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Chocolate heaven
March 24 | Comments (0)
Every once in a while I stumble upon a product so delicious that I don't want to share it with the world. Discovering See's was one of those moments. I'm sure lots of people on the west coast of the US know about See's already, but for those that don't...they make some of the most amazing chocolate treats i've had in a very long time. You can satisfy your cravings by ordering online...give it a try. I promise you'll love them.
Luckily one of my clients brought me two boxes of the Scotchmallow®, so i'm set for a week at least.
gnocchi
March 21
This recipe is a bit of a blast from the past. My great grandmother used to make gnocchi on a regular basis. My favourite was to fry left over gnocchi with butter in the morning for breakfast.
6 large potatoes peeled and chopped into cubes
Plain flour (keep the bag around, measurements are not exact for this bit)
1 egg yolk
Pinch of nutmeg
Preparing the dough
Boil the potatoes until soft, remove from water and mash them until smooth. Let the potatoes cool a bit until it's ok for you to put your hands in the mixture. (From experience, putting your hands in hot potatoes is a bad plan. Ouch!) Spread a little flour over a work surface and place your lump of potato mash in the middle. Form a volcano shape with the potatoes and put the egg yolk, 1 cup of flour and the nutmeg in the middle. Knead the mixture until all of the flour has been absorbed.
It helps to have an extra set of hands for this bit as adding flour becomes difficult when your hands are all sticky with dough. Keep adding flour until the dough holds together and looks similar to a bread dough.
Making the Gnocchi
Pull off a fist sized ball of dough. Roll the dough into a long string about as thick as your finger. Use a butter knife to cut off little chunks. Place the chunks onto a floured tray. (Repeat until all the dough is used up.) Place the trays in the fridge to set for 30 mins.
After 30 mins...
Boil some water and place the gnocchi in the boiling water. When the gnocchi are ready they will float to the top. Fish them out with a slotted spoon. I always have a pan brushed with butter waiting, so that I can do a whole batch and place them in the oven without the gnocchi drying out.
Serve with any number of sauces....plain tomato works a treat!
Lemon honey drink
March 11
Juice of 1 lemon (per glass)
1 tablespoon of honey
Hot water
Nothing fixes a sore thoat like this drink. Give it a try...winter is almost over.