Now back to the cod. Cod has been fished off the shores of Atlantic Canada specifically Newfoundland for hundreds of years but overfishing has created a dent in supply that may never be recovered. Other white fish can be found using the same dried and salted preservation method and depending on your recipe, makes a fine substitute.

One thing I’ve heard about working with salt cod is that cooking with them takes a long time. What should be clarified is that the time is really in the prep in order to desalt the cod. You have to put the salt cod in a large bowl of cold water at least 24 hours in advance, and change the water regularly, every few hours, in order to rid the fish of the excess salt. There will still be saltiness left in the fish after a day which brings me to my next important point. Don’t add additional salt to your recipes until you’ve tasted the near-final product, otherwise you might end up with an inedible dish. More likely than not, you won’t need any.

My recipe is shown below for salt cod cakes. I’m not a huge fan in general of crab cakes or fish cakes but my sons are and if it vouches for anything, Cole ate three of them in one sitting.

Salt Cod Cakes

1 lb salted cod fish

2 cups of milk

2 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed

1 large or 2 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in quarters (Russet potatoes also work as you’re essentially making mashed potatoes to mix with the desalted cod)

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 small onion, diced

freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 cup of flour (1/2 cup for cod cake mixture, 1/2 cup reserved for dusting form cod cakes)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola, olive oil or grape seed oil are all fine to use)

A day in advance, place the salt cod in a large bowl of cold water. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Every few hours change the water and replace with fresh, cold water. The next day, drain the salt cod and cut into fillets (if they are not already cut up or in pieces) just small enough to fit into your saucepan. Heat milk in the saucepan and add the garlic. When the milk nears boiling add the salt cod fillets and reduce heat to low to simmer for 20 minutes. In a separate pot filled with water, add the potatoes and boil on high until the potatoes are cooked (test with a kitchen knife and when the potatoes slide right off the knife when poked, they’re ready). The potatoes and fish should be ready around the same time. Drain both the fish and potatoes and allow them to cool.

Once cooled, place the potatoes into a large mixing bowl and give them a rough mash. Gently flake the fish into the bowl and add the Old Bay seasoning, egg, grindings of pepper, onion and 1/2 cup of flour and mix until evenly combined. Form the cod cake mixture into hockey puck-sized patties and dust with flour on both sides before setting the formed patties onto a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight so the cod cakes have a chance to set up. This is an important step so the cod cakes don’t fall apart when you cook them, however, you can sneak one or two to fry at this point if you really can’t wait.

To fry the cod cakes, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the cod cakes in batches until they are golden brown on both sides about 3 or 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately with wedges of lemon and tartar sauce, if you wish.

October 5th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

It’s not easy to know all the protocols of other cultures and even if you do sometimes you just forget to follow them. I’ve made a few memorable flubs in past years. I remember one night baking several Quiche Lorraine tarts for the school day care only to discover that they were never served. Apparently, ham is a banned substance as some kids aren’t allowed to have pork for religious reasons. Of course once they said this I got it, but I definitely wasn’t thinking this when I was pouring cheesy ham quiche fillings into tiny tart tins well into the wee hours. I was just thinking finished!! The caregivers took them home so some tummies did luck out. I feel bad for those pork-less kids. But I did learn a valuable lesson and that is don’t bother making treats for school in this environment of pork-offended, nut-less, gluten-free, lactose-intolerant diets.

Vegetarians and I don’t really mix either but I will tolerate their idiosyncrasies as long as they don’t mind me gnawing on some ribs or sucking the marrow out of a bone. And ever since the quiche debacle, I’ve been pretty good with kiddie birthday parties, remembering to order cheese pizzas for the veg heads. (Most little kids don’t like green stuff on their pizza so cheese is really the only way to go. They can go home and have a balanced meal later.)

I think my most embarrassing faux pas was at Julian’s Grade 6 graduation last year. We still talk about it and I cringe whenever anyone brings it up. I figure exposure therapy will help me get over this so I’m sharing it here. It was an emotional ceremony for me. Julian had won an award for outstanding academic achievement and I was more than the proud mom. I also knew that these would be the last days he would get to hang out with this wonderful group of friends, as he was the only one accepted to his new school.

After the final performance, a choir recital of “To Sir With Love” suggested by another student’s dad, Mohammed, affectionately called “Mo” by the kids in the school, I turned to him and gave him a hug. Arms clenched by his side and back stiffening, I only realized then that I was hugging a devout Muslim. Eek! I released my embrace as gracefully and quickly as I could and Mo, ever the gentleman, laughed it off however ill at ease. His lovely wife donning the traditional head scarf/veil, darted her eyes at me askance. Imagine me shrinking. I wished I could have then.

Sadly this will be what I think of most when recalling that beautiful graduation ceremony and I will surely be the butt of “remember when” jokes for years to come with my boys. I’ll be signing up for cultural sensitivity lessons any day now.

September 27th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

There are a few things culinary that most people agree are intimidating. Right at the top of the list has to be making soufflé. Whether cheese or chocolate, both types of soufflés threaten to collapse taking your spirit along with it. I’m not quite at that level of emotional risk-taking today so I’ve chosen to strike something less threatening off the middle of my to-try list. Today I created my first batch of hand-made gnocchi.

Not being lucky enough to be raised by a doting Italian nonna who has passed on the gift of pasta-making and the secret family sauce recipes to me since I was born — Oh Lidia! To have a grandmother like you — I have a healthy fear of making gnocchi. I’ve eaten terrible gnocchi, pasty, bland and heavy as a lead weight. I’ve also eaten delicious gnocchi, light, airy, pillows of goodness dropped directly from angels hands. So I was fairly concerned that all of my efforts would be wasted because I am certainly no angel.

It turns out, I might have the gnocchi knack.

Two disastrous results lurk when making gnocchi. The first one I mentioned above being the dense sinkers that come out gummy and not at all heavenly. The second disaster can occur during cooking when your gnocchi fall apart and disintegrate in the water. This is actually a worse result than making sinkers because you won’t have anything to eat. Both of these gnocchi disasters can be alleviated by the use of the right amount of flour, and in the case of the former, not overworking your gnocchi. Gnocchi that disintegrates in the water is usually the result of not enough flour incorporated.

My results are pictured above and while I have not yet learned to make them uniform in shape, I think they look kind of rustic and had a light and fluffy texture when cooked. However they could have used more flour to hold their shape better during cooking as you can see from the final results below. Taste-wise, I would incorporate a handful of grated parmesan cheese or a sprinkling of nutmeg in the next batch to counter the potato flavour slightly, which came through surprisingly stronger than I had imagined. A bit like a ball of mashed potatoes in my mouth yet still pleasing.

I served the cooked gnocchi with a sauce made with shredded meat from braised Angus beef back ribs. Here are the recipes which were enough for 2 entree servings of gnocchi plus a jar of sauce for later.

Gnocchi

2 medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

Bring a pot of water to boil and add the whole unpeeled potatoes. Boil for 25 minutes or until you can pierce a knife through the potato and it slides off easily. Remove the potatoes and allow them to cool a few minutes until you can remove the skins. The skins should peel off easily.

Place a food mill set with the smallest holes over a large mixing bowl and churn all the potatoes through. A potato ricer can also be used and I’ve heard it’s preferable but my condo does not like to fit kitchen equipment that only has a single purpose so a food mill is my tool of choice for this.

Add the egg to the bowl of milled potatoes and with your hands gently combine evenly with the potatoes. Mix in the flour a little at a time forming the mixture into a ball of dough. Add only enough flour so that the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead a few times. Do not overwork the dough as this is when the gnocchi can get tough. Cut the ball into four pieces and roll out each into a 1” rope. Cut the rope into 1” pieces. With the tines of a fork, gently roll it over the dough pieces to make an indentation on one side. Place the finished gnocchi pieces onto a tray and keep cool in the fridge until ready to cook.

To cook, boil a pot of water and add the gnocchi in batches. When cooked, the gnocchi will rise to the surface. Using a spider or slotted spoon, scoop out the floating gnocchi and serve with Braised Beef Back Ribs Sauce or another sauce of your choice.

Optional: Add 1 tsp of ground nutmeg or 1/4 cup of grated parmesan with the flour for more flavourful gnocchi.

Braised Beef Back Ribs Sauce

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp onion powder

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp seasoning salt

1 tsp dried oregano

4 or 5 meaty beef back ribs

1 1/2 cups of beef stock

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 rib of celery, diced

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 tsp dried oregano

1 796 mL/28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, preferably high quality San Marzano tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the first six ingredients to make a dry rub. Coat the ribs with spice rub and place in a plastic bag to marinate in the refrigerator for an hour or as long as overnight.

Remove the ribs from the fridge and bring them to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Place the ribs in a roasting pan, add the beef stock and cover with a lid or wrap with foil to seal. Place in the oven in the middle rack and braise for 3 to 4 hours, until the meat falls off the bone. When the ribs are ready, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, pull the meat off the bone and shred it or roughly chop it. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium high. Sauté the onion, carrot and celery about 5 to 7 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and oregano and fry for 1 minute. Add the shredded beef and cook stirring another 5 minutes. In a large bowl pour in the whole tomatoes and crush them by hand to break them down. Add all the crushed tomatoes and juices directly into the skillet and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until the flavours meld together and the tomato sauce has reduced slightly. Pour over cooked gnocchi or your favourite pasta. Reserve the rest of the sauce in a tightly sealed jar in the fridge for another meal this week.