Aga Kitchen

I come home from a quick trip to our nation's capital and what's in the fridge? Nothing. Just like everybody else's fridge after vacation. What do you make out of nothing? Gnocchi. Not the one made with the potatoes and the kneading and the rolling and the cutting. That's way too much work today, save that for company. These are tender nuggets based on pate a choux, a basic building block for pastry chefs and savory cooks alike. Pate choux is harder to pronounce than make. You should have everything you need on hand. Water, butter, flour, eggs and some seasonings. I like whole grain mustard, nutmeg and parmesan. These will freeze well and it's worth making more than you need just to keep the freezer happy.  

I made a quick one pan dish with wild leeks, fiddleheads and red pepper seasoned with wine, lemon and parsley. You can bake them with a little cream and tomato sauce or toss with wild mushrooms, fennel and broth or even go all Sandra Lee (don't forget the cocktails and tablescapes) and bake them with canned  lentil soup and frozen green beans, yummoo!

Confession: Our fridge wasn't exactly empty. The dog sitter who watches our place while we are out of town left a fridge full of wild leeks and fiddleheads. No you cannot have his name.

 Easy Gnocchi  serves 4 as a main course

• 6 oz water
• 1 stick unsalted butter (4oz)
• 1 cup flour
• 4 large eggs
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
• 1 oz parmesean grated fresh is better and cheaper
• good pinch of nutmeg

Get a good sized pot of salted water boiling to cook the gnocchi

In a small heavy bottomed pan heat up the water with a good pinch of sea salt and butter over medium heat.

When the water / butter mixture is just beginning to boil add the flour all at once and stir with a heavy wooden spoon. Reduce heat to low and keep stirring for a couple minutes. You should see a light film on the bottom of pan.

Using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer, or by hand, add the eggs one at a time. Be sure the egg is fully incorporated before you add the next one. It will look all loose and slippery in the beginning then it will stiffen up as the egg gets absorbed. Repeat two more times. Before you add the last egg toss in the mustard, cheese and nutmeg. 

Using a pastry bag  (pastry bag tips at the end of post) with a plain tip about 3/4" diameter pipe the dough into the simmering water cutting at 1" intervals. This is easier than it sounds.

Simmer for 3 minutes and rest on a sheetpan. They will swell up and almost double in size when they are done. If the water is boiling too rapidly they may fall apart.  Cover pasta with a kitchen towel to keep from drying out. Repeat until all the dough is used. Easy.

 Pastry Bag Tips

• you can use a ziplock bag, just snip the corner
• fold the bag way over over your left hand and fill with your right. This will keep the bag clean and less product sticking to the bag
• no need to use a pastry tip for this
• squeeze all the product down to the bottom before you start
• hold the bag in your left hand and gently squeeze while you cut the gnocchi with a paring knife
• disposable bags are handy for this type of stuff

Cook like you mean it, G

There are not really too many finites in cooking. I think that's one of the things that keeps me interested. Hard to believe, but I like being wrong. It means I learned something. I think a therapist would call it "growth". Here is a finite I can sink my teeth into. Write it down and commit to memory. Never cook a special meal that is so laden with fat and calories that you and your mate are too stuffed to "get busy". Makes the dinner date not so special anymore. "We ate and drank so much the only reason we unbuttoned our pants was to keep them from splitting apart" sounds more like something to forget.

Back to the shrimp. Love it when the fresh Maine shrimp come into season. I picked up some at my not so local (50 minutes away) fancy food store. Cucumbers and shellfish always taste good together. The textures play well off each other and respond similarly to seasoning. Both ingredients are delicate and can be overpowered by assertive type of seasonings like raw onion or garlic.

Let's see how this went down in the Agakitchen.

Cook the shrimp

• 3/4 lb of fresh Maine shrimp. Drop into simmering salted water for 90 seconds. Overcooking makes the shrimp mushy. No wine or lemon, the acid has a tendency to denature these small crustaceans. Drain and layout on a flat plate to cool. No need to rinse them under cold water. On a plate and in the fridge. Takes about 30 minutes to cool.

Make the dressing   mix everything together in bowl big enough to add the shrimp and a cucumber

• 3 Tablespoons of mayo. Homemade is really much better and crazy easy. I'll give you a recipe at the end of the post.
• 3 teaspoons of Heinz Chili Sauce. This not some Asian offshoot of Americas best loved condiment. It's ketchup for big boys, a little less sweet with a little more kick. Beats ketchup anyday.
• 1 teaspoon dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon of prepared horseradish. Be sure to squeeze the liquid out of it first.
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, picks up the smoky notes in the sherry

Put it all together

• peel and quarter your cucumber, remove seeds with your knife tip, dice into medium size uniform pieces. About the same size as the shrimp. Salt the cukes
• toss cukes and shrimp in bowl with dressing, add a little chopped dill or parsley if you have some
• place some fancy greens (I use the herb blend in the winter) tossed with a little oil and vinegar on the plate
• mound the shrimp salad in the center
• D-U-N spells done, rhymes with fun!

As promised, mayonnaise

• 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
• 1T mustard
• 1T cider vinegar
• squeeze from 1/4 of a lemon
• 1 cup olive oil, not EVOO
• salt to taste
• pepper, white if you have it, again to taste
• 1 Tablespoon of hot hot water

Mix everything but the oil and water in a food processor. With the motor running slowly add the oil. After the oil add the hot water. Taste, season and taste again.