No Gno [cchi]

I knew it had to had to be coming: my first food failure. Collective sigh here. I adore Italian food and carbs even more so gnocchi naturally was on my 'to try' list of dishes. It now has moved to 'try again' list.

Pretty isn't it? Yeah, I didn't make this.

That would be a lunch in Rome. I ate about 3/4 of that in one sitting. If that doesn't scream glutton to you, then we can be friends.

I used this recipe and it came out more like potato porridge than dumpling. I don't even want to show you the aftermath, but I will tell you it tasted pretty damn good but for texture snobs, this would not be ideal. Odd textures don't scare me. My parents trained me well I guess.

The actual dish was Gnocchi with Sage Butter sauce. More like mashed potatoes and sage. Alright reader, you've beat it out of me, I'll share a pic. Be kind.... I promise I'll do better next time.

Bite of heaven: Amaretti cookies

When my mother went to Italy for the first time, she happened to grab a random box that looked a little something like this:

From the duty-free shop at the airport, mind you. She RAVED about them and even included ONE in a care package along with Italian tchotchkies for me. Just one. Let's just say that's all she could spare.

This time around while we were in Italy [MY first time there] we were prepared and bought 3 boxes. I don't see anything wrong with that. Also, they were the last 3 in the shop.

Mother found an Amaretti recipe from the Joy of Baking blog... also I discovered that marzipan [another love of mine] is almost the exact same thing! Sugar heaven!

Coconut goodness

Lately, I've been snacking on coconut flakes. Seriously. Straight out of the package. Sad, but true. I was determined to actually make something that contained coconut flakes rather than eating the entire package. Would I ever tell you this in real life? Most likely not.

Yesterday's lunch, I kid you not

 
What did I make? Jamie's Coconut Cake [from Paula Deen-- you just KNOW it's going to be good and unhealthy]

I only had one 9" pan so this took awhile, but helped with waiting to ice the cake which is my biggest downfall. Pretty much every cake I've ever made got iced entirely too early and got runny. This wonderful cake is pretty dense, but stacks SO well. It's lightly flavored and doesn't have any coconut extract.

It's a beauty, isn't it?

Feelin' Jamaican mon!

This dish actually says to use a grill pan, but it SMELLS so heavenly it kind of makes you want to grill outside so the neighborhood can envy your dinner. Maybe that's just me. I paired this with a rice dish, but you may want to do something else, lighter, maybe some type of salad.

Jamaican-Spiced Chicken
from Cooking Light Eat Smart Guide

Ingredients:
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp finely chopped and seeded jalapeño pepper
2 tsp cider vinegar [I used apple cider]
2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs)
cooking spray

Cooking:
1. Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl; add chicken; toss to coat.

2. Heat a grill pan to medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add chicken to pan; cook for 4 minutes. Turn chicken over; cook for 6 minutes or until done.

Yields: 4 servings (serving size: 2 chicken thighs)

Side dish.... this is turned out a bit mushy, I have a feeling it was because I kept adding more water because I didn't want it to burn [I used brown rice] and we're not the type of people who cook rice in pots. Rice cooker all the way! Next time, I'll be sure to use white and see how it goes. The rice has a mild flavor and really pairs well with spiced dishes.



Rice with Peas (kidney beans)


Ingredients:
3 cups of rice
1 can of tinned or 1 cup of fresh red peas (either kidney beans or pigeon peas)
5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 uncut scotch bonnet pepper (1 jalapeno pepper may be used as a substitute)
3 Scallion (spring onions may be used as a substitute)
1 tin (or one cup) of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (2 teaspoons of dried thyme may be used as a substitute)

Cooking:
1. Bring seven cups of water to a boil in large pot.
2. Add garlic, kidney beans, coconut milk, rice, pepper and thyme. If using fresh kidney beans, you need to soak them in 3 cups of water overnight and let boil for 40 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. [I basically used all the substitutes-- canned kidney beans, jalapeño pepper, spring onions and dried thyme. I'm all for simplifying recipes.]
3. Rice should be done cooking in approximately 40 minutes depending on the type of rice used. Garnish with fresh thyme optional.

  

I don't braid hair, only bread

For Easter, I wanted to bake so bake I did. Allrecipes.com had an Easter section that I riffled through for something simple yet elegant. Thus we have braided bread. I found a very cute braided round bread but it also had actual Easter eggs baked into it. I'm not a huge eater of eggs so mixing them into something works better for me. P.S. This makes a fairly large loaf so share!

Braided Egg Bread
via Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 (.25 ounce, ~2 1/2 tsp) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil [I used olive oil, recommended for better flavor]
3 eggs + 1 egg yolk

TOPPING:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a saucepan, heat water and oil to 120 degrees F-130 degrees F. Add to dry ingredients along with eggs. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.

3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Set a third of the dough aside. Divide remaining dough into three pieces. Shape each into a 13-in. rope. Place ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid; pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Divide reserved dough into three equal pieces; shape each into a 14-in. rope. Braid ropes. Center 14-in. braid on top of the shorter braid. Pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

4. Beat egg and water; brush over dough. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cover with foil during the last 15 minutes of baking. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.