Gnocchi with Chestnut and Fontina Cheese

From Mietta’s Italian Family Recipes, Mietta O’Donnell, Black Inc., 2000.

Chestnuts have appeared in the markets which set me looking for recipes that included them. I had been looking at Mietta’s recipe for gnocchi with chestnuts for a while so this was the to make it.

Firstly the potato had to be boiled and mashed and the chestnuts boiled and peeled. It needed equal amounts of potato mash and gnocchi chestnut puree. I used 200g of each.

On the benchtop I measured out flour, a quantity one quarter the weight of the potatoes and chestnuts (100g in this case). Some freshly grated nutmeg was grated on top. The ingredients were combined to make a dough.

The dough was then taken in portions and rolled out into sausages that were then cut into gnocchi-sized pieces.

A pot of water was put on the stovetop to boil. A frying pan was also made ready with butter and a little olive oil to prevent it burning.  

Fontina cheese was cut up into small blocks. A mixture of herbs (parsley, sage, basil and tarragon) were chopped.

When the pot of water boiled the gnocchi were dropped in and cooked until they rose to the surface and the pan was turned on to heat the butter and oil. The gnocchi were then scooped up with a slotted spoon and placed in the frying pan. The fontina was added, and then the herbs.  Once the fontina had begun to melt it was ready and could be dished onto plates and served.

I think I was a little late in taking the gnocchi off the heat as the fontina quickly disappeared into the mix. It still tasted fine though. This is a pleasant variation on the standard gnocchi and worth remembering when chestnuts come into season.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Avial

From The New Tastes of India, Das Sreedharan, Headline, 2001.

I am used to curries that have coconut milk in them and hence have a creamier texture. This particular curry turned out to be much lighter.

It had drumsticks as an ingredient—and this is a vegetarian cookery book.  However, it seems drumsticks are a type of vegetable. There were none available here so I settled for sticks of celery which I hoped would be perhaps close.

The celery and carrots were cut into pieces. I like them larger sized in my curries. They were placed in a saucepan, covered with water and brought to the boil.

While they were simmering the potatoes were cut up and then added to the pot to cook until they were nearly tender.

While the vegetables were simmering, ginger, a green chilli and cumin seeds were pounded in a mortar and pestle with a little water until the mixture became a paste.

When the potatoes were close to cooked green beans were added to the mix with a teaspoon of turmeric, some salt and the paste. This was simmered for a few more minutes and some yoghurt and desiccated coconut were added. A few curry leaves were also added and the mixture was gently heated through though not brought to the boil.

It was served with rice, paratha and coconut chutney.

This was a light, gently spiced curry. Though my preference is for the hotter, spicier thick curries I did enjoy this one.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Kerala Paratha

From The New Tastes of India, Das Sreedharan, Headline, 2001.

I really enjoyed making this paratha.

I measured out wholemeal flour into a bowl and then added olive oil, one tablespoon to each 50g of flour. Gradually I added water until I had a reasonably mouldable dough. This I kneaded for a while before it was put aside to rest.

After about an hour the dough was divided into portions. Each portion was then rolled in the palm of the hand until it was a ball shape. It was then sprinkled lightly with flour and rolled out on the benchtop to a round of about 15cm.

Each round was then brushed lightly with oil and rolled up like a sausage. The rolled dough was then carefully wound up. The best way to do this seemed to be to place one end in the palm of the hand and then wind the remainder around this. It was then flattened in the palm of the hand.

This flat round was then placed back on the benchtop, lightly dusted with flour and rolled out to a circle, this time a little smaller than the previous one.

It was then only a matter of heating a pan, dropping on a little oil and then frying the paratha until it was browned on both sides.

Fun to make and fun to eat. They really went well with the curry I made.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Coconut and Tamarind Chutney

From The New Tastes of India, Das Sreedharan, Headline, 2001.

I thought I might go for an Indian meal so consulted my copy of The New Tastes of India. Firstly I settled on making this chutney.

A small amount of tamarind pulp was placed in a bowl with an equally small amount of hot water. With a spoon this was broken down as much as possible and then left for half an hour. It was then strained. I ended up with about a tablespoon of tamarind juice.

The tamarind was placed in a blender with coconut (the recipe called for fresh but I used mine from a packet), a couple of chopped green chillies, some ginger (I used half the amount in the recipe because I find they generally overdo the amount of ginger), a glove of garlic and a little salt. This was blended until it was as fine as I could make it. It was supposed to become a fine paste but this was beyond my blender’s abilities.

Before serving, some oil was heated in a frying pan and a teaspoon of mustard seeds added. When they were popping I added a teaspoon of urad dal, a couple of dried red chillies and some curry leaves from the garden. They were stirred for a while and then poured over the coconut mix.

I think it missed a little from not using fresh coconut but, all in all, it was a very acceptable chutney.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Bread Rings

From Turkey: The Turkish Kitchen, Miller Books, 2008.

Sometimes you find bargains at those cheap book stalls that occasionally pop up at shopping centres. This one was found in Perth and it was so cheap that it was worth it even if it was just to browse through the pages. And when browsing I found this recipe for those bread rings that you see vendors in Turkey selling in the streets.

Yeast was first mixed with some lukewarm water for a little while before some milk was added. Half of the full amount of flour was added and mixed in by hand. Then came some salt, some sugar, some melted butter and an egg. This was all mixed and kneaded before adding the remainder of the flour. Then began more kneading. It became a fairly soft dough that was then left to rise for about half an hour.

At this stage the dough was kneaded again before pieces were taken and rolled out into sausage shapes that were then formed into rings. The dough felt much too loose and was not easy to manage. The rings, such as they were from this very soft dough, were placed on baking trays and beaten egg brushed over them. They were then sprinkled with sesame seeds and went into a 180° oven.

While the bread rings turned out to be more bun than ring, they had a good texture and flavour, very slightly sweet, The next time I make them I think I would use less of the egg in the mixture for it was from the addition of this that the dough became overly soft.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔

Black Bean Soup

From Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Robin Robertson, Harvard Common Press, 2004.

There were black beans in the pantry that had been there perhaps a little longer than they should have so it was good to find this recipe for black bean soup. A soup, and a slow cooked one at that, seemed best suited to past-their-due-date beans.

The day before I wanted the soup a cup of beans was added together with water in the slow cooker and cooked for three hours. They were then drained and kept in the fridge.

The next day an onion, a carrot, a green capsicum and some garlic were fried, covered, until they had softened. They were then put into the slow cooker with the beans. Also into the cooker went a can of tomatoes together with stock, bay leaves, and flavourings (cayenne for heat, cumin and thyme). They were cooked on low for 8 hours.

At the end of this time the bay leaves were taken out and a stick blender was used to puree part of the soup. I just held it in until the soup looked as though it had thickened but still had some more solid content. The juice of half a lemon was added and seasonings.

It went very well with some freshly baked bread rings. A satisfying and pleasing way to use up some old beans.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔