Recipe: Mashed Potato Gnocchi

Thanksgiving has come and gone and you're stuck with leftover mashed potatoes.
What to do?
You can make gnocchi with them! Gnocchi are Italian soft dumplings that are gently poached until they rise to the water's surface, then drained and served with a sauce.
Depending on how "wet" your mashed potatoes are, you may have to add a few more tablespoons of flour until the dough is dry enough to handle without sticking to your fingers. Recipe makes 8 servings or 4 hearty dinner portions.


Ingredients

• 4 cups mashed potatoes
• 1 whole egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the mashed potatoes and egg until well combined.
2. Add the flour and mix well until the dough is workable. If the dough is still a bit wet and sticky, add tablespoons of flour until the dough is dry enough for you to handle.
3. Turn the dough out on to a clean work surface and using a knife, cut the dough into 4 even pieces.
4. Roll a piece of dough into a long 1/2" thick rope and with a knife, cut into 1" pieces.
5. Set a side on a plate.
6. Do the same with each remaining piece of dough.
7. Once all the gnocchi are made, drop them gently into a pot of simmering salted water. When they rise to the surface, they are done (about 3 minutes).
8. In the meantime, prepare in a saute pan, the sauce that you will serve the gnocchi with (tomato, pesto, or sage butter)
9. Gently lift the cooked gnocchi out of the water with a slotted spoon and toss with your favorite sauce.
10. Serve.

You can also freeze the uncooked gnocchi separated on a cookie sheet and then transfer them into a storage bag and keep in the freezer.

Recipe: Banana Nut Bread

Bought a bunch of bananas and they ripened too fast? Don't throw them out! A banana that is turning black is actually very ripe and perfect for making banana bread.
Banana bread became a standard of American cooking books in the 1930s and gained popularity in the 1950s.

This recipe is adapted from one by Milliken & Feniger.

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 4 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Recipe: Orange Fennel Salad

In this week's Pathmark circular, Anise (Fennel) and Navel Oranges are on sale for $1.50 and $1 respectively. With the addition of arugula and a red onion, you can make this salad that I first posted last year.


http://itscommoncents.blogspot.com/2010/12/window-garden-and-orange-fennel-salad.html

Recipe: Omelet and Breakfast Sandwiches

In this week's Pathmark supermarket circular, I noticed that a carton of 18 large eggs is selling for $1.69, Banquet Brown 'N Serve Sausage Links or Patties is $1, and Pillsbury Grands Biscuits are $2 (use the $1 off 2 coupon here and get the cans for $1.50 each).

Putting them all together, I can make my own breakfast sandwiches just like the famous "Golden Arches" and save!
Total cost for all the ingredients: $4.19 and makes 8 breakfast sandwiches.

Before we start, we must first learn the technique of how to make a basic omelet.
Here is a video of Julia Child showing us just how it is done:



Ingredients

• 1 box of Banquet Brown 'N Serve Sausage Patties
• 1 can Pillsbury Grands Biscuits (I prefer Southern Style)
  
• 8 eggs
• butter or oil to cook the eggs
  

Directions

1. Prepare and bake biscuits as per manufacturer's instructions on can.
2. While biscuits are baking, prepare and cook sausage patties as per manufacturer's instructions on box.
3. Using an 8 inch non-stick pan, cook the eggs omelet style 2 at a time.
4. Flip the omelet in half and then cut in half with a spatula.
   
5. To assemble the sandwich, cut a biscuit in half sideways and lay half the omelet and then a sausage patty and then top with other biscuit.
6. Continue cooking the rest of the eggs the same way.
   

This is a recipe to make all the breakfast sandwiches at once (great for a family) but you can just bake the biscuits and then prepare the eggs and patty on the day that you are going to eat one (or two).

I don't season my omelet with salt & pepper as the biscuit and sausage have salt and seasonings already.