Roast Chicken and Gnocchi

Good morning!
It's a beautiful clear day here in southern California. For those of you who have been trying to leave comments I have now enabled that. Sorry about that! But I don't want to talk about today just yet. I want to talk about yesterday.
Yesterday was Jono's day off. He has two a week, Wednesday and Saturday.  Most of the time those are the two days when we do any errands that need both of us. Yesterday was different. Yesterday we planed just to hangout together. And cook. We used to cook dinner together every night but once he started working we couldn't do that anymore. The simple pleasure of sitting down to dinner that you made with someone you love is something I treasure. So thats what we did. Well It turned out I did most of it because I got so excited and just started without him. But it turned out well.

As some of you know I am very critical of my cooking ability. Jono continues to roll his eyes at this and tell me I'm being ridiculous but I still do it. So for me to say that dinner turned out well is a big thing. Yes there are things I might do differently next time but overall it was good. I don't like to share recipes with you guys after trying them only once but this is an exception. We (I) made Souffleed Gnocchi and roast chicken with pancetta and olives, minus the olives. Sounds fancy right? well it's not. This is the type of food I miss having in Italy every summer. It is simple and all from scratch which makes it good. So I give you recipes!

Roast Chicken with pancetta and olives
From gourmet Italian kitchen
serves: 8
active time: 25 minutes
start to finish: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredents

2 Chickens (about 3 1/2 lb each), backbones cut out and each chicken cut into 12 pieces (wings, drumsticks, thighs, and each breast cut into 3)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped Thyme
1 Tbsp chopped Rosemary
1 Tbsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp hot red-pepper flakes
10 garlic cloves, peeled
2 (1/4 inch thick) slices pancetta, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup dry white wine
24 oil-cured black olives

Preheat oven to 450f with rack in middle.

Toss chicken with oil, thyme, rosemary, sea salt, red-pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon pepper, rubbing mixture into chicken.

Arrange chicken, skin side up, in 1 layer in a 18-by-13 inch heavy rimmed baking sheet. Scatter garlic and pancetta on top and roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes.

Drizzile wine over chicken and roast 8 mintues more.

Scatter olives over chicken and roast until skin is golden brown and chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes more.

Let stand for 10 minutes.

Notes: Now I did it a little differently. For one I didn't use olives. For another I did it over 2 days. I butchered my chicken (my first!) the night before and rubbed it with the oil mixture. I then put it in a casserole dish with a lid (you could use any dish that fits with a lid) and refrigerated it over night. It took about an hour for it to thaw the next day while the oven was heating up. You can also use any mix of thighs and breasts you want as long as they have the bone in. This saves the time of cutting up a whole bird (and the mess). For those of you who don't know Pancetta is Italian bacon. It comes round and you can find it in whole foods markets or trader joes I think. If you don't find 1/4 thick pieces that's fine go for the thinner and cut it up. Just add more.

Now here is the Gnocchi recipe! it goes great with the chicken but you can make it with anything. It also tastes great with a thick tomato sauce over it.

Souffleed Gnocchi
from Gourmet Italian Kitchen

serves: 6
Active time: 35 minutes
Start to Finish: 2 hours

Ingredents

3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup semolina (3 oz. sometimes labeled "semolina flour")
3 eggs
7 Tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
4 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Bring milk with 3/4 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a 2 to 3 quart heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add semolina in a slow stream, whisking, then simmer, stirring consantly with a wooden spoon, 12 minutes (mixture will be very stiff).

Remove from heat and stir in eggs 1 at a time, then stir in 6 tablespoons cheese and 3 tablespoons butter.

Spread into a 1/2 inch thick slab on an oiled baking sheet using a lightly oiled rubber spatula, then chill, uncovered, until cool to the touch, about 10 minutes.

Cut out rounds from gnocchi with cookie cutter dipped in cool water (incorporating scraps as you work) and gently transfer rounds (they will be VERY soft), slightly overlapping, to butter baking dish. chill gnocchi uncovered, 1 hour.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 450 f

Melt remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter and brush over gnocchi, then sprinkle with remaining tablespoon cheese. Bake in upper third of oven for 10 minutes, then switch dish to lower third of oven and continue to bake until gnocchi are slightly puffed and lightly browned, about 10 more minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: This I also prepared the day before. The gnocchi can be chilled up to one day after cut and placed into baking dish. You just cover it after 1 hour.

It all turned out so well that I may have to make It again today. I have fallen in love with the magazine it all came out of and am making two more of the recipes today. Almond biscotti and tiramisu.

Hope you all enjoy!
hugs+ kisses
mce

Lemon cookies and family

Good morning!
This past weekend was great. Jono and I went up to Baywood to visit with my family. It was amazing. I love my family and I love Baywood. Its a little haven. So beautiful and calm. And my family is one of the best (And I'm not just saying that because some of them read this) it always amazes me how well everyone gets along. We also hike a great deal. So needless to say I love my family.

So for my family I made lemon cookies. Now I had made these before and they are super easy (which is why I can make them) And this time I added mint to the glaze. So here is the recipe.

Lemon cookies
(from real simple magazine)

Makes 48 cookies| Hands-On Time: 20m | Total Time: 1hr 45m

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more if necessary
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions

1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt and beat to combine. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.
2. Divide the dough in half and shape into 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Heat oven to 350° F. Slice the logs into 3/8-inch-thick pieces and space them 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden, 16 to 20 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and zest until it forms a thick but pourable glaze (add more lemon juice if necessary). Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze and let set, about 15 minutes.
   
   To wrap: Give a nut tin a second life. Wipe it clean with a damp towel, then peel off the label. Tie a bow with extra-wide ribbon to hide any glue remnants. Note: If nut allergies are a concern, use a coffee can instead.
   
   To freeze: Instead of refrigerating the dough, freeze the logs for up to 2 months. To bake, follow the recipe instructions, cutting and baking the dough from frozen, and use the upper end of the time range.

Notes: So I added Fresh Mint to some of these. I did about half and half.
For the Mint
3 leaves fresh mint

Make glaze as directed above. Cut the mint into small pieces. ( I cut across in strips first then cut them smaller. ) Add these small pieces to the glaze and mix them in. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes. Glaze cookies as directed.


So there you go! They turned out tasting like mint lemonade which is what I was going for. I also think that the cookie base would support anything you wanted to put on them so feel free to mess around with it! They are also good plain with a cup of coffee.

hugs+kisses
mce

lemons

I think I have solved my baking issues. Fisrt let me tell you what was happening.

Starting a little while ago anytime I would bake anything the whole place would fill with smoke. Now this didn't happen if I was roasting say chicken or potatoes just sweets. I was completely confused by it and cleaned the oven completely to try to solve it. I think I have figured out what was happening. When I moved I inherited a number of cookie sheets from my dad as well as other places. Some of these are no longer the nice silver color they once were but a dark copper color. I imagine that a lot of burnt things came off those. What I think has been happening is that when I used these the pans themselves were burning. Or what ever residue was left on them. I am now using my new newer ones and no smoke!!! yay!!!

Lemon is the word for the week. I am so excited that summer is here and with it tall glasses of ice cold lemonade. Along these lines I have been making shortbread (at least it's cruching and tastes like it) with a lemon glaze. It is like eating a glass of lemonade. not too sweet and not too over powering lemony. I'm going to try adding a bit of mint to the glaze as I have fallen in love with a lemonade with fresh crushed mint in it. I'm trying to replicate the taste. we'll see how it works.

baking

Good morning!
Today will be a good day. My sister is back for the summer and I am so excited to run around LA with her. Huntington gardens, LACMA, Getty, oh the fun we will have. But with her in town my diet has slipped. And I have started baking. I love baking. It may be a continuation of my love of bread but I love it. I don't even have to eat it. I give most of my baked goods away. But making them gives me pleasure.

I have tried two different recipes for dough. I have never really made anything that required dough before so it's all new to me. I can't tell you how crazy the whole freeze then un freeze then freeze again thing makes me. Besides it taking hours and hours. The first recipe I tried was a cornmeal base for raspberry tarts. It worked well and corn is better then flour but it didn't have a lot of flavor to me. Others liked it just fine. Then I made peach hand pies. This was a much harder dough to work with and had a high butter content. Again not a lot of flavor in it's self. Everyone loved the pies though. Today I am going to use up the rest of the dough (currently in the fridge so it might be workable.) and makes something with chocolate and raspberries. My sister loves chocolate so I thought I would make her happy and use up the dough at the same time. A good idea I hope. I won't be working from a recipe as I have before so it may turn out a dud. I'll let you know.

A few days ago I had people over to my place. Now this may not seem like a huge deal to some. And they were only my sister and her friend is is almost like a sister to me. But it was a big deal to me. I don't have people over very often. Scratch that, I don't have people over at all. The last time I had guest was xmas morning and it was family for breakfast. Since then no one has come over. Mostly because I don't like where we live. I'm not happy here and not comfortable so I don't want others to see it and be uncomfortable too. But it was so nice to have people over. We watched movies and I made dinner. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Given it was just family who don't bat an eyelash at anything I do now. I may have my sister over more often.

cooking

So as you all know I am trying to cook for myself more. I'm glad that I started trying now because i am no good at it at all. I'm glad that I at least have a kitchen that is big enough for me to try things but not too big for me to clean. Which I have to do about 3-4 times a day. thank god I don't have kids. I also take forever. My kids would starve before I finished making dinner. Take last night as an example.

Last night I decided to make a few things. I had time (thank god) so I decided to make some raspberry tarts and steak with some roasted veggies. I had found a recipe for raspberry tarts on N.E.E.T magazine online, of course it did not have a time on it. I thought I would start the tarts then while the dough for the crust was in the fridge I would reduce some balsamic to put on top of the tarts. Then while they were in the oven I would start the steak and while the steak was resting I would roast the veggies. Sounds like a good plan right? little did I know that if I started this at 6:30 I would not be eating till around 10. Now I don't know if this is because I am new to this whole cooking thing or am just particularly slow. I'm sure it shouldn't have taken that long. The steak and veggies turned out nicely but the tarts were a little lackluster. Just not a ton of flavor. I'm going to have to play with the recipe some more and see if I can improve on it, but we will see.

As you can see I need to figure out how to cook so that I don't have to have 3 snacks before dinner is done cooking. That's my goal for my 3 week break. So that once work starts again I can make, eat, and clean up from dinner and still get to bed at a decent hour.

Chicago

Sorry for the long hiatus.

Last weekend I went to Chicago. It was amazing. It was my mother, my little sister (for a few days), and me. We were going to my cousin's wedding. That part was in a little place called Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. So you may ask why we were in Chicago, a full 1.4-2 hour drive away? Because my mother made the plans. If she has a chance to have more fun she will take it. It was a great idea.

Food was never a big thing for my mother. Hence my lack of interest till I was with Jono. So I was a bit worried my hard work with my health was going to go to hell in a hand basket. Thankfully  was able to get regular meals. My grain intake was quite a bit higher then i was used to but we also walked at least 2 miles every day.

We did so much that I don't have room to talk about it all here. needless to say I had an amazing time.

As soon as I got back I was busy. My last 2 days of work for the next 3 weeks. One of my bosses is working on a show in Roade Island and the rest of the family is driving out to be with him for 3 weeks. So I'm out of a job for 3 weeks. Out of the kindness of my heart I offered to take in there 4-5 month old chihuahua. It may not have been my brightest moment. Thankfully my Bella get along just fine with their little Ruby. But she is not potty trained at all. Or trained at all period. She can jump and get out of anywhere we put her. But she is devoted to me. She follows me everywhere and naps on me or as close to me as she can get. She is kinda cute. I just have very little affection for her. She finds Jono completely scary and hides or cowers when he says anything to her. She also gets car sick. So things are going to be a bit hard for the next 3 weeks. I had hoped for a nice break before they get back and both start working full time again. Oh well. 


hugs+kisses
mce