Friday, November 25, 2011

Home-Made Ricotta Gnocchi

mixing the ingredients

rolling out the dough

boiling the gnocchi

must add some pesto

 
'healthy' frying it the next day

Ingredients (for 2):
250 g Ricotta
1 egg yolk (M-L)
1/4-1/2 tsp fine sea salt
30 g Parmigiano (or Pecorino), freshly grated
50-75 g all-purpose flour, extra for dusting the dough/board
serve with tomato sauce or any kind of pesto

Instructions: 
Discard any excess liquid that the Ricotta’s packaging may contain, then add Ricotta cheese, egg yolk, salt and freshly grated Parmigiano into a large bowl. Mix well with a wooden or regular spoon. Now add the flour and stir in briefly, just until combined – the dough will still be quite sticky. (Of course you can add more flour at this point, but keep in mind, that the more flour you use, the denser the gnocchi become in the end. And you want them to be as light & fluffy as possible, with a velvet-like texture.)

Forming these gnocchi is the slightly tricky step, this is the technique that works best for me: Generously flour a board, take a big tablespoon of the dough and scoop it onto the board. It gets dusted with flour (dust your hands generously, too!), before rolling it into a finger-thick roll. Cut it into little pillows (stick the knife’s blade into the flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough). Then place each gnocchi on a floured board or parchment paper lined baking tray. Continue quickly with the next step, otherwise they will get soggy and stick to the paper/board anyway.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt and reduce heat until the water bubbles lightly. Add the gnocchi and stir once, so they don’t stick to the bottom – then let cook until they start floating on top. Depending on their size this may take 2 to 4 minutes. Take out with a skimmer and serve immediately. I like to serve them either with a simple tomato sauce or pesto & olive oil.









Sunday, November 13, 2011

Waldorf Salad

A great apple recipe and a refreshing salad!
 


  • 1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
  • 1/3 cup nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (you can add if you want some protein)
  • 1 medium red apple, diced
  • 1 cup halved red or green grapes
  • 1 cup sliced celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted if desired (see Tips), divided
  1. Whisk mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. Add chicken, apple, grapes, celery and 1/4 cup walnuts. Stir to coat well. Serve topped with the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts.
That's it, just one step :) Makes about 4 servings

recipe from eatingwell.com